Teaching overview
Learning points
- The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year.
- Because of the Earth’s tilt, the northern hemisphere experiences winter while the southern hemisphere experiences summer (and vice versa).
- People from ancient cultures used the winter solstice as a guide to knowing when to plant their crops and hunt certain animals.
Curriculum keywords
- Seasons
- Solar System
- Culture
Read the story
We’ve almost reached the shortest day of the year, known as the winter solstice. We take a look at what makes it so interesting.
Share with students
Spark a discussion
- What is the winter solstice?
- Why do some countries experience winter while others experience summer?
- Why was it useful, thousands of years ago, for people to know when the winter solstice happened?
Twig Science: A Complete Pre-K–8 Program for the NGSS
Immersive Investigations with High-Quality Multimedia
- Investigating, designing, building, and understanding phenomena
- Hands-on, digital, video, and print investigations
- Synchronous/asynchronous distance learning