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Grade 4 Science · World 2: Star Gazers' Observatory · Level 10
The Sun Is a Star
Explain that the sun is a star, and the closest one, which is why it looks biggest and brightest.
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 10
- Here's a surprise: the sun is a star! It's a giant ball of hot, glowing gas that makes its own light, like the stars at night.
- So why does the sun look so big and bright? It's the closest star to Earth. The next closest is so far away that its light takes over 4 years to reach us.
- Other stars look like tiny dots only because they're so far away. Many are as big as the sun, or much bigger.
Georgia Standards of Excellence in Science:
- S4E1.b — Construct an argument on why some stars (including the Earth's sun) appear to be larger or brighter than others. (Clarification statement: Differences are limited to distance and size, not age or stage of evolution.)
- S4E1.c — Construct an explanation of the differences between stars and planets.