[Mzip]

Has anyone used this when teaching the phases of the moon? I'm going to be teaching 4th grade science next year, and I think this looks really cool....Check it out...

http://shopping.discovery.com/product-61582.html

Amazon has it for $19.99.

[Chick]

Looks cool to me!!

[Nikki]

That does look neat! I'm sure kids would love it!

That does look great! I have small pics of each phase of the moon. I give students a copy, they then cut them out and write the phase number on the back and keep them in an envelope in their desk. They take them out when they may have three or four min, to spare and put them in order.

When I saw the standardized test, the students have four choices and they had to decide which one was in the correct order. Seeing the way the phases take place is great. I might buy this!

[Dildine]

Speaking of the phases of the moon, I teach them using Oreos! The kids create the phase by shaving of the icing of the Oreo. It's pretty fun!

[AZTeacher07]

That looks like a lot of fun! and the solar system one also. Oh the fun I could have.

[rubywater]

moon. I thought about getting it but wondered if the classroom would be too light. If you get it let us know how bright it is!

Ruby

[floridagirl]

I used this last year, and my students absolutely loved it! It really helped them to realize the sequence of the moon's phases. While the lights were off, we also acted out the rotation of the moon (a baseball) around the earth (a basketball) in relation to the sun (a powerful flashlight). We finished up with the Oreo activity that someone has already mentioned. For awhile after that, my students would come to class talking about the current phase of the moon.

[USMCRose]

I used this moon effectively in a 5th-6th combination class. It made a great impact in a darkened room. Very affordable at Target, and very well made.

Question: I'm looking for a hands-on answer for the question: How does the sun illuminate half the moon, while we see only a sliver? Why don't we see the sun or it's brightness?

I know the answer lies somewhere in geometry, and the varied moon rise/moon set schedule, but I don't have a good method to describe it to my students.

Anyone have a good resource or visual aid?

I found the following explanation at the USNaval Observatory Website, but I can't imagine how to make that "real" to my very curious students.
"The phases of the Moon are related to (actually, caused by) the relative positions of the Moon and Sun in the sky. For example, New Moon occurs when the Sun and Moon are quite close together in the sky. Full Moon occurs when the Sun and Moon are at nearly opposite positions in the sky - which is why a Full Moon rises about the time of sunset, and sets about the time of sunrise, for most places on Earth. First and Last Quarters occur when the Sun and Moon are about 90 degrees apart in the sky. In fact, the two "half Moon" phases are called First Quarter and Last Quarter because they occur when the Moon is, respectively, one- and three-quarters of the way around the sky (i.e., along its orbit) from New Moon.

The relationship of the Moon's phase to its angular distance in the sky from the Sun allows us to establish very exact definitions of when the primary phases occur, independent of how they appear. Technically, the phases New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Last Quarter are defined to occur when the excess of the apparent ecliptic (celestial) longitude of the Moon over that of the Sun is 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees, respectively. These definitions are used when the dates and times of the phases are computed for almanacs, calendars, etc. Because the difference between the ecliptic longitudes of the Moon and Sun is a monotonically and rapidly increasing quantity, the dates and times of the phases of the Moon computed this way are instantaneous and well defined. "