Earth, Moon,

Sun, and Stars

A Science A–Z Earth Series
Word Count: 153
Earth,
Moon,
Sun,
and Stars

Written by Alyse Sweeney

Visit www.sciencea-z.com www.sciencea-z.com

Earth, Moon,
KEY ELEMENTS USED IN THIS BOOK
The Big Idea: Earth is part of a system of fast-moving objects in space.
Earth rotates on its axis, Earth revolves around the Sun, and the Moon

Sun, and Stars

revolves around Earth. These movements affect important aspects of
our daily lives, including night and day, our calendars, the availability
of light and heat, and the appearance of the Moon and the Sun in
the sky. Humans have an ever-growing understanding of how the
Earth, Moon, and Sun move and interact. This understanding helps
us make sense of what we see in the sky, both by day and by night.
An understanding of our nearby space neighborhood can also inspire
future exploration deeper into space, which may someday even include
the discovery of life on distant planets.
Key words: air, dark, day, Earth, energy, light, Moon, night, planet, rock, sky,
spin, star, Sun, water, year

Key comprehension skill: Cause and effect

Other suitable comprehension skills: Compare and contrast; classify information;
main idea and details; identify facts; elements of a genre; interpret graphs,
charts, and diagrams

Key reading strategy: Visualize

Other suitable reading strategies: Ask and answer questions; summarize;
connect to prior knowledge

Photo Credits:
Front cover: © Paul Paladin/Dreamstime.com; back cover, pages 5, 7 (bottom),11 (Earth):
© iStockphoto.com/Andrey Prokhorov; title page: © iStockphoto.com/David de Groot;
page 3: © iStockphoto.com/Jon Mullen; page 4: © iStockphoto.com/Dimitar Marinov; page 6:
© Christos Georghiou/Dreamstime.com; page 7 (top): © iStockphoto.com/Eric Hood; pages 8 (Sun),
11 (Sun), 14 (Earth, Sun): © iStockphoto.com/George Argyropoulos; pages 8 (stars), 11 (stars),
14 (stars), 15 (Earth), 17 (Earth, stars): courtesy of NASA/GSFC; page 8 (car): © Jupiterimages
Corporation; page 9: © iStockphoto.com/Diego Cervo; page 10 (bottom): © iStockphoto.com/
Catherine Yeulet; page 11 (top): © iStockphoto.com/Licia Rubinstein; page 12: © iStockphoto.com/
Jill Chen; page 13: © Cathy Yeulet/123RF; pages 15 (Moon), 17 (Moon): © iStockphoto.com/
Dra Schwartz; page 16: © iStockphoto.com/Tom Hahn; page 17 (bottom): © iStockphoto.com/
Midhat Becar; page 18 (top): © iStockphoto.com/Manfred Konrad; page 18 (bottom):
© iStockphoto.com/Yu-qian Wang

Illustration Credit:
Page 10 (top): Cende Hill/© Learning A–Z

Written by Alyse Sweeney

Reading Levels
Earth, Moon, Sun, and Stars
© Learning A–Z Learning A–Z I
Written by Alyse Sweeney Lexile 290L
www.sciencea-z.com
Correlations
All rights reserved.
Fountas and Pinnell* I
www.sciencea-z.com *Correlated independent reading level
Look in the sky.
We see the Sun. We see stars and the Moon.
3 4
 Mercury
Jupiter

Venus

Earth
Mars

Saturn
Neptune
Uranus

We live on Earth. Earth is a planet.

Earth is made of rock Eight planets go around
and water. the Sun.
5 6
 It would take a car 177 years to get
from Earth to the Sun.

109 Earths would

fit across the Sun.

Earth has water and air.

The Sun is a star.
Living things need water
and air to live. It is bigger than Earth.
7 8
 Light turns
to heat.

Light comes
to Earth.

The Sun’s energy warms

The Sun sends light to Earth. Earth’s air.
9 10
Earth
spins
like a top.
The spinning
makes day and night.

Night

Day One side of Earth faces

the Sun.
It is day.
11 12
The other side of Earth
is dark. Earth moves around the Sun.
It is night. The trip takes one year.
13 14
 The Moon does not
The Moon is smaller make light.
than Earth.
The Moon looks bright when
It is made of rock. the Sun’s light shines on it.
15 16
 Earth

Moon

3rd
Quarter

New Full
Moon Moon
1st
Quarter

The Moon moves around

Earth.
One trip takes 28 days. The sky is fun to watch!
17 18