Now that we've figured out patterns with the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, and even other stars, students have wanted to know more about the constellations that appear yearly in the sky!

We took our model that we built and are doing some research to help us better understand more about these star groups that show up yearly!  We've even decided that the 3D printer in our classroom would help us show these constellations, so we're going to figure out how to use that, too!

Now that we've figured out patterns with the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth, we're curious if there are other patterns that exist with all the other stars that are out there!  

Using some research, we identified some visible constellations from the northern hemisphere (where we live) and figured out when we see them (like during which months).

We know that the Earth makes a trip around the Sun  in one year, and that each of the twelve months in our calendar makes up a certain number of those days each.  With our research, we pinpointed when we see each constellation, uncovering that we see most constellations during multiple months. 

​From there, we figured out that over the range of months the constellation is seen, we could place the constellation in the middle of that range.  Lo and behold, we built out a map of when we see the various constellations, and also uncovered that every year, at the same exact time, we see the same constellations!  Another pattern yet again!

We're really curious about all the stars that make up each of the constellations, so we'll be digging deeper to do some research.  Before long, we'll be putting all the pieces together about all these patterns we've figured out in the sky!

We started to put together the ideas that something that's farther away appears smaller than something that's closer.  In terms of stars, this also means that something will appear dimmer when it's farther away, even if it's bigger.

We took to using the technology we have available to help us collect some tangible evidence to support our thinking, all while using some measurement and "circle" skills!  

We're starting to see so many patterns emerge...

Patterns with...
1. The Sun
2.  The Earth
3.  The Moon

​Are there patterns to all these other stars in the night sky, too?

With all this talk about why we see the Sun during the day and no other stars (even though we know they're there), we've started to actually wonder just how big the Sun is compared to all the other stars out there.  Since we can't go into space ourselves, a scaled video would have to do, and this photo shares a good estimate of scale.

Knowing that we don't only see the moon at night but other stars, too, we ventured off into trying to figure out some of the answers to our questions we have about stars.  One phenomenon that stuck out to us is the fact that we see the stars at night, but not during the day.  Why is that? Why do we only see the Sun during the day?

After some 2D modeling and offering feedback in the form of questioning our peers, we settled on building a 3D model yet again!  

Our modeling suggested a bunch of things to us:
1.  The Sun is super close to the Earth. That's why it appears bigger and brighter than the rest.
2. All the other stars are farther away than the Sun.  In fact, all the other planets (and their moons if they have them) are closer than any other star.  
3.  Since we see stars at all times of the year, they must be everywhere...not just on one side.

But this got us to wondering about the size of other stars.  How do they compare to the Sun if we can see them and they're SO FAR AWAY!?!?!?  Yup, that's the next thing we need to figure out!

Now that we've figured out why we see the moon during the day, we're trying to figure out why the moon appears different shapes.  We built some models both in our notebooks and physically together, too.  After some intense building of our models, we came to consensus on why the moon appears different shapes!  

We naturally wanted to know how long it takes the moon to orbit the Earth (knowing this orbit and our perspective from Earth causes us to see the moon differently).  So with some calendars of various moon phases, we figured out this takes roughly 29 days to go from New Moon to New Moon!

Next steps...figure out all our questions that relate to other stars besides the Sun!

After figuring out why we see the sunrise and sunset, it seemed natural for us to explore patterns with something else that appears in the Earth's sky--the Moon!

We had lots of questions around seeing the moon during the day and its changing shape.  After much modeling both as tables and as a whole class, we're starting to put some pieces together with the patterns that have emerged.

1.  Something is only visible if there's light on it and that light can come back to our eyes (like a person on the Earth).
2.  Since the moon isn't a light source, it needs to be illuminated by the Sun in order to see it, and if we're going to see it from the Earth, then there needs to be a clear path between the two.
3.  Only half the moon gets lit at a time, just like half the Earth.

Through much trial and error...we figured it out!  We know exactly where the moon can be in order to see it from the Earth both during the day and the night! 

Check out our 3D and 2D models below.

We're naturally asking now about how the moon changes shape...since we know why we see it, we're not really sure why it appears full sometimes, and waxing or waning other times!

 Our first idea to pursue was how the sun appears to rise and set, knowing the video we watched showed exactly the opposite--a sun that never sets. We thought it was important to understand this phenomenon before we argue the opposite. Our 2D models in our notebooks and Google Drawing had many limitations since we agreed there was movement involved.  So we turned to developing some physical models with things we agreed could be the Sun and the Earth.  Students captured some evidence (using the webcams on their chromebooks) before we shared our thinking and established consensus!  

With all these great questions, we have to decide how we're going to figure out answers to our questions.  We spent today brainstorming investigation ideas and here's what we came up with!

We're recognizing that we've got a lot of investigations to plan and develop and have thought that understanding how the earth, sun, and moon interact might be the best start.  So we're off to develop a model to show how the sun rises and sets.