(upbeat music) - Hi, friends.

It is a great day to learn something new, but (yawns) I'm sorry, I'm a little tired today.

I was up late last night looking at the moon, and the stars, and the sky with my telescope.

It was such a beautiful, clear night and I was able to observe so many things in the sky.

Did you know that each day the sun, moon, and stars all follow the same pattern?

A pattern is something that happens in the same way more than once.

A pattern could be numbers, shapes, events, or anything else that represents and repeats the same way.

As a pattern repeats, we know what is going to come next.

And patterns happen the same way more than once.

The sun, the moon, the star patterns can be predicted with the cycle of day and night.

The sun, moon, and stars rise above the horizon in the east and set by dropping below the horizon in the west.

It is daytime when the sun is up, and when the sun sets, it is nighttime.

This pattern repeats every single day.

When we observe and understand these patterns, it helps us to predict what may happen next.

Do you know that even though we cannot see it, the sun doesn't disappear at night?

Believe it or not, the sun is a star and it is always shining, even at night when we cannot see it.

The sun does not spin around us, instead, the earth rotates.

So nighttime is when the sun is shining on the other side of the earth.

The moon can be seen at night, but have you ever been outside and been able to see it during the day?

I always think it is so interesting when I can see the moon in the sky during the day.

Let's look at these pictures of the moon during the day.

The moon follows the same pattern as the sun.

It appears to rise in the east and set in the west.

Okay, so if the moon and the sun are always there, what about the stars?

What do you think about the stars?

Do you think they disappear during the day?

The stars are always shining, even when we cannot see them.

Stars are very, very far away and we cannot see them during the day because their light is so much dimmer, or lighter, than the light from the sun.

But when the sun goes down, we can see the faint light from all the other stars.

Stars appear to follow the same pattern as the sun and moon, moving slowly across the sky.

So, what do you think happens to your shadow when the sun moves across the sky?

As the sun moves across the sky, your shadow will move too.

Your shadow can change in length, shape, and position.

We see a shadow when your body blocks the sunlight and the shadow's position will change based on the sun's position in the sky.

That's also how sun dials work.

Sun dials can be used to tell time and work by casting a shadow as the sun moves across the sky, since the sun follows that same pattern each day.

This is a great thing if you want to go outside and experience.

You can grab a couple pieces of chalk and you can get an adult.

You can find a sunny area.

With that adult or friend, find that sunny area and a place to stand.

And have the friend trace around your shadow with chalk.

Make sure you mark the place that you stand.

Then, later in the day, come back, stand in the same place, and work with your friend to trace your shadow again.

But this time, use a different color piece of chalk.

You could try this in the morning and the evening.

And let us know what you notice about your shadow.

Does it move?

Does it change shape or size?

I had a great time learning with you today, but I'm going to get back to checking out the sky and see what I can observe about the moon and the stars.

I'll see you later.

(upbeat music)