Earth's Rotation  As the earth revolves around the sun it is spinning or rotating like a top. It spins around an imaginary line called its axis.  The earth makes one complete rotation in 23 hours and 56 minutes.

 

Earth's Revolution  Earth revolves once around the sun in about 365 days (one year.) The path it follows is known as its orbit. During its elliptical orbit, its distance from the sun changes.  The closest point is earth's perihelion.  The farthest point is its aphelion.

 

Seasons  Because of the tilt of the earth's axis (23.5°), the amount of sunlight falling on a region of the earth changes throughout the year.  Solstices and Equinoxes  zenith - highest point in the sky, directly overhead  solstice - when the noon sun is directly overhead  equinox - when the noon sun is directly over the equator

Material courtesy of http://vortex.plymouth.edu/sun/sun.html

THE MOON AND THE EARTH
The moon is the earth's only natural satellite.  It has almost no atmosphere, no weather, no water, no weathering of the surface.

Moon has an elliptical orbit around the earth.  The gravity of the earth and the moon pull on each other.
Moon's closest point to earth - perigee
Moon's farthest point from earth - apogee

The moon rotates once on its axis every 27.3 days
The moon revolves once around the earth every 27.3 days
Because of this the same side of the moon always faces the earth.

The Phases of the Moon Phases of the Moon

The moon is visible from earth because sunlight reflects off its surface. Half of the moon's surface is always lighted by the sun, but as the moon orbits the earth the amount of the lighted surface that we can see changes.
 

Tides Matter exerts a gravitational pull on other matter.  The sun and the moon exert a gravitational pull on the earth. Liquid water shows the effects of this gravitational pull more than the solid earth.  The ocean surface rises and falls because of the gravitational pull.  These daily changes in water level are called tides.  High tide – the highest level that ocean water reaches on shore.  Low tide – the lowest level that ocean water reaches on shore.  Tide Patterns – repeat every 24 hours and 50 minutes.

Monthly tide patterns
 
 

	Spring tides – occur twice each month. Spring tides have the greatest difference between high and low tides.  (Occur during full or new moon phases)
	Neap tides – have the least difference between high and low tides.

ECLIPSES - The word eclipse means "to block."  There are two kinds of eclipses, solar and lunar eclipses.  The word solar refers to the sun, and lunar refers to the moon.
In a solar eclipse, or eclipse of the sun, something must block the light of the sun.  In a lunar eclipse something blocks the light from reaching the moon.  The three objects involved are always the sun, the moon, and the earth.
 

An eclipse of  the Sun (or solar eclipse) can only occur at New Moon when the Moon passes between Earth and Sun. If the Moon's shadow happens to fall upon Earth's surface at that time, we see some portion of the Sun's disk covered or 'eclipsed' by the Moon.At least twice a year, the geometry lines up just right so that some part of the Moon's shadow falls on Earth's surface and an eclipse of the Sun is seen from that region.

 

An eclipse of the Moon (or lunar eclipse) can only occur at Full Moon, and only if the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow.

 

THE STUDENT SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

Interpret a diagram that shows how the positions of the earth, sun, and moon affect the tides, phases of the moon, and/or eclipses.
Compare the physical characteristics of the components of the solar system, and compare the earth to other planets.