Moon Phases Weatherguide Calendar Lesson Created By: Melanie Anderson, Leah Nelson, Lisa Kalina, ISD #719, 5/2007

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1 Grade: 2 Subjects: Science Moon Phases Weatherguide Calendar Lesson Created By: Melanie Anderson, Leah Nelson, Lisa Kalina, ISD #719, 5/2007 Standards Subject Standard Benchmark Science Raise questions about the natural world, make careful observations and seek answers. Use appropriate tools to gather and organize data; recognize and describe patterns in data. Time Day 1 30 minutes Day 2 45 minutes Day 3 30 minutes Objective: Students will develop an understanding of the moon phases, the moon s rotation around the earth, and moon vocabulary terms through class discussions and home observations. Concept: The moon rotates around the earth and has different phases. Skills Observing Recording Data collecting Forecasting Recording Materials Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendar LCD Projector Overhead Blank Paper Calendar Paper Pencils Boxes of Vanilla Wafers (1 box per 5 students) Chart Paper Markers The Moon Book By Gail Gibbons Moon Phases Calendar Sheet (attached) Moon Phases Letter to Parents Sheet (attached)

2 Key Words: Blue moon, crescent moon, full moon, gibbous moon, half moon, waxing (growing) crescent, first quarter moon, waxing gibbous, waning (shrinking) gibbous waning crescent, lunar cycle, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, and new moon. Directions: Day 1: Introduction 1. To introduce the class to the idea of moon observation and phases, read The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons. 2. After reading discuss what students learned and already know about the moon. 3. Record students thoughts on a chart titled Moon. 4. Show the class the Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendar and the current month page. Explain to them that you will be starting to track the moon and its phases over the next month. Talk with them about the pictures of the moon throughout the month. Take time to also count the days in a lunar cycle. Day 2: Learn and Create Moon Phases 1. Review the moon chart created earlier with the students. 2. Take out the Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendar and point out the shaded moon pictures in the date boxes. 3. Introduce and teach each moon phase name and definition. Keep these on a chart (use all vocabulary from key words section). 4. Show students on an LCD projector these moon clips to help them get a better understanding of why we only see parts of the moon. You could also show pictures of the moon phases or other books with the moon phases (see bibliography). page01.cfm?chapter_no=25 5. Students now get a chance to make the moon phases. Explain that each one of the students is going to make the moon phases by eating the shaded parts of the moon (eating a cookie). 6. Pass out one blank piece of paper to each student. Have the students fold the paper into eights. Students may also want to trace the folded lines with their pencil as to create more solid boxes on their page. 7. Give a box of Vanilla Wafers to each group/table of students. They are to remove only one cookie at a time. Model this process with them so they know exactly what to do for each phase. 8. Tell them to take out one of the cookies, trace this whole cookie in box 1 and shade the entire circle in. This is called a New Moon and it starts the moon's rotation, or lunation. Have the students record the moon phase names in each box. 9. Model how to take out another cookie and bite along the left side of the cookie carefully, until you get something that looks like a backwards C. Trace this in box 2. This is called the Waxing (growing) Crescent. Have the students record the moon phase name in that box.

3 10. Continue to model biting each cookie before letting students do it. Take out cookie number 3. Bite off half the cookie. Trace this in box 3. This is called the First Quarter moon. 11. Nibble along the right side of cookie number 4. Trace this in box 4 it is called the Waxing Gibbous. 12. Take out cookie number 5. This cookie will not be eaten. Trace it just like it is. This is called a Full Moon. It is completely illuminated. 13. Take the cookie from box number 4 and flip it over. Trace this is called the Waning (shrinking) Gibbous. 14. The cookie from box number 3 will become the Last Quarter moon for box 7. Flip it over so it is facing the left and trace it. 15. The cookie from box 2 will become the Waning Crescent in box 8. Flip this cookie as well and trace. 16. Double check to make sure that students have labeled each of the boxes with the proper names as well as drawn in the proper moon shape. 17. Have the students take their cookies off the paper and stand in a circle. Students can only eat their cookies after they share with another student the name of the moon phase that the cookie is showing. 18. Hang the student charts up in your classroom so that students can visibly see them for at least a week. At the end of the week, send the charts home with a note informing families of what their students have been learning. 19. Bring students together at the end of the activity to review the changes in the moon phases. Day 3: Moon Calendars 1. Introduce blank calendars to the students and explain that they are going to track the moon phases for one month and compare their findings to the Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendar. 2. Point out to students that the moon does not rise and set at the same time each day. This will not be part of their observations. Tell students that they can find the rise time of the moon on the Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendar, in the local newspaper or on the internet. 3. Explain that this is a month long homework assignment. Students are to take the calendars home and observe the moon each night. Distribute the Moon Phases Calendar sheets and help students fill in the dates of the lunar cycle you will be observing as you model on the overhead or LCD. For example if today is Tuesday, March 15 th, find the first Tuesday on the sheet and write in a 15 then go onto number the dates for the rest of the calendar. Remind students to write their names at the top. Also fill in the lunar cycle information from start to finish. The last day on the calendar is the day that these homework calendars are due back to school. 4. Model how to make an observation. Show students that they are to draw what the moon looks like in each date box. Model an example of an observation recording the time, the moon, shading it, and writing what phase it is in. 5. Send the Moon Phases Calendar sheets home with the Moon Phases Letter to Parents so that parents are informed of the assignment and can help their student at home.

4 6. Throughout the month discuss with students how their observations are coming and what they are finding. 7. When the month of recording and observing is over the students will bring their calendars back to school. Students can then compare their findings with other students and also with the Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendar. Questions for Discussion Does the moon change or stay the same? The moon appears to change in shape as it rotates around the earth and as the earth rotates around the sun. The changes seen in the moon are called moon phases. Is there a pattern to the way the moon changes? The moon starts off in the new moon phase, it then gets bigger each day until it is a full moon, then it gets smaller each day until it is a new moon again. How long does it take the moon to go from one new moon to another new moon? The lunar cycle is about one month or a little more than four weeks (29.5 days). Taking it Further Teach about each month s full moon. Explain how a full moon appears as an entire circle in the sky. The full moon is given different names, depending on when it appears. o January Moon After Yule, Wolf Moon, or Old Moon o February Snow Moon or Hunger Moon o March Sap Moon, Crow Moon, or Lenten Moon o April Grass Moon or Egg Moon o May Milk Moon or Planting Moon o June Rose Moon, Flower Moon, or Strawberry Moon o July Thunder Moon or Hay Moon o August Grain Moon or Green Corn Moon o September Fruit Moon or Harvest Moon o October Harvest Moon or Hunter s Moon o November Hunter s Moon, Frosty Moon, or Beaver Moon o December Moon Before Yule or Long Night Moon Have students act out the phases of the moon. Break the students up into groups of three, one being the sun, one the moon, and the other the earth. Have the moon student walk around the earth student as the earth student walks around the sun student. Talk with the class about the different times you can see the entire moon student, half of the moon student, and none of the moon student. Vocabulary Solar Eclipse: The view of the sun is blocked by the moon. Lunar Eclipse: The view of the moon is blocked by the earth. Full Moon: A full moon appears as an entire circle in the sky.

5 Waxing: The period of time in a lunar month when the moon is becoming more lit each day (between new and full moon). Waning: The period of time in a lunar month when the moon is becoming less lit each day (between full and new moon). Crescent: The period of time in a lunar month when the moon is less than half lit (between last quarter and first quarter). Gibbous: The period of time in a lunar month when the moon is more than half lit (between first quarter and last quarter). Blue Moon: When two full moons occur in a single month, the second full moon is called a "Blue Moon." Another definition of the blue moon is the third full moon that occurs in a season of the year which has four full moons (usually each season has only three full moons.) Half Moon: A half moon looks like half a circle. It is sometimes called a quarter moon (this Moon has completed one quarter of an orbit around the Earth from either the full or new position and one quarter of the moon's surface is visible from Earth). New Moon: The new moon is the phase of the moon when the moon is not visible from Earth, because the side of the moon that is facing us is not being lit by the sun. Bibliography Branley, Frankly Mansfield. Moon Seems to Change. Harper Collins Children s Books Gibbons, Gail. The Moon Book. Holiday House Inc Fowler, Allan. So That s how the Moon Changes Shape! Scholastic Library Olson, Gillia M. Phases of the Moon. Coughlan Publishing Twist, Clint. The Moon. School Specialty Publishing. 2006

Moon Phases Letter to Parents Dear Parents, We have been studying the moon and its phases. We have learned the names of each phase and what the moon looks like at each phase.

6 Moon Phases Letter to Parents Dear Parents, We have been studying the moon and its phases. We have learned the names of each phase and what the moon looks like at each phase. Now it is time for us to study the moon in the sky. As a bridge to what we have been learning in class, we have asked students to look for the moon in the sky when they are at home. To make the moon observations, take your child outside at about the same time each evening (when it is most easy to see the moon) and observe. Take a few minutes to enjoy the night sky together. Talk about what you see. If it s clear, you will see starts too and you might want to point out a constellation or two, planets, and finally the moon. Discuss the changes in the night sky and in the moon from the previous nights. If you don t see the moon during your time due to clouds, you might want to look again during the day. You can check your local newspaper to find out when the moon rises. Have your child record his or her moon observation on the Moon Phases Calendar (attached) each night. To make a complete entry your child needs to fill in the time, draw and shade the moon, and label what phase the moon is in. Bring the calendars back to school in one month for discussion and comparisons. Thanks for your help! 14 (Example) 8:30pm First Quarter Moon

The Moon. It's Just a Phase It's Going Through...

The Moon. It's Just a Phase It's Going Through... The Moon It's Just a Phase It's Going Through... www.thesciencequeen.net Moon Our planet's large natural satellite, the Moon, is the easiest astronomical object to observe. The only "scientific instrument"