Good morning, Sunshine!
So we say. Another day has just passed and here we are about to begin another day. We proceed to do our tasks for the day then rest as the day recedes to night time.
It seems so routine, that we would normally just shrug it off. Then again, when we get scorched by the summer sun, we long for the better days of fall or the chilly winds of winter. Or when the sub-zero temperature hits, we pray for a hint of sunshine on springtime.
Before we even know it, the leaf of the calendar falls off month after month and another year will just be right behind the corner!
Time and Seasons
Time and seasons - day and night, winter, spring, summer and autumn - these happen because the earth moves.
The earth revolves around the sun as it simultaneously rotates around its axis. The axis is an imaginary line that goes through at the center of the earth from the North Pole to the South Pole. The path through which the earth revolves around the sun is called its orbit.
One complete rotation of the earth around its axis takes 24 hours or a day, while it takes 365.256 days for the earth to complete its revolution around the sun.
Day and Night
As the earth rotates around its axis, there will be parts which will face the sun directly. These places experience daytime while the other side of the earth is experiencing the darkness of night.
Activity Time!
Would you like to see how the earth looks like from space?
Nope, we are not going on a rocketship ride today. For now, we can do so by looking at a globe.
The globe is a map of the world made in the shape of a ball and attached to a support, that can be turned around at the same angle as the earth turns in space [1]
For the love of playdough, we decided to make our own "globe".
We made use of the playdough recipe I shared before and used food coloring to get our desired colors - blue for the "earth" and green for the landforms/continents.
Kuya started molding the blue playdough into a ball, which will become our "earth".
Using the green playdough, we flattened some small pieces and attached them to our blue ball.
And yes! Don't forget your axis! For this activity, we used a chopstick.
Just push the chopstick through your "North Pole" down to your "South Pole".
When you are done, turn off the lights and now shine your flashlight towards your globe. The flashlight represents the sun.
As you shine the flashlight, the lighted part of the globe experiences "daytime" while the opposite side is experiencing "nighttime".
You can ask your friend (or your brother or sister) to sit and hold the flashlight while you hold your globe and "orbit" around him by walking around him in a circular path.
One complete circle is one year! Remember, as the earth revolves around the sun, it is tilted on its axis and there will be parts that are directly hit by the sun and others that are not. They would be experiencing different seasons too.
The seasons on the Northern Hemisphere (the part of the earth above the equator) are different from that of the seasons on the Southern Hemisphere.
| Winter [2] | December 21 or 22 | June 20 or 21 |
| Spring [3] | March 20 or 21 | September 22 or 23 |
| Summer [4] | June 20 or 21 | December 21 or 22 |
| Autumn[5] | September 22 or 23 | March 20 or 21 |
Note too, that there are some places that do not experience 4 seasons, like those places situated near the equator.
The World In Constant Motion
Yup! You just woke up and hey, it's your birthday again? We are definitely not getting younger each minute. The world is constantly in action and so should we.
We have to be more productive with our time. Keep on moving! Keep on learning!
Why not put that globe out - there's lots of exciting things to learn from it. Geography, time zones, etc!
Should we do it next time?
❤️️ Arlyn
All photos are mine, taken via Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
