Summer is the warmest season, when the Sun is highest in the sky and there are more hours of daylight.

Winter is the coldest season, when the Sun is lowest in the sky and there are fewer hours of daylight.

Something is tilted if it is at an angle to the horizontal or vertical.

An orbit is the path one object takes around another object.

Seasons on Earth

Science

In the Gravity in space unit, they will build on this knowledge to learn to how gravitational forces cause orbital motion and about stellar evolution and cosmology, including red-shift and the big bang. 

In primary science, pupils learnt about the cause of day and night, the movement of the Earth orbiting the Sun and the Moon orbiting the Earth, and about stars and planets we can see in the night sky.

Our solar system and beyond

The dashed blue line in the picture represents Earth's tilted {{}} of rotation.

In countries that have summers and winters, the seasons change because Earth’s tilted axis does not change {{}} as Earth orbits the Sun.

Which image best represents Earth's orbit of the Sun?

Places at the equator have warmer and colder seasons (summers and winters).

Places at the equator stay close to being face-on to the Sun all year.

The equator has summer in between when the northern and southern hemispheres do.

The Sun's rays are always more spread out at the equator, than at Earth's poles.

Which statement about places at the equator is true? 

It is June because the nothern hemisphere has summer.

It is June because the southern hemisphere has summer.

It is December because the southern hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun.

It is December because the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun.

Which month is represented in this image, and why? The pink lines are the paths of the UK and southern Chile as Earth spins. The yellow arrows are the Sun's rays.

Different places become more and less 'face on' to the Sun over a year.

A place makes different angles to the Sun's rays over a year.

Earth's tilt does not change direction as Earth orbits the Sun.

The Sun's rays become more and less spread out over the ground over a year.

Earth's tilt makes places closer and further from the Sun over a year.

Which of the statements help to explain seasons on Earth? 

When it is winter in northern Europe, what season is it in South Africa?

What angle is Earth titled at compared with the plane of its orbit?

What place on Earth experiences 24 hours of daylight on 25th December?

Which places on Earth get the most light from the Sun?

A child living in York is writing out their address for an alien. Put the places in correct order, starting with the city.

This lesson will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Seasons on Earth

Lesson outcome

This lesson will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.