This week, we started discussing the phases of the moon. We have added some information and diagrams to our science notebooks. We have been working to clear up misconceptions, such as that the moon is only out at night. We saw the moon each morning this week (Wed 9/21 - Fri 9/23) and we looked at the pictures in class. We could see the subtle change over three days. The first two were taken around 7:30am, while the last was around 9:30am. We were also able to compare them to the moon phase calendar online.
Our focus for this unit is not only what the phases are, but WHY we have the phases (see images below) and why we see what we do each day/night. Videos: Following the Sun: Crash Course for Kids Phases of the Moon Explanation for Kids (MakeMeGenius) Moon Phases: Crash Course Astronomy #4 Live NASA Feed from the ISS Important vocabulary for naming the phases: waxing - getting larger waning - getting smaller crescent - the shape of the moon when it is less than half gibbous - the shape of the moon when it is more than half |