Resource Guide

CONCEPT FOCUS:

Spinning Trough Space - Earth, Seasons and Leap Year

Using a flashlight and a ball, students model Earth’s rotation and orbit. They observe how the tilt of Earth’s axis and orbit cause day/night and seasonal differences and use it to understand mathematical concepts including fractions and time.

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcome 9

What is out there in space?

5.9.1 I can demonstrate using drawings or a model why we have day and night.

5.9.2 I can explain what a leap year is.

5.9.3 I can explain how seasons change.

Resources provided

Worksheet (draw/label/fill-in-the-blanks)

Suggested Activities

Activity 1: Earth, Sun and Seasons Demonstration

Resources: Flashlight/lamp, globe or ball, stickers (simple coloured dots will suffice), darkened classroom if possible.

Teacher setup:

Place a sticker (e.g. red dot) on the globe/ball to represent Malta.
Explain that the flashlight is the Sun and the globe is Earth.
Keep Earth tilted slightly throughout the activity (about 23.5°, but no need to explain the exact number).

Steps:

Ask students: “Why do you think we have day and night?”
Turn on the flashlight and shine it at the globe.
- Suggestion: Turn off classroom lights and close any windows to make the classroom as dark as possible. This will make the contrast on the globe more clear.
Slowly rotate the globe.
Ask students to watch Malta and identify:
- When Malta faces the Sun → daytime
- When Malta faces away → nighttime
Ask:
- “Does the Sun move around Earth here?”
- “What is actually moving?”
Ask students if they know what a hemisphere is. Then explain that a hemisphere is exactly half a sphere, hence the Earth is divided into two hemispheres. Point to the North and South hemispheres on the globe to familiarise the students.
Next, slowly move the globe around the flashlight to model Earth’s orbit.
Keep Earth tilted in the same direction as it moves.
Pause at four positions around the orbit and discuss:
- Which hemisphere receives more sunlight?
- What season might this represent?
Explain simply:
- More direct sunlight = warmer seasons
- Less direct sunlight = colder seasons

Teacher prompts:

“What would happen if Earth did not spin?”
“Would every country have the same season?”
“Why do you think December in Malta feels cold, while the same month feels hot in Australia? What season would each be?”

Activity 2: Human Earth Orbit Game – Understanding Leap Year

Version 1: Indoor Activity With Counters

Resources:

1 large counter/object to represent the Sun
1 counter to represent the Earth
A large circle cut into four equal quarter pieces (paper or card)
1 full circle labelled 1 whole day
A circular orbit drawn on paper, the board, or the floor
Year labels: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4

Step 1: Set up the model

Place the Sun counter in the centre of the circle.
Place the Earth counter on the orbit at the starting point.
Explain: Earth travels around the Sun. One complete journey around the Sun is called an orbit.

Step 2: Introduce the length of a year

Ask: How many days does Earth take to travel once around the Sun?
Explain: Earth takes a little more than 365 days.
Show 365 and say: Earth needs a tiny extra piece of a day.

Step 3: Compare this with the calendar

Ask: How many days are in a normal calendar year?
Students answer: 365 days.
Explain: Earth takes a little more than 365 days, but our calendar only counts 365 in a normal year. The tiny extra piece is left over each year.

Step 4: Starting the rotations

Show the circle cut into four equal quarter pieces.
Explain: Each year, Earth leaves over one quarter piece of extra time.
Show that four quarters make one whole circle/day.
For Year 1:
- Move Earth around the Sun once.
- Give students one quarter‑circle piece.
- Explain: This quarter shows the small extra piece of time left over.
- Repeat for each Year 2, 3 and 4. Each time give students a quarter piece. You can ask the students how many pieces they have after each rotation.

Step 5: Once the 4 Rotations are done:

Ask: What happens when we have four quarters?
Children answer: They make a whole circle.
Students assemble the four quarters into the full circle labelled “1 whole day”.

Step 6: Introduce the leap day

Explain: After four years, the four quarter pieces make one whole extra day.
Show the full circle and label it Leap Day – 29 February.

Explain: We add this extra day to the calendar.
Explain:
- Normal year = 365 days
- Leap year = 366 days
A leap year has one extra day added.

Step 7: Reinforce what is changing

Clarify: Earth does not move faster or slower in a leap year. Earth keeps moving the same way. It is the calendar that changes by adding one extra day.

Step 8: Check for understanding

Ask students:

How long does Earth take to orbit the Sun?
How many days are in a normal year?
What small piece of time is left over each year?
What happens when we collect four quarter pieces?
What date is added during a leap year?

Version 2: Outdoor Activity

Resources: Open space (ideally outside or in a large classroom).

Teacher setup:

Select one student to be the Sun.
Select another student to be Earth.
Select one student to track Earth’s original starting position before the first year.
Select another student to track Earth’s new starting position each year.

Steps:

The “Sun” stands in the middle. The “Earth” walks around the Sun in a circle (but explain that in reality the orbit follows more of an oval shape than a circle).
Explain and demonstrate: One complete orbit is roughly equal to one year.
Ask exactly how many days it takes for one complete orbit. The correct answer is 365 days and one quarter of a day.
Now, ask: But, how many days do we have on the calendar in a standard year? The answer is: 365 days. We round down to 365 days for simplicity, so we ignore the extra quarter of a day. But that quarter of a day we are ignoring has to be accounted for, so every four years we count an extra day, which we call a leap year.
Demonstrate: Ask “Earth” to walk around “the Sun” until they are almost back to their starting position, but tell them to stop one tiny step before reaching it. Demonstrate that this is 365 days, so they would need an extra step to show the extra quarter day. The new starting position is marked and another year/rotation is started.
Repeat for three more years, each time the student stops a tiny step further from their starting position. By the fourth year, he will be a good distance away from his original starting position (should be about one big step).
Ask: “What happens when we put four quarter days together?”
Students calculate: ¼ + ¼ + ¼ + ¼ = 1 whole day
Explain: That extra day becomes 29th February in a leap year. So the student now takes a big step to compensate for it.
Explain: Hence non-leap years have 365 days, but leap years have 366 days. Clarify that one complete orbit always takes exactly 365 days and 6 hours, the only thing that changes is how we measure the calendar year.

Activity 3: Worksheet Consolidation Activity

The associated worksheet can be worked out in the classroom if there is time, or else assigned as homework for the students to consolidate what they have learned.

Cross-curricular links

Mathematics – Measurement and Time (Leap Year): Understanding fractions in time (¼ day) and concept of calendar adjustments.
Geography – Location and Climate: Understanding seasonal changes in hemispheres and their effect on environments.