Year 5 · Science

Earths Rotation: Day And Night

6 checked activities 2 video matches

Start here

Focus on why do we have day and night. Start with “Explore Night and Day and Why We Have Time Zones”, then explain the idea in your own words.

Understand the key idea

Day and night KS2 learning starts with Earth's rotation. Earth rotates once on its axis in about 24 hours. The side facing the Sun experiences daylight while the side turned away experiences night, making the Sun appear to move across the sky.

Why do we have day and night?

Earth is approximately spherical and only the half facing the Sun is lit at any moment. Earth rotates from west to east around an imaginary axis through the North and South Poles. One complete rotation takes about 24 hours, so a location passes through daylight and darkness once during each rotation.

This model explains sunrise and sunset without treating the Sun as if it travels around Earth each day. From the ground, the Sun appears to move from east to west across the sky because the Earth beneath us is turning in the opposite direction. Shadows change direction and length as the apparent position of the Sun changes.

Rotation, orbit and the seasons

Rotation is Earth's daily spin on its axis. Orbit is Earth's movement around the Sun and takes about 365 days. The seasons are linked to Earth's tilted axis as Earth travels around its orbit, not to Earth being much closer to the Sun in summer. Keeping these two movements separate prevents a common Year 5 misconception.

A day-and-night model can show rotation clearly, but a seasons model also needs the axis to remain tilted in the same direction as Earth moves around the Sun. That changes the angle and duration of sunlight received by each hemisphere through the year.

How time zones fit the model

Different longitudes face the Sun at different stages of Earth's rotation. That is why local time differs around the world and why one country can be starting its day while another is already in darkness. Time zones organise these differences into agreed clock times; they do not cause day and night.

A useful explanation names the movement, links it to the evidence and avoids adding an unnecessary orbit. For example: Earth rotates once in about 24 hours, so our location turns towards the Sun for daylight and away from it for night.

Rotation: one turn of Earth on its axis, about 24 hours.
Orbit: one journey of Earth around the Sun, about 365 days.
Apparent solar movement: the Sun seems to cross the sky because Earth rotates.
Time zones: agreed clock regions that reflect different local stages of Earth's rotation.

Common mix-up

Day and night are not caused by the Sun travelling around Earth each day. They are caused by Earth rotating.

Try this first

Use a lamp as the Sun and a ball as Earth.
Rotate the ball and observe which half is lit.
Explain how the same rotation produces different local times around the world.

Ask: Why can it be daytime in one country while another country is in darkness?

Curriculum check: National curriculum: science programmes of study

Year 5 learners practise why do we have day and night.

The activities include Explore Night and Day and Why We Have Time Zones, Explore the Effects of the Movement of the Earth, Investigate What Causes Our Seasons, and related practice. The checked support below includes video, interactive, teaching, lesson. Open a resource in its provider's website and choose the format that best helps the learner explain the idea independently.

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Activities covered

Explore Night and Day and Why We Have Time Zones
Explore the Effects of the Movement of the Earth
Investigate What Causes Our Seasons
Understand How Day Turns into Night
Understand How Our Seasons are Related to the Movement of the Earth
Understand How the Movement of the Earth Causes Night and Day

Learning path

These same-subject links were reviewed as the foundations for this topic and the learning it directly unlocks.

Learn this first

Year 1Weather Seasons And Day Length
Day length is observed at Year 1 before rotation is used to explain it.
Year 1Changes In The Four Seasons
First observation of predictable seasonal and daily change.

Where this leads next

Year 5Movement Of Earth And The Planets
Extends rotation about an axis to orbit around the Sun.
Year 5Movement Of The Moon
Applies the same motion reasoning to the Moon's orbit.
Year 7Seasons And The Earths Tilt
Combines rotation and orbit with axial tilt to explain the seasons.

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