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6th grade · Science · Unit 12 of 17

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 6.9(A); 6.9(B) · seasons caused by Earth's tilt, and daily, spring and neap tides

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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 12 of 17 in 6th grade Science, after Cells: Life's Building Blocks and before Managing Resources.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

  2. Question 2

    Earth makes one full revolution around the Sun in about…

    • 7 days
    • 29.5 days
    • 365 days
    • 24 hours

  3. Question 3

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

    • no season
    • summer
    • spring
    • winter

  4. Question 4

    When the Northern Hemisphere tilts toward the Sun, it has…

    • winter
    • summer
    • fall
    • no season

  5. Question 5

    Earth's axis is tilted about…

    • 23.5°
    • 90°
    • 45°
    • 0°

  6. Question 6

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

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

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