Natural Sciences and Technology Grade 5-B ... - Thunderbolt Kids

1 Planet Earth
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KEY QUESTIONS
• Why does the Sun appear to move across the sky?
• How long does it take the Earth to move around the Sun?
• How long does it take the Earth to spin around once on its axis ?
Teacher's Note
How to introduce this topic
Remind them of the lessons in the last term of Grade 4, when they
learned about the Earth, Sun, Moon and planets. Use Figure 1 to
start them thinking about what is on the surface of the Earth and
under the surface of the Earth.
Begin "Activity: Begin to make soil" (making compost), in the first
week of the term, because the compost needs time to break down
You need compost out of the column by week 3 or week 4.
You will need aglobe in the classroom and atlases that show South
Africa in large enough scale to find names of towns. The cognitive
development issue is that children need the ability to mentally
move from the physical place where they are to another place on
the planet, and that means being able to handle models of those
places in the form of globes and maps. Also read through all the
"What you will need" sections today, because some of the things
take time to collect. the learners can help with collecting many of
the items you will need.
1.1 The Earth moves
In Grade 4 we learnt that the Earth moves in two dierent ways.
The Earth orbits the Sun and the Earth also spins on its own axis.
Let's revise these concepts again.