Classroom lesson 路 Sunrise first馃嚘馃嚭 Australia

One of the first to see the day

How time zones make Australia wake up while Europe sleeps

What is it?

The Earth spins like a giant ball, turning once every 24 hours. That is why we have day and night. Because Australia sits a long way to the east of Europe and the Americas, the Sun reaches it first. While children in London are still tucked up in bed, children in Sydney are already at school.

Tell me more

The world is divided into invisible slices called time zones. As the Earth spins, the Sun rises on one slice after the next. There are 24 main slices, one for each hour of the day. Australia is so wide it has three of them all to itself.

When it's 9 in the morning in Sydney, it's 10 at night the day before in New York, and 11 at night in London. That sounds like time travel, but it's really just the planet turning. Sydney has already had its breakfast before some other places have even gone to bed.

Some of the first places on Earth to see each new day are tiny islands in the Pacific Ocean, just east of Australia. Then Australia. Then Asia. Then Europe. Then the Americas. The Sun chases its way around the world all day, every day.

Because Australia is so far east, classes there will be among the first in the world to start Earthrise:Live. When their school day ends, kids in Europe will only just be arriving at school. Together, our classrooms cover almost the whole 24 hours of the planet.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01If the Earth is a ball that spins, how does that explain day and night?
  2. 02What time is it where your partner class is right now? Are they at lunch? Asleep?
  3. 03Would you rather start your school day when the Sun is rising, or when it's already high in the sky?
Try this

Classroom activity

On a world map, mark your school with a sticker. Then find a country far to the east and one far to the west. Work out how many hours ahead or behind each one is. Now imagine: if you sent a Earthrise:Live message from your school right now, what time would it land?

More about Australia

Other things that make Australia special

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