Earth science in the classroom

The ground under the class is moving. Show them. Free, no sign-up, nothing installed. Part of the classroom hub; the full catalog is on lesson plans by topic and grade.

What this is

This is the half of the site where the class is standing inside the thing being taught. The sunrise on the board is their sunrise, computed for their coordinates from today's date — not a number looked up in a table, and not an average for the state.

Which is why the seasons land here rather than in astronomy. A tilted Earth is an astronomy fact; a day that is four minutes longer than yesterday's, in their town, is a measurement they can take.

Submit a lesson plan Or send the questions your class asked →

On the projector

Everything here is already built. Open it, full-screen it, and teach.

Day and night mapWho is in daylight right now, the equator and both tropics drawn on, and the four corners of the year on buttons. This is the seasons lesson, and it comes with the side-on picture of why.

Sun, Earth & MoonThe tilt from above the orbit: the midnight sun, and a town moving in and out of the light.

Sunrise & sunsetThe real numbers for this town, on any date, with a seven-day table. Over a thousand cities, or any location you name.

TidesThe same moon, pulling water — predicted highs and lows at real NOAA stations, for US coastal classes.

Tonight's moonPhase, illumination and rise time for your own town, which is what makes a moon journal work.

Lessons that run on them

Timed, step-by-step, every step a link that opens the exact view. 5 of them, and the full grid has the rest.

Grades K–2Is today longer than yesterday? — 20 min · 1-ESS1-2

Grades 3–4Three towns, three stories — 35 min · 5-ESS1-2

Grades 5–6Measure what the tilt does — 45 min · 5-ESS1-2

Grades 7–8Summer is tilt, not distance — 45 min · MS-ESS1-1

Grades 5–6One machine, three clocks: the day, the month and the year — 45 min · MS-ESS1-1

The seasons lessons are the ones to start with, and the 7–8 band is deliberately a trap: it hands the class the "we are closer to the sun in summer" idea, which is true in January and true in Australia, and makes them break it themselves. A misconception a class dismantles with its own measurements does not come back.

The other two doors

AstronomyPlanets, the moon, the solar system — and a rocket that has to aim at where Mars will be.

TimeTime zones, 12- and 24-hour clocks, the line where the date jumps — time as geography, not as a countdown.

Every lessonthe full grid: five grade bands, seven topics, every one a timed sequence.

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