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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (1 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (2 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (3 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (4 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (5 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (6 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (7 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (8 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (9 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (10 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (11 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (12 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (13 of 14)

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DISCUSS:
What do you notice about the Moon each night? (14 of 14)

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DISCUSS:

Before you start the activity, discuss as a class: what ideas do you plan to test to see if you can create the Moon’s phases and make them go in order?

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Check out the video in the next slide to see your Moon phase model compared side-by-side with the real sky!

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DISCUSS:

Now that you've learned what causes the Moon's phases, how would you explain it to someone who doesn't know?

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Extend this lesson

Assessments

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# Extensions

Below are ideas for extending this topic beyond the activity & exploration which you just completed.

Lesson Assessment and Answer Key
Reading: The Many Names for the Full Moon
Take-Home Activity: Using this Moon Journal worksheet, have students observe the changes in the Moon over time.
Activity: The Moon's Face

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Activity: The Moon's Face

Encourage creative storytelling by asking your students to look for pictures on the Moon's face using this activity from the Lunar and Planetary Institute. For photos showing what various cultures have seen on the moon, check out this National Geographic article

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Moon

1 of 11

a large, round object in the night sky that can reflect the Sun's light

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moon phase

2 of 11

the part of the Moon that we can see on a particular night

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new moon

3 of 11

moon phase when the Moon looks completely dark

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crescent moon

4 of 11

moon phase when the Moon looks like a sliver

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half moon

5 of 11

moon phase when the Moon looks like half of a circle

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gibbous moon

6 of 11

moon phase when the Moon looks like a little less than a full circle

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full moon

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moon phase when the Moon looks like a circle

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pattern

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something that happens again and again and again in a way that can be predicted

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cycle

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a set of events that repeats in the same order over and over

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orbit (revolve)

10 of 11

to circle another object, like the Moon around the Earth

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model

11 of 11

a pretend version of something that scientists use when the real thing is too big, small, or complicated to work with

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Image & Video Credits

Mystery Science respects the intellectual property rights of the owners of visual assets. We make every effort to use images and videos under appropriate licenses from the owner or by reaching out to the owner to get explicit permission. If you are the owner of a visual and believe we are using it without permission, please contact us—we will reply promptly and make things right.

Exploration

Venus & the Moon by Claude.schneider , used under CC BY-SA / cropped, adjusted color, added border

moon rising by flowcomm , used under CC BY / cropped, adjusted saturation, layered with another image

reaching for the moon by Sivaprasad k S / spliced

full moon by Krückstock , used under CC BY-SA / adjusted saturation

harvest moon rising by slworking2 , used under CC BY / adjusted color and speed

moon in daylight by Zeynel Cebeci , used under CC BY-SA / adjusted color and cropped

moon in sky by Bill Johnston / cropped, layered with other imagery

crescent gibbous moon by Thomas Bresson , used under CC BY / Heavily modified

crescent moon by P. Bramwell / Heavily modified

moon view by Luc Viatour , used under CC BY-SA / Heavily modified

house at night by StruffelProductions / cropped

sunrise background by Stellarium / Heavily modified

tablet by simon-ho / Heavily modified

lightbulb by KMJ , used under CC BY-SA / Heavily modified

Earth by Celestia / part of a diagram

Other

crescent moon by Richard Flink , used under CC BY-SA / cropped, adjusted color

Credits

“Terrific lesson!! Mystery Science always keeps my students engaged and thinking outside the box. We loved recreating the phases of the moon this week! My students are so excited to come to school each morning and let me know what phase of the moon they saw the night before!”

“The kids were so excited to actually create the phases of the moon in the classroom. Just today we noticed the moon in the sky as we walked to lunch. My students were able to determine with great accuracy how many days we were into the lunar cycle just by viewing it. Quite impressive!”

“The phases of the moon experience was a big hit! My students loved working in groups and of course, having the lights out was very exciting for them! They experimented with many different movements of the sun and moon. Lots of good thinking going on.”

“I liked how I was able to push the students to be more clear with explanations about the phenomenon. Many of them start with partial notions about how "the sun's light strikes the moon at a different angle." I liked how this activity made them step through the explanation more explicitly.”

“The best part was that the model really worked! The kids loved it and were able to answer the assessment question at the end of the lesson after experiencing the lesson textually, visually, and through physical interaction. ”

“My 5-year-old daughter always loves the activities that go with these lessons! This one was especially fun and her 3.5-year-old sister wanted to participate as well so they took turns being the moon and the sun. :) My daughter was able to complete the assessment, explaining in her own words, the answers to each question. She even got the first part of the challenge question correct! :)”

“The kids loved the activity and hands on explanation of why the moon changes. We threw in a couple more vocabulary words, such as waxing and waning. For the activity, we substituted a clementine as the sphere, so had all items on hand. Yay!”

“The video clip that explained the activity was so helpful and so well done. The sequence of the moon's phases, displayed one after the other helped the students to clearly see how the moon changes.”

Pencil Sharpened. Skewers also work.	Details 15 pencils
Bright Flashlights You can also use a bright lamp or overhead projector that you can point towards the students to serve as the Sun for multiple groups. Be careful not to look directly into such a bright light source.	Details 15 flashlights
Styrofoam Balls (2") We suggest smooth, solid styrofoam balls. Rough foam balls are translucent and don't work as well. You can substitute any round opaque object that can be skewered.	Details 15 balls

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Why does the Moon change shape?

Vocabulary