Student Pages - Lesson 3 - The Seasons, The Tilt Of The Earth, Day And Night Quiz
It's all due to the way the Earth spins on its (1)____________________ while it travels around the sun each year. We wouldn't have any seasons at all if the Earth's axis was straight up and down. But because the Earth's axis (2)____________________, the amount of sunlight each part of the Earth gets changes throughout the year.
There are four (3)____________________ during the year: summer, fall, winter, and spring. When it is summer north of the equator, it is (4)____________________ south of the equator. That's because the North Pole is pointed (5)____________________ the sun and the South Pole is pointed (6)____________________ the sun. During the summer the rays of the sun are more direct, and the days are (7)____________________. During the winter the days are (8)____________________.
The longest day of the year north of the equator is called the (9)____________________. It's also called the first day of (10)____________________. The days ahead are hot and great for sports like swimming. The shortest day north of the equator is called the (11)____________________. It is the first day of (12)____________________. Each day from the summer solstice to the winter solstice gets a little shorter. People long ago feared each year that the sun would go away forever. That's where the tradition comes of burning a Yule log in the fireplace that would last all night long. That way, the sun would be encouraged to come back.
Halfway between each solstice is an (13)____________________. On those days, the daylight and night are both 12 hours long. In the spring, at the vernal equinox, the sun (14)____________________ at the North Pole for the first time in six months. At the same time the sun (15)____________________ at the South Pole for the first time in six months. The poles each have six month long days and nights! The penguins at the South Pole and the polar bears at the North Pole must be very happy to see an end to those long nights.
Use the following words to fill in the blanks.
longer
shorter
winter
summer
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