Second graders in Ginger Turner’s class at Sunny View Elementary School are using their own shadows to explore how the sun appears to move across the sky.
Students traced their shadows on the pavement at two different times during the school day. They then compared the length and direction of the tracings to see how their shadows changed as the day progressed.
The hands-on investigation gave students a visible way to connect the sun’s changing position in the sky with patterns they can observe throughout the day.
By measuring and comparing their shadows, students began building concepts that will support later learning about seasonal changes, daylight hours and weather patterns.
