The Sun is HOT!

It's a hot, hot day in the middle of summer. You just spent three hours outside, swimming and playing catch with some of your friends in the neighborhood. You head inside for a cool glass of lemonade. A few hours later, you begin to notice your skin is starting to sting. As it begins to turn red, you start thinking about the events of the day and what could've caused this to happen. During your time outside, you received a suburn, a nasty reminder of how powerful the Sun really is.

Students will perform two tasks that illustrate the effects of the Sun on the physical environment. 

• Using paint sponges, students will paint shapes on a piece of paper, then take the pages outside to dry.
  
• Students will construct a simple sundial using an index card, Play-doh, and a popsicle stick.  They will place the stick in the center of the card and use the Play-Doh to ensure it does not fall over.  The teacher will instruct students to place their creations in the window sill and, using a crayon, mark the path of the shadow of the popsicle stick.

While the paint pages are drying, the teacher talk to students about the Sun and it's importance for daily life. They will explain that the Sun is a star, just like the ones they see at night. However, the Sun is much closer than any other star, which is why it appears so big when other stars look like small dots. 

The teacher will talk about when we can see the Sun and what happens when it "goes away" at night. Also, the teacher will elaborate on how the Sun provides power and energy for plants, which give us food to eat. As helpful as the Sun is, it can also burn our skin if we are outside for very long on a hot day, which is why it is helpful to wear sunscreen.

The teacher will meet with students and review their homemade sundials. The teacher will ask them to explain why they think the shadow is in a different place than where they drew the crayon mark earlier. Furthermore, the teacher will take the students outside to view their paintings (which should be dry).  The teacher will obtain a analysis of student comprehension based on their ability to apply transferred information and describe why the paintings were able to dry so fast and why the Sun isn't where it was before.

The teacher will ask students to return to the carpet for whole-group review. The teacher may call on students to volunteer ideas about the Sun (i.e., Is the Sun hot or cold? What happens if you leave something wet outside? Does the Sun really go away at night?)

Missouri Early Learning Standard, Science, Earth and Space:

III.3.b. Solves problems involving Earth and space, makes predictions based on experiences with Earth and space.