The Moon #4

Moon Craters 

         After snow days, and 100 days, and Valentine's Day, we were finally able to finish our moon unit.  Our last moon project was to make our own moon craters.  First, we made moon sand with craft sand, cornstarch, and water.

 

         Then the students used "space rocks," "asteroids," or "space debris" to hit their moon and create craters.   (Like our leftover plates from our party?:))

They drew pictures of what the craters looked like after they threw the different objects.  Click the picture below to get the recording sheet.  

    The one thing that we did not get done that I had hoped to was a moon writing.  Here is the writing mat I made.  I guess I will have it for next year. 

The Moon # 3

Phases of the Moon

        After learning that we can only see the part of the Moon that the Sun is shining on, the students created models of the Moon's Phases.
     The first model we did was a guided activity using black construction paper and white circles.

Instructions for guided moon phases activity.


            The second model the students did was done in groups of two with very little guidance from me.  They had to draw the Earth in the middle of their plate and then make Oreos look like the different phases of the Moon and put them in the correct order around the Earth.  As the students completed the models  they had to tell me about them.  I graded them according to a rubric.

     

The Moon # 2

Earth, Moon, and Sun

              First,  we watched this short animation that I found on Youtube.

      

        To help the students understand the size and position of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, the students became these three space objects.   The majority of the students pushed their desks together, climbed on top and held a sun made out of butcher paper.

         Next, three students held a butcher paper Earth, and two students held a construction paper moon and began to orbit the Earth.  Then the Earth and the Moon students began to orbit the Sun.

         This was so much fun and the students really began to understand how these three space objects work together! 

Here are some of the questions I asked after this activity.
-  Why are there more people in the sun?
-  Why didn't they move?
-  When the moon is between the Sun and the Earth, what phase of the moon do you think this is?
-  When the moon is to the side of the Earth, how does that look to us here on Earth?

The Moon #1

We started our Moon unit with a KWL chart.  The students wrote what they know and what they want to know about the moon.  As we worked through the unit we filled in the "L" with what we have learned and checked off the questions under the "W" as we answered them.  We are still is doing this unit so our KWL chart is still in the works.

We use BrainPopJr.com, NASA kids, Youtube, and many books to learn more about the moon.   These are some of the books we read.