At that time a certain star is overhead at midnight. If the earth orbits ccw, then a month later it will be in the position shown. At midnight, the figure shows that you would have to look to the west to see the same star. This is consistent with the observations, so we conclude that the earth orbits the sun ccw. As the earth orbits the sun the orientation of its spin axis does not change.
Winters are cold, summers are hot.
As explained above, during winter months in the northern hemisphere, the number of daylight hours is small. Short days means less overall heat from the sun. Secondly, when the north pole is pointed away from the sun, as it is during the winter, the sun's rays are spread out over more surface area. Thus every square meter in the northern latitudes on the earth gets less heat than a square meter near the equator. In your discussion, say what time the New, 1st Q, Full, and 3rd Q moon rises.