[curlydo32]

I am looking for activities to teach the phases of the moon. (4th grade)



Thanks!

[jch]

No activities, but I found some awesome websites a few years ago when I was searching. I just Googled "lunar phases," and I found video clips, a daily website (it's asking too much to bring the kiddos back to school at night to view the moon ), and lots of information. Edhelper.com had a good worksheet on the phases and NASA had bunches of stuff.

Sorry I can't be more specific, but my resources are at school.

[Wrigley]

I had my students to research the 8 different phases of the moon and put the information on a poster. they had to draw all eight phases and write at least 8 facts about the moon and its phases in the middle. You could easily have your students create PowerPoints as well. They could have one slide for each phase with moon facts. Here is the track that I made for my students to do their research. I really like the fifth link on the page. I hope this helps you.

http://trackstar.4teachers.org/track...6949&password=

[jch]

Thanks for sharing your track - it is a wonderful compilation of resources! I plan on tweaking my own plans for lunar studies.

Thanks again!

[curlydo32]

Thanks for the great resources!

[camillew]

The Science Guy has a great video on the phases. Honestly, it didn't click for me until I saw it, even though I thought I had a good grasp on it to begin with. He likens it to a baseball field - Earth is always the pitcher, the sun is always the catcher, and the moon is running the bases. 1st base = first quarter, etc.

[wgrider]

I found a great Moon Model at Target for $20. It has a light inside and is controlled by remote. It's so great because it shows the phases of the moon! It's in the toy section and I believe it is from Discovery for Kids. My students love it (and so do the other teachers)!

[beachmom]

I gave my students black paper (strip) and we ate our way through the phases using a vanilla wafer cookie. We glued the parts we did not eat. A new moon we traced using a template and ate the whole cookie. It was great. I gave out extra cookies to enjoy!

I teach 4th grade and I find myself searching each year for better and better activities to get my students excited about learning. One activity that my students do each year is with double stuffed oreos...they open up the oreos and cut the "lard" away to form the phases of the moon and we glue these to a sheet of black butcher paper and label them. They love doing this and they get excited if there is extra to eat!!

[cardinallady]

I like to do the cookie activity. I also have a internet activity where they research what the moon looked or will look like on their birthday and several days after. I use this with 7th graders but am sure it could be used in 4th as well with a little work.

My kids also enjoy making a flip book. They draw the moon phases in the bottom corner so that when they flip through their book it is like a cartoon of the moon phases.