Day & Night

Day & Night

Earth and Space

AimsTarget LanguageMaterials to Prepare
  • Students will learn about the patterns of day and night
  • Students will answer the question, "When does the Earth rotate to face/ face away from the Sun?” with, “The Earth rotates to face the Sun in the day/ night."
  • Students will proceed with an activity where they will create a day and night craft.
    		• New language:
    Globe, Earth, rotation, sun, day, night

    When does the Earth rotate to face/ face away from the Sun?/ The Earth rotates to face the Sun in the day/ night.    		• 1 x Paper plate
    • 5 x Foam Stickers
    • 2 x Playdough
    • 4 x Markers
    Duration of ActivityActivitiesInteraction Pattern
    5 minWelcome Students

    • Greet students, set up classroom management system
    • Introduce classroom rules
    • Have students ask and answer each other, “How are you?”

    (Activity can be replaced for Circle Time)    		S-S
    10 minEngage

    • Ask the students the following questions:

        What do you do when the sun rises?
        Ans: Get out of bed and brush my teeth

        What are some activities you do in the day?
        Ans: Go to school, go to the park.

        What do you do when the sky turns dark?
        Ans: Go to bed


    • Launch the presentation - What is this activity?
      Ask the students the following question:

        “What is this activity?”


    • After going through the pictures, show students card, ask the students the following question:

        “What do you do during the day?”
        “What do you do at night?”


    • Ask the students what happens if they were to do the day activities at night instead.

        Do you swim at the beach at night?
        Ans: No, It is too dark. / I cannot see where I am swimming
        E.g. Can you see stars during the day?
        Ans: I cannot see the stars.

    		T-S
    5 minExplore

    Prepare before lesson:
  • Globe
  • Light source (lamp)

    • Place the globe under/ near a light source (eg. lamp) and tell them it represents the Sun.
    • Have the students come forward to observe the globe.
    • Paste a sticker on a particular country on the globe and rotate it slowly.
    • Elicit from students:

        “What is this?”
        Ans: It is a globe.
        “Where is this place?” (Referring to the sticker)


    • Get the students to observe the globe
    • Ask the students questions about their observation when the globe rotates.

        “Look at the sticker. What happens when the globe moves to face the Sun?”
        Ans: “It will be bright/ daytime .”
        (Accept all possible answers and this point.)

        “What happens when the globe moves away from the Sun?” Ans: “It will be dark/ night time .”


    • Tell students that night and day happens because the earth moves around the sun.
    		T-S
    15 minExplain l

    • Launch a learning story to learn more about how day and night occur and reiterate the concept of the earth’s rotation.
    • Do the interactive activities in the learning video with the students.
      After each pause in the activity, ask the students questions to reiterate the concept taught.

        “Why is there day?”
        “Why is there night?”
        "What happens when the Earth rotates to face the Sun?”
        Ans: “It will be bright/daytime .”

        “What happens when the Earth rotates to face away from the Sun?”
        Ans: “It will be dark/ night time .”


    • Introduce the Flashcards – Day and night
    • Students will have some pictures of different keywords used to help describe the Earth’s rotation in the day and night (i.e. Earth, rotation, Sun, day, night)
    • Guide the students to recognize these terms and what they represent/mean

        “This is the Sun.”
        “This is the Earth.”
        ‘It is day time.’


    • Hold up two cards at any one time and guide the students to recognize the relationship between the 2 terms. (if the students are unsure, the teacher can either prompt or give them the answer after going through all the pictures).

        “The Earth can rotate.’
        ‘It is day time when the sun rises.’

    		T-S
    5 minBreak
    5 minRecap

    • Review the terms used to describe the earth’s rotations during the day using the Flashcards.

        “What is this?”
        Ans: “This is the Sun.”

        “What happens when the Earth rotates to face the Sun?”
        Ans: “It will be bright/ day time .”

        “What happens when the Earth rotates to face away from the Sun?”
        Ans: “It will be dark/night time .”

    		T-S
    5 minExplain ll

    • Go through the presentation slides – Day and night
    • Show and explain how the Earth rotates throughout the day.
    • Teach the students to observe and understand the relationships between the different terms.

        “What happens when the Earth rotates to face the Sun?”
        Ans: “It will be bright/ daytime .”

        “What happens when the Earth rotates to face away from the Sun?”
        Ans: “It will be dark/ night time .”

    		T-S
    30 minElaborate l

    • Have students begin to prepare for the hands-on-activity.
    • Tell students that they are going to create their day and night craft.

      Watch demo video for hands-on activity.

    • They will use loose materials such as paper plates and stickers.
      After they have completed their craft, students will showcase their work and present it to the class.
    • Elicit from students:

        “What is on your paper plate?”
        “How do you know this is day or night?”

    		T-S
    5 minEvaluate

    • Show students Presentation - Evaluate.
    • Go through each slide and volunteer students to answer the questions.
    • Prompt students as they do not know how to read the questions. Ask guiding questions to lead them to the answers.
    		T-S
    5 minWrap-up routine.