The Shining Sun

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

• Did you know the sun is a star?

The sun is the closest star to the earth. This is where people on the earth get their heat and light from. If you were to eat ice cream out in the hot sun, the heat from the sun would cause your ice cream to melt.

• How do you feel when you stand directly in the sunlight?

You may have said the sun would make you warm up or feel hot. Without the sun, people would not be able to live on the earth. The earth would be completely frozen!

Happily for all living things, the sun is hot enough to give all living things on the earth the heat and light they need to survive. Even though the sun is ninety-two million miles away from the earth, it is still hot enough to make the earth a livable place for plants, animals, and people.

• You know the sun gives the earth light and heat, but how does this heat and light reach the earth?

The sun has a core that is extremely hot. The core of the sun is in the middle of the sun. This core transfers energy to the outside layer of the sun. The energy (heat and light) travels through space and to the earth in about eight minutes.

The sun can be found in the middle of the solar system. Everything in our solar system revolves around the sun. This means the the earth moves around the sun.

• Did you know it takes the earth 365 days to revolve around the sun one time?
• Do you know what 365 days is called?

A year!

The earth's revolution around the sun affects the seasons.

• Do the seasons change in your area?
• How do they change?

The sun is the reason living things are able to live on the earth.

• What two types of energy come from the sun?

After saying aloud the two types of energy that come from the sun, move on to the Got It? section.