Year 5 · Autumn 1.2 · Step 7

Earth & Space

Night and day

One 24-hour spin, one day and one night — the lit side faces the Sun, and the Sun never moves.

Arrival Starter I do We do Independent Exit ticket
🌱 Seedling · Working towards 🌿 Sapling · Expected 🌳 Oak · Greater depth

⏱ Whole lesson ≈ 44 min · pick a tier in the bar, or leave on "All"

Arrival 4 min

Whiteboard recap of last lesson: planet Earth.

Recap: Earth's spin

🌱 Seedling
Working towards

Fill the gaps:

Earth spins on its ___ · one spin takes ___ hours
🌿 Sapling
Expected
  1. Does the Sun move or the Earth?
  2. What is the axis?
  3. How long is one rotation?
🌳 Oak
Greater depth

Why does it look like the Sun crosses the sky each day?

Bridge into todayThat 24-hour spin does something every one of us lives by: it makes night and day.
Starter 5 min

Ask: it's daytime here — what is it on the other side of the world?

Day here, night there

When it is lunchtime in England, children in Australia are asleep. How can that be?

🌱 Seedling
Working towards

True or false: the whole Earth has daytime at once.

🌿 Sapling
Expected

Explain why one side of Earth is in daylight while the other is dark.

🌳 Oak
Greater depth

Why don't people in different countries have day at the same time?

I do · 1 6 min

Teacher models. Watch how rotation makes night and day.

Why we have night and day

▶ Can't see it? Watch "Earth's Rotation – Day and Night" on YouTube

Swap the clip: change the ID after /embed/ (now zgzC69-bzYc).

Say thisAs Earth rotates, the side facing the Sun has day and the side facing away has night. One full turn takes 24 hours, so day and night cycle round the planet.
☀️
Dayfaces the Sun
🌙
Nightfaces away
🔄
24 hoursone full turn
We do · 1 6 min

Use a globe and a lamp to show day and night.

Model it together

Lamp and globe
The lamp = the Sun (it stays still). Spin the globe: the lit side = day, the dark side = night.
"As I turn the globe, our country moves out of the light — daytime becomes night."
I do · 2 4 min

Play the animation. Bust the "Sun disappears" myth.

Turning into night

Sun ☀️ day side 🌙 night side

As your spot on Earth turns away from the Sun, day becomes night. The Sun never moves.

Bust the mythsThe Sun does not disappear at night — your side of Earth has simply turned away from it. And the Sun does not move across the sky — Earth rotates.

Watch for: "the Sun goes to sleep / moves away at night." It is Earth turning.

We do · 2 5 min

Explain time differences together.

Different times, different places

Reason it out
Only half of Earth faces the Sun at once. As it spins, different countries take turns in the light.
That is why it can be morning in one country and night in another.
Independent 10 min

On your own. Sort each statement, then write.

Night and day sorter

☀️ Day side (faces Sun)

🌙 Night side (faces away)

🚫 Myth to bust

Tap a statement to sort it…

🌱 Seedling
Working towards

Sort the statements. Then finish: It is day on the side of Earth facing the ____.

🌿 Sapling
Expected

Sort them, then explain in a sentence what causes night and day.

🌳 Oak
Greater depth

Sort them, then explain why two countries can have different times of day at once.

Exit ticket 4 min

Answer at your tier, then hand it in.

Show what you know

🌱 Seedling
Working towards
  • It is day on the side facing the ____.
  • Night and day are caused by Earth's ____.
🌿 Sapling
Expected
  1. What causes day and night?
  2. Why is it night on one side of Earth?
  3. Does the Sun move at night?
🌳 Oak
Greater depth

What would happen to night and day if the Earth stopped rotating? Explain.

🧭 Coming nextEarth has one more companion in the sky. Our final lesson: the Moon.
TA Focus · Night and day
Traps to watch

Myths: the Sun disappears at night, and the Sun moves across the sky. Both are the same error — it is Earth rotating that makes the Sun seem to rise and set.

Tier steer
Always

Earth turns; the Sun stays still. Facing the Sun = day.

Cold Call · Question bank
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