MOON PHASES

Author(s):
Callie Saucerman and Andrea Hendrix

Grade Level:
3rd Grade

Timeframe:
1 Hour per day for 1 week

Lesson Description or Explanation

The children will be starting their next unit on the solar system. To kick off the unit, we will begin with the different phases of the moon plus the difference between the earth and moon. The lessons are intended to heighten their knowledge of this topic as well as be hands on in their own learning. The students will participate in a variety of activities, individually and in groups. To end this section of the unit the children will be asked to make a web to show what they have learned and their understanding of the material.

Indiana Curricular Standards

Science:
3.3.1- Observe and describe the apparent motion of the sun and moon over a time span of one day.
3.3.4- Observe and describe that the moon looks a little different every day, but looks the same again about every four weeks.

ISTE Standards

Basic operations and concepts
-Students demonstrate a sound understanding of the nature and operation of technology systems.
-Students are proficient in the use of technology.

Technology Productivity Tools
-Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.

Assessments
Formative/Summative

Formative Assessment: Students will write in their science journals everyday about something they have learned during that day’s activities. Students should use one of the organizers to make sure their ideas are organized and make sense. We will also make sure they get the best out of these activities by doing over the shoulder assessments. We will check their progress everyday on the activities.

Summative Assessment: Students will need to make a portfolio about the information they have learned over the course of the week. The students will be given a rubric to complete this portfolio so they know what their portfolio needs to entail. Students will need to complete this and have it ready to turn in the following week after the activities have been completed.

Prior Knowledge

Curricular Knowledge or Skills: The students will work on various skills throughout the week’s activities. The students will understand how to fill in a KWL chart with their prior knowledge of the content as well as the knowledge they want to gain about the content placed on it. The students will work on their writing abilities with different tasks throughout the week. The students will work on their reading skills with a partner as well as gather information about the reading and put it into a graphic organizer.

Technology Knowledge: The students will learn skills to use the software inspiration to make their own concept map about the moon. The students will also be practicing not only their typing abilities but also their knowledge of Microsoft word software to complete the necessary work for this project. The students will also become familiar with using the internet and being able to sort through particular web pages.

Technology

Internet Resources:
http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moonphase/
www.inspiration.com

Hardware:
Laptop computers w/internet connection
Computer Lab w/internet connection

Software:
Inspiration
Microsoft Word

Procedure

Day 1:
-Students will each receive a KWL sheet. They will be given the topic “The Moon and its Phases”. From here, the students will write down what they know and what they want to know about the moon and its phases.
-Students will then be given a sheet of paper where they will draw the moon phases that they are sure of.
-To wrap up, we will come together as a whole class and discuss different things we know and want to know about the moon and its phases or what exactly that phrase means to us.
-Give each child a blank moon phase calendar. Explain to each child that they need to observe the moon each night, sketch it on the calendar and bring it to class each day. Each day, 2 students will be responsible for transferring the moon phase they observed to the class moon phase calendar. The moon calendar will last for one month.

Day 2:
-Have 2 children record their findings from their moon observation and speak for a couple minutes on what they saw.
- Needed items: Lamp and a soccer ball
-Place lamp and ball in a central location and place students in a circle around the ball.
-Next turn off the lights and turn the lamp on, shining it down on the ball.
-Have students draw the shape they see where the light hits it.
-Next break off into small groups of 6 and discuss:
How the ball looked at first?
When the room was dark?
Why other people’s shapes were different?
Infer: If the ball is the moon and the lamp is the sun, what are you?
(As the students are in their groups, have them come to the middle and circulate clockwise around the ball so they can see how the shapes change as they move.)
-Come back as a whole group and discuss students’ findings.
-Ending question: Why does the moon appear to change its shape?
-Read How the Moon Regained its Shape and have a small discussion on why the book was written and how moon phases relate to this book.

Day 3:
-Each child gets a laptop computer. The computers will already be at the appropriate website, http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moonphase/, where they will be able to explore facts about the moon and its phases. This will allow them to check out the webpage and check to see if what they knew was correct. This also lets them find answers to things they wanted to learn about the moon phases.
-After looking through the website for about 30 minutes, have the children make a list of the most important facts they think relate to the moon phases.
-Then have the children partner up and talk about their findings. Remind them to make connections to the day 2 activity and why they think they saw different shaded and lit up shapes on the soccer ball.

Day 4:
-The children will pair up with a buddy. They will read in their science book the section on the differences between the moon and the earth. Here the children will read together, and then they will make a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting their findings. We will next come together as a whole class and do a whole class Venn Diagram. The rest of the time will be left up to questions concerning the moon and earth differences or the phases of the moon.

Day 5:
-The students will go to the computer lab where each computer will have the Inspiration website up and going. This is where the students make a web of what they have learned about the moon phases and the differences between the moon and its phases. They can tell about the different phases and what they entail, when they happen, how often and any other facts they learned from the website.

Each day, we will continue to talk about our moo phase calendar and have the children share their findings. As the weeks progress, we will begin talking about the patterns the moon phases make and we will make predictions on how long we think it will take the moon to get to the same phase.

Differentiated Instruction

ESL
For students who are learning English as a second or new language will be placed with a buddy during these activities. The person that they will be placed with will be the same buddy they have had throughout the school year. This buddy can help him or her complete their work. If this set up does not work we can get an ESL teacher to come down and help out during this part of the day.

Challenge/Extend

To extend this lesson we could have the children take their portfolios and change them into a presentation that would help them become more proficient on the computer. We would have the students take the information from their portfolio and plug it into the presentation and present them to the class so everyone can see their hard work.

Special Needs

For the students who may have a special need we can use the software to help us during this time. Windows has many features that can help anyone depending on his or her need. Hopefully this will help any student we have but if it does not work we can get a special needs teacher to come down and help out during this part of the day.