Summer and Winter Solstice
1 minK1st2nd3rd4th5thScienceSocial Studies
Summary
As our Earth revolves around the sun, our daylight hours get longer and shorter depending its orientation. Learn more about why we celebrate the longest and shortest days of the year.
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Teaching resources
Discussion questions
Discussion
Short explainer (1 min) from PBS LearningMedia's *All About the Holidays*.
- What makes one day of the year the longest?
- How does Earth's tilt change how much daylight a place gets?
- Why have people marked the solstices for thousands of years?
Quick work-a-long
Vocabulary: solstice, tilt, daylight, orbit.
Try it: Look up sunrise and sunset for today and for the next solstice, then write which day is longer and by how much.