Steady Partner, Steady Seasons
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Steady Partner, Steady Seasons

Correlations to National Science Education Standards

Grades K–4
Earth and Space Science – Content Standard D
Objects in the Sky

  • The sun, moon, stars, clouds, birds, and airplanes all have properties, locations, and movements that can be observed and described.

Changes in the Earth and Sky

  • Objects in the sky have patterns of movement. The sun, for example, appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but its path changes slowly over the seasons. The moon moves across the sky on a daily basis much like the sun. The observable shape of the moon changes from day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month.

Grades 5–8
Science as Inquiry – Content Standard A
Understandings about Scientific Inquiry

  • Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. Some investigations involve observing and describing objects, organisms, or events; some involve collecting specimens; some involve experiments; some involve seeking more information; some involve discovery of new objects and phenomena; and some involve making models.

Earth and Space Science – Content Standard D
Earth in the Solar System

  • The earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the moon, the sun, eight other planets and their moons, and smaller objects, such as asteroids and comets. The sun, an average star, is the central and largest body in the solar system.
  • Most objects in the solar system are in regular and predictable motion. Those motions explain such phenomena as the day, the year, phases of the moon, and eclipses.
  • The sun is the major source of energy for phenomena on the earth's surface, such as growth of plants, winds, ocean currents, and the water cycle. Seasons result from variations in the amount of the sun's energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth's rotation on its axis and the length of the day.

 

Last updated
September 2, 2010

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