Goodnight Moon Day 1 -The Moon

The Moon

Read: On the Moon by Anna Milbourne

Discuss: Watch NeilArmstrong Video

1. The Moon is a satellite of the Earth and orbits around it.
2. The Moon is the only object in space that man has ever visited. The Moon is much closer to Earth than the other planets.
3. The Moon takes 27.3 days to make one orbit around the Earth. It also takes 27.3 days to complete one rotation on its axis.
4. The Moon's surface has many craters on it. They were formed by meteor crashes a long time ago.
5. The Moon causes many of the tides in the Earth's oceans. This is because of the gravity force between the Earth and Moon.
6. The Moon can be seen clearly with your eyes on a clear night.

Comprehension Questions:

1. What does the full moon look like?
2. What does the new moon look like?

The Moon Looks Different

We made a moon phases wheel from pages 6 & 7 of this free download.

 

Moon Phases Flap Book

Materials:

• 4 pieces Black Construction Paper
• White Crayon
• White Typing Paper
• Yellow Construction Paper
• Pencil
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Cut the paper in half longwise.
   
2. Cut paper in different lengths and staple them at the top with the longest piece on the bottom. (You will need 9 sheets in all)
   
3. Write with a white crayon the phases of the moon, one on the bottom of each sheet.
   
4. Open up the flap for each phase and draw a picture of that moon phase.
   
   
   

Phase 1 - New Moon - The side of the moon that is facing the Earth is not lit up by the sun. At this time the moon is not visible.

Phase 2 - Waxing Crescent - A small part (less than 1/2) of the moon is lit up at this point. The part that is lit up is slowly getting bigger.

Phase 3 - First Quarter - One half of the moon is lit up by the sun at this point. The part that is lit up is slowly getting bigger.

Phase 4 - Waxing Gibbous - At this time half of the moon is lit up. The part that is lit is slowly getting bigger. Waxing means to slowly get bigger.

Phase 5 - Full Moon - The side of the moon that is lit up by the sun is facing the Earth. The entire moon is lit up at this point.

Phase 6 - Waning Gibbous - The moon is not quite lit up all the way by sunlight. The part of the moon this is lit is slowly getting smaller. Waning means to slowly get smaller.

Phase 7 - Last Quarter - Half of the moon is lit up by the sun. The part that we can see lit up is slowly getting smaller.

Phase 8 - Waning Crescent - A small part of the moon is lit up at this point. It is getting smaller by the minute.

Oreo Cookie Moon Phases

Materials:

4-8 Oreo cookies

A piece of paper with a moon phase written on it for each student

A toothpick or other tool for scraping the frosting

Directions:

1. We used this download with the  moon phases on it to help us.
2. Demonstrate the proper way to slowly twist an Oreo to maximize the amount of frosting on one side when you separate the halves. (practice yourself, it can be tricky)
3. Recreate each phase of the moon in the Oreo frosting and lay them in order.

Moon Phase Dice
I had J roll the Moon Phase Dice and tell me what he had learned about that moon phase.

 

Eric Carle Moon Art

Read: Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle

Materials:

• White and Black Paint
• Paintbrush
• Blue Paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Gold Star Stickers

Directions:

1. Brush black paint across the blue paper for the background and let it dry.
   
2. Paint white onto another sheet of blue paper and cut a circle moon out of it.
   
   
3. Look at the moon in the story again.
4. After the moon is dry glue it onto the white painted background paper.
   
5. Add gold star stickers to the paper.