Astronomy & space · Grades 3–8
Earth, Moon and sky
Study guide for Grades 3 to 8: 2 worked examples and 2 practice questions. Many sky patterns come from motion: Earth spins (day and night), Earth orbits the Sun (a year), the tilted axis causes seasons, and the Moon orbits Earth (phases).
Rule and key idea
Many sky patterns come from motion: Earth spins (day and night), Earth orbits the Sun (a year), the tilted axis causes seasons, and the Moon orbits Earth (phases).
rotation → day and night · orbit → year · tilt → seasons
Worked examples
Why can’t we see stars in the daytime sky?
The stars are still there; the bright, scattered sunlight in our sky hides them.
Sunlight is much brighter and hides them.
Why does Polaris (the North Star) seem to stay almost still in the night sky?
As Earth spins, stars near the axis appear to circle around Polaris, which barely moves.
It lies almost in line with Earth’s axis, above the North Pole.
Try two questions
About how long does Earth take to travel once around the Sun?
- about 10 years
- about 24 hours
- about 30 days
- about 365 days
About how long does the Moon take to go through all of its phases?
- about 7 days
- about 24 hours
- about 29.5 days
- about 365 days
Answers and reasoning
Answers and marking notes
- about 365 days
One orbit of the Sun takes about 365 days: one year.
- about 29.5 days
The cycle of lunar phases takes about 29.5 days.
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