Skip to main content
Sign in Create a free account
Varsity Tutors
Sign in
Back to lessons

1st Grade Science (Next Generation Science Standards) • Space Systems: Patterns and Cycles

What Does the Sky Do Every Day?

Let's find out why the Sun, Moon, and stars follow the same path across the sky again and again!

Explore the lesson 5 min read
A microscope with leaf and experiment flask for elementary science discovery
Inside this lesson 9 sections 4 questions 4 figures

SECTION 1

What's Happening in the Sky?

ℹ
🔍 LOOK AT THIS!

This happens every single day! It never skips a day. Isn't that amazing?

MorningNoonEveningEastWest
The Sun rises in the east, moves high at noon, and sets in the west.
ℹ
💭 THINK ABOUT IT

SECTION 2

Big Ideas About the Sky

The sky changes during the day and night. But these changes happen in a pattern. That means the same things happen again and again.

1

The Sun Moves Across the Sky

Every day, the Sun looks like it moves. It comes up on one side of the sky. It goes across. Then it goes down on the other side. This happens every single day.
2

Day and Night Take Turns

When the Sun is up, we have daytime. When the Sun goes down, we have nighttime. Day and night take turns. This pattern never stops!
3

Stars Come Out at Night

When it gets dark, you can see stars. Stars look like tiny dots of light. They come out every night if the sky is clear. The stars also move slowly across the sky.

SECTION 3

Let's Try It!

Scientists watch the sky carefully. They write down what they see. This is called making observations. That means looking closely and remembering what you notice. Let's try it!

ℹ
🔬 LET'S INVESTIGATE!

What you need: crayons and paper

  • In the morning, look out a window. Draw where you see the Sun. Is it low or high?
  • At lunchtime, look again. Draw the Sun where it is now.
  • In the afternoon, look one more time. Draw the Sun again.
  • Do this for 3 days. Are your drawings the same each day?

You are thinking like a scientist! 🎉

My Sun Observation ChartMorningNoonAfternoonDay 1Day 2Day 3LowHigh!LowLowHigh!LowLowHigh!Low✨ The pattern is the same every day! ✨
A chart showing Sun observations at three times of day across three days, illustrating that the pattern repeats each day.

SECTION 4

What We Discovered

When we watch the Sun for many days, we see the same thing happen over and over. The Sun comes up. It goes high. Then it goes down. This is a predictable pattern. That means we can guess what will happen next because it always happens the same way.

The Moon follows a pattern too! At night, the Moon moves across the sky. But the Moon also changes shape over many nights. Sometimes it looks round. Sometimes it looks like a banana!

The Moon Changes Shape!But it always follows the same pattern.New Moon(dark)Crescent(banana)Half MoonFull Moon(big circle!)Crescent(again!)🔄 Then the pattern starts over!
The Moon changes shape over time, from a thin crescent to a full circle and back again, showing a repeating pattern.

The sky gives us clues about what will happen next. If the Sun went up this morning, we know it will go up tomorrow morning too. We can predict it. That means we can say what will happen before it happens!

SECTION 5

Patterns Are Everywhere!

A pattern is when something happens the same way again and again. Can you spot patterns? They are everywhere — not just in the sky!

Where?What Pattern?
☀️ The SkyThe Sun comes up every morning and goes down every evening.
🌧️ The WeatherSummer is hot. Winter is cold. This pattern repeats every year.
🐛 AnimalsBirds sing in the morning. Owls hoot at night. They do this every day.
🌸 PlantsFlowers open in the spring and lose their leaves in the fall. This happens every year.

SECTION 6

How People Use Sky Patterns

People have watched the sky for a very long time. Sky patterns help us in many ways!

ℹ
🌍 PEOPLE USE SCIENCE!

Can you design a way to track the sky? You could make a simple chart. Draw the Moon every night for a week. See if you can spot the pattern!

SECTION 7

Words to Know

ℹ
📖 KEY VOCABULARY
  • Pattern — When something happens the same way again and again.
  • Observe — To look at something very carefully and notice things about it.
  • Predict — To say what you think will happen next, based on a pattern.
  • Sun — The big, bright star we see in the sky during the day.
  • Moon — The big, round object we see in the sky, mostly at night. It changes shape over time.

SECTION 8

Show What You Know!

Question 1: Warm-Up

Mia looked outside every morning for a week. She noticed the Sun always appeared on the same side of her house. What does this tell us?
  • A. The Sun rises in a predictable pattern each day.
  • B. The Sun appears on a different side of her house each day.
  • C. The Sun only comes out some mornings, not every morning.
Show answer
A is correct. Because the Sun appeared on the same side of Mia's house every morning, this shows the Sun rises in a predictable pattern. B is wrong because Mia observed it was the same side each day, not a different side. C is wrong because Mia saw the Sun every morning, showing it appears each day as part of its pattern.

Question 2: Building Skills

Leo drew pictures of the Moon each night for many nights. He noticed the Moon seemed to change shape over time, then looked the same as it did at the start. What sky pattern did Leo observe?
  • A. The Moon gets bigger every single night and never gets smaller.
  • B. The Moon's shape changes in a pattern that repeats.
  • C. The Moon stays exactly the same shape every night.
Show answer
B is correct. Leo observed that the Moon's shape changed and then returned to how it looked at the start, which means the pattern repeats. A is wrong because the Moon does not only get bigger — Leo saw it return to its starting shape, meaning it also gets smaller. C is wrong because Leo clearly noticed the Moon's shape changed from night to night.

Question 3: Building Skills

A class kept a chart of when the sky got dark each evening for two months. In the first month, it got dark at about 6:00 PM. In the second month, it got dark at about 5:30 PM. What can the students say based on their observations?
  • A. The time it gets dark never changes throughout the year.
  • B. Darkness happens at a random time that you cannot predict.
  • C. The amount of daylight can change in a pattern over time.
Show answer
C is correct. The students' chart shows that the time it gets dark shifted gradually from one month to the next, which is a predictable pattern in daylight over time. A is wrong because their own data showed the time changed between the two months. B is wrong because the change was gradual and steady, not random — it moved from 6:00 PM to 5:30 PM in a clear way.

Question 4: Challenge

Tara noticed that stars appear in the sky at night, but she cannot see them during the day. Her friend says the stars disappear during the day. Which answer best uses observations to describe this sky pattern?
  • A. Stars can be seen at night but not during the day because the Sun's light makes the sky too bright to see them.
  • B. Stars fly away from the sky every morning and come back every night.
  • C. Stars can only be seen on some nights because they turn on and off like a lamp.
Show answer
A is correct. The predictable pattern is that stars are visible at night and not during the day because the Sun makes the daytime sky too bright to see them. This pattern repeats every day. B is wrong because stars do not fly away — they are still in the sky during the day but are hidden by the Sun's brightness. C is wrong because stars are not turning on and off; they can be seen every clear night, which is part of the predictable pattern.

SECTION 9

What's Next?

ℹ
🔮 WHAT'S NEXT?

Varsity Tutors • 1st Grade Science (NGSS) • Predictable Sky Patterns