Social Studies Chapter 2: Earth’s Physical Geography
Name: ___________________________________________ Date: __________________________________
Section 1: Our Planet, Earth, pages 28-29
The first five questions, 1-5, have to do with reading text features. As you read and look at Section 1, answer
the following questions:
1. What is the title of the first main heading? Earth and the Sun
2. There are two subheadings that belong under the first main heading. What are they? Understanding Days and
Nights, Time Zones
3. How can you tell which words are important? They are blue (sometimes red), big, bold
4. What is the map showing us on page 29 and how do you know? The World: Time Zones (The title tells us
that it’s about the world’s time zones. It shows us and compares the time zones around the world.)
5. What other text features are used in our Social Studies book that helps us understand what we read? All of
them! ((open))
As you read through Section 1, answer the following questions:
6. Using context clues, what do you think galaxy means? a family of stars
7. We call our galaxy the Milky Way, because if the sky is dark enough, its stars look like a trail of spilled milk.
8. Earth travels around the sun in a nearly circular orbit, which is the path one body makes as it circles around
another.
9. To complete one revolution, or circular motion, in its orbit around the sun, Earth takes 365 ¼ days, or one
year.
10. Earth turns around its axis, which is an imaginary line running through Earth between the North and South
poles.
11. Each complete turn, or rotation, takes about 24 hours.
12. When a side of Earth faces the sun, it is daytime. It is night on the side away from the sun.
13. The day starts earlier in the east, since Earth rotates toward the east.
14. Looking at the map on page 29, on which continent would you guess that time Starts (one of the black
labeled continents; there are 6 shown)? Europe; time actually “begins/starts” in London, England
15. What is the connection between Earth’s rotation and the change from day to night? (open) Basically, as the
earth rotates, the earth will face the sun at different times, so we have night as the earth rotates away from the
sun, and daytime as the earth rotates towards the sun.
*Use this space to ask any questions, draw any related pictures, or take any other notes that may help you
understand and remember what you’ve learned so far.