VC2S2U08

Earth is one of 8 planets in our solar system; observing the sky reveals patterns in the changing positions of the Sun, Moon, planets and stars

• exploring images, models and representations of the solar system and identifying Earth and other planets, such as images or videos of Earth from space, artworks depicting space, star trail images and physical models of the solar system
• observing that some phenomena in the sky are only visible during the day and others during the night
• creating a class Moon diary across a month, identifying patterns in the changing shape of the Moon and making predictions
• observing and describing short-term and longer-term patterns of events, and regular and irregular events, that occur in the sky, such as the appearance of the Moon and stars at different times of the month or year, the appearance of a full moon, and ‘blue’, ‘blood’ and ‘super’ moons
• exploring how cultural stories of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples describe the patterns in the changing positions of the Sun, Moon and stars
• observing the retrograde motion of a visible planet (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter or Saturn) relative to the background stars each night for a period of time and discussing how this is explained by the oral stories of different Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander groups, for example the Wardaman People’s descriptions of this phenomenon as the old ancestor spirits walking the zodiacal path, both forwards and backwards