SCIENCE: THE MOON

This afternoon we spent our hour of Science beginning to learn about the moon.  The kids really enjoyed learning about the lack of weather and air on the moon :) I began the lesson with a couple of books about the moon that talked about the orbits of the sun, moon, and earth.  We then learned about how Earth only sees one side of the earth and how the moon is lite up by the light of the sun.  We then moved on and I introduced how the moon has different phases as it makes its 27 1/3 day orbit around the sun, learning new terms such as waxing and waning.  With scientific terms, I find that repetition really makes a difference and at different times of the day, I ask for a definition of a word and this really reinforces the learning, not to mention their competitive nature to have their hands up first to answer!  There are some fantastic worksheets to use for learning the phases of the moon, in fact, so many it was hard to choose!  Another great learning opportunity for the moon is a flip book that kids can fill in nightly and then put together at the end of the 27 day orbit of the moon.  Another great resource is this phases of the moon animation.  Todays photo is of Pollyanna doing a Moon worksheet, which is what we did to end our first science session on the moon.