Study Guide for Earth Cycles, Water Cycle, and Moon Phases
Test
Test on: ____________________________
Know the following:
 The difference between Rotate (spin) and Revolve (move around something in a
circular motion)

How we get night and day – the Earth rotates on its axis once in a 24 hour period, the
Earth always points to the North Star

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

We only see the side of the moon that is reflecting sunlight. The moon takes 29 days to
complete its phases (one revolution around the Earth)

Be able to label or draw the phases of the moon, see attached sheet.

The moon revolving around the earth causes the moon phases.

The four seasons and be able to explain what causes the different seasons – Earth’s tilt
on its axis and the amount of sunlight received by a particular hemisphere.

It takes one year for the Earth to revolve around the sun.

When it is one season in the northern hemisphere it is the opposite season in the
southern hemisphere – winter/summer, spring/fall.

Be able to label a diagram of the water cycle –The cycle repeats over and over
again.

The water cycle starts when the sun warms the water.

Evaporation is a liquid turning into a gas, condensation is a gas turning into a liquid
and precipitation is rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

A tide is the dramatic change in water level. Tides rise and fall 2 times in a 24-hour
period.

Tides are caused by the moon’s gravitational pull. We have high tides and low tides.

In between high tides we have low tides.