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6th grade · Science · Unit 5 of 9

Seasons & Tides

Earth's tilt causes seasons; the Moon and Sun cause tides.

What your child practices

Practices how the tilt of Earth's axis as it revolves around the Sun causes the seasons, and how the positions of the Earth, Sun and Moon cause daily tides and monthly spring and neap tides.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 6.E2U1.9; 6.E2U1.10 · tides, and how the tilt of Earth's axis causes the seasons

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Earth's axis is tilted about 23.5°. Without the tilt there would be almost no seasons.
  2. When a hemisphere tilts toward the Sun, sunlight hits more directly and it has summer.
  3. Earth orbits the Sun about every 365 days.
  4. The Moon's and Sun's gravity pull on the oceans to make tides.

Example: When the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward the Sun, what season does it have? Tilted toward the Sun means more direct sunlight. More direct sunlight means summer. Answer: summer

Seasons & Tides in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 5 of 9 in 6th grade Science, after Kinetic & Potential Energy and before Solar System Tour.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    In summer, sunlight hits the ground…

    • at a low slant, so it heats less
    • less than in winter
    • only at night
    • more directly, so it heats more

  2. Question 2

    When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the Southern Hemisphere has…

    • summer
    • no season
    • spring
    • winter

  3. Question 3

    Spring tides happen when the Sun, Earth and Moon are…

    • at right angles
    • far apart in a random way
    • hidden by clouds
    • lined up

  4. Question 4

    Spring tides happen during which Moon phases?

    • First and third quarter
    • New moon and full moon
    • Only crescent
    • Only gibbous

  5. Question 5

    Spring tides have…

    • no tides
    • the highest high tides and lowest low tides
    • only low tides
    • the smallest tidal range

  6. Question 6

    On the winter solstice, the Sun's noon height in the sky is…

    • the lowest of the year
    • the highest of the year
    • the same as in summer
    • straight overhead everywhere

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