What are time zones?

 This week, the children were introduced to time zones. Using their knowledge from Science they could recall that the Earth spins on its axis, the Earth is tilted towards the sun and it orbits the sun. Thus, night and day are formed on opposite sides of the Earth. The places which experience the most dramatic seasonal variations is in the Arctic; Northern parts of Norway and Sweden. 

It was only in the 19th century the Prime Meridian was agreed to run through Greenwich, London. Therefore, countries to the east of  London will be further ahead in time depending on the time zone and those to the west will be behind us. 

Using an interactive site the children played games to find the time differences in Scandinavia and then further afield. To consolidate learning they logged into Earth.com to see live pictures of different countries  in different time zones.