This lesson helps students better understand why and how the moon shines at night, why it is dark at nighttime, and that it is always day somewhere on Earth.

Students use solar system models to realize that cycles of night and day are caused by the rotation of the Earth.

In this three day unit, students discover what is in the day and night sky, and learn interesting facts about the sun. Students will create their own journals to record ideas about the day and night sky, participate in class discusiions about the sun and the moon, and conduct an experiment using the sun's heat to warm water in different colored cans. This unit includes reproducible student sheets.

Students will explore the concepts of day and night by identifying activities, objects, and characteristics that are associated with day and night. Supplemental resources for this lesson can be found as separate entries in the collection. They are identified as "What is Day and Night?: Name of Resource."

This is a supplemental resource for the lesson: "What is Day and Night?" It is a script providing teacher notes to be used with the corresponding slide presentation.

This is a supplemental resource for the lesson: "What is Day and Night?" It is a slide presentation providing background information and images of the day and night sky.

This is a supplemental resource for the lesson: "What is Day and Night?" It is a sample key for the graphic organizer activity students complete during the lesson.