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Grade 1. In 10 lessons, students explain phenomena about the Sun and the Moon. In the science challenge, students apply what they have learned to solve the problem of kids having to go to school in the dark at some times of the year, when it is difficult to see or be seen. Module includes a teacher guide, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Grade 1. Module Highlights: In this module, students explain phenomena about the Sun and the Moon and solve a problem related to kids going to school in the dark. Students explain the phenomenon of a girl able to see her toys outside after dinner on some days but not on other days. Students explain the phenomenon of the Moon appearing as different shapes and in different parts of the sky. In the science challenge, students solve the problem of kids having to go to school in the dark at some times of the year, when it is difficult to see or be seen.

This module includes a teacher guide, 16 Smithsonian Science Stories student readers, and enough materials for 32 students to use 1 time.

Student Readers Available HERE

Alignment to the Next Generation Science Standards*
Performance Expectations

• 1-ESS1-1: Use observations of the Sun, Moon, and stars to describe patterns that can be predicted.
• 1-ESS1-2: Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the time of year.
• 1-PS4-2: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects in darkness can be seen only when illuminated.

• Patterns of the motion of the Sun, Moon, and stars in the sky can be observed, described, and predicted.

• Seasonal patterns of sunrise and sunset can be observed, described, and predicted.

• Objects can be seen if light is available to illuminate them or if they give off their own light.

Science and Engineering Practices
Focal:

• Analyzing and interpreting data

• Patterns

Phenomena and Problems Storyline
Lesson Summaries
Lesson 1: Where Are My Toys?
Students use observations of a light shining in a box as evidence to explain that we see objects when light shines on them.
Lesson 2: Locating the Light
Students use patterns observed in pictures of objects as evidence to explain that Ada can see her toys because light is shining on them.
Lesson 3: Oksana, Issa, and Layla
Students use observations of the sky as evidence to explain that the Sun causes it to be bright outside. Students explain that the Sun is in the sky when Ada can see her toys well and the Sun is not in the sky when Ada can't see her toys as well.
Lesson 4: Lydia and Shirley
Students collect observations from a story to identify the pattern that we experience the most daylight in the summer and the least daylight in the winter. Students figure out that Ada's three observations of her toys likely took place as summer changed to fall or fall changed to winter.
Lesson 5: Sunset
Students use sunset times on four days in Ada's town to explain that Ada could see her toys well the first time she tried to pick up her toys because it was summer. Then she had trouble seeing her toys because it was fall and the Sun set earlier.
Lesson 6: Sunlight on the National Mall
Students use observations of the Sun's position in the sky on different days of the year as evidence to explain what caused the Sun to set earlier in the fall compared to the summer.
Lesson 7: Mysterious Moon
Students use a model of the Moon to explain that the Moon appears to change shape because light shines on it and we see different amounts of the lit-up part.
Lesson 8: Where Is the Moon?
Students observe two models of the Moon's apparent motion in the sky on two different days. Students use their observations to answer questions about why Ada observed the Moon at different times of the day and in different positions in the sky.
Science Challenge
Lesson 9: Oksana's Walk to School, Part 1
Students analyze sunrise and sunset data from Oksana's town to identify that kids in Oksana's school go to school before the Sun rises in the winter.
Lesson 10: Oksana's Walk to School, Part 2
Students investigate three possible solutions: kids carry flashlights, kids carry glow sticks, and more streetlights. Students recommend one of the solutions and explain how that solution will allow kids to see and be seen.

*Next Generation Science Standards® is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.