Group items tagged

This link allows students to either move the moon around the earth and see the phases, or they can click what phase they want to see and the moon jumps to the position it would be in when in the sky. Bellow the big picture you can also advance the moons position around the earth day by day. Using this simulator may dispel so misunderstandings about what causes the phases of the moon. There are several different views of the same information so students can choose which ever one makes more sense to them to look at. As I also said above there are several different ways to manipulate whats in front of you. I would most definitely use this in a chapter about the moon. I might have a worksheet that asks students to show me where the moon would be at each phase, I might follow that with questions about why they think the moon looks the way it does. I love this tool, it was introduced to me in astronomy. I love how easy it is to use. Again you can manipulate it day by day, you get to see what the moon would really look like up in the sky if you had the chance to see it, and you get to see and understand what rotates around what.( We rotate around the sun, the moon rotates around us.)

Students will use oreos to create the phases of the moon. Each student needs 4 oreos and a paper plate. After the students know the phases of the moon and the significance of waxing and waning we would create the phases using the oreos. After they create their phases they may consume their creations while creating a foldable that they will place in their science journals. I am not a huge fan of this resource, but it was one of the better ones I was able to find.

This collection is meant to be of the best resources we can find. If you don't love this one, please remove it from the collection. Also, please note that the moon phases are incorrectly represented in the oreo image included here.

I think this would be a great extension activity following a lesson over the phases of the moon as students will be showing their understanding of these phases using Oreo cookies. Each student is given 8 split Oreo cookies and one plate with the phases of the moon on the bottom of the plate. Students will use their spoon to move the cream off the cookie to model the correct phase of the moon. After completing eight correct moon phases with their cookies, the student will label each phase of the moon with the correct name strip which is provided. Once the student has correctly labeled the 'moons', they may eat the cookies and take the plate home. This is a great way to check and make sure students have an understanding of this material. It also makes it fun for the students as they are able to finish the assignment by eating their cookies!

This website actually contains a list of the "10 iPad Apps for Teaching Kids About Science." This app is listed as number five but I feel it is probably the coolest. This app allows you to view the moon from many different angles. You can view it from Earth or get closer with satellite views. The coolest thing about this app is that it is HD. So you can zoom in and really examine the moon's surface. There are places where you can read facts about people and modules that have landed on the moon. This app could be used by students of any age. It would be a valuable tool in a high school astronomy class and I think it would pair nicely with that Moon Dust activity I posted before. I could simply show my kindergarten students what the moon's surface looks like and then allow them to play with "Moon Dust." I would probably use this as an early lesson in a unit on the moon. It is not stated on this site how much this app costs exactly, just that it is under $20.

This is a simple, yet, very effective way for students to understand just what is happening during moon phases. It is a very simple activity to put together that has the students sitting in a circle around the "moon" which is stationary and half is colored black. Each student, sitting at different angles draws what it is they see demonstrating the moon phases. I love this activity, it easily illustrates any misconceptions that students may have about the moon and its phases. I could see this being a very useful lesson and activity when discussing the moon, and illustrating how parts of the moon don't actually disappear. I've always thought that being able to visualize things were the best way to learn.

This is a really cool twist on the typical baking soda and vinegar volcano. The ingredients are mixed together and the students are allowed to play with the Moon Dust before the vinegar is added. While students will be learning about the moon, this will also provide an opportunity for the students to practice making shapes and letters in the Moon Dust. Once the vinegar is added the students see the eruptions taking place and it creates a whole new tactile activity. This is designed for a pre-school or even kindergarten class.

This is a lesson that teaches kids about the phases of the moon by using Oreos. It's originally for Kindergarten students according to the website that I found it on, however, one of my college professors used this activity in my Physical Science class and it's still the reason how I know the moon phases. I would definitely use this in my classroom at any grade level because no matter how old you are, Oreos are always a great tool for learning! I could see myself using this in my classroom after a presentation of this unit and after they are introduced to other pictures, I would set up stations or something for them to identify what moon they're trying to make, and then replicate that with their Oreo. This was one of my favorite activities as a young adult, so I'm sure any student and any age could really learn a lot with this as well as having fun with science! Who knows, maybe one little Oreo activity could birth the passion of a future astronomer in my classroom!

This is a cool moon demo to show the moon is always the same size. I want to try it on a night where there is a harvest moon and then on a night when the moon looks like an average night.

This site poses questions for the kids and gives the answers. Nice 8 phases of the moon chart and provides more links.

This is a step-by-step explanation of a moon phase lesson. Gives a logical order to the lessons. Provides an idea for a hands on experiment too. Give many more moon links.

The Children's University of Manchester produces this page. It is absolutely fabulous! The website is interactive, teaching students about a variety of different subjects in a way that is appealing to children. The brief lesson could be used as a quick introduction to a topic, or a quick recap over a topic. The site I have linked to is about the phases of the moon. The children can see a short animated clip showing the sun with the earth and moon orbiting around it. The clip has facts throughout, and a brief quiz at the end. I would highly recommend incorporating this site into your classroom!

This bulletin board is a place where people exchange ideas on how to use Eric Carle's books in the classroom. A couple books such as "Little Cloud" and "Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me" are great for science lessons.

This site would be so much more useful if the sections were searchable or organized in some way. I found it to be a LOT of reading to find what the different ideas were for each book.

This resource gives everything you need to know about the Sun, Earth, Moon and other familiar objects in the solar system. There are links to each individual planet, the sun, the moon, stars, comets etc... I would use this website to give more information for the students on the solar system. This could also help students who are more advanced to "dig in" to more detail about the solar system. There are photographs, games, detailed information on everything in the universe. There is even a glossary I can use as a teacher so that students know what each word in the solar system means. I can use a graphic organizer with the glossary,start constellations, or information on each of the planets. This website can be used in multiple ways for teaching the solar system.

This website has a great variety of lessons and activities for children in relation to astronomy. I like the Earth, Sun and Moon link under the Games section. There are also quizzes, facts, videos and much more to explore!

PBS's lesson on gravity is somewhat of a classic, dropping two objects of different weight from the same height. This lesson utilizes both hands-on experiments, videos, prediction, and a variety of other ways for students to stay engaged and involved in the lesson. Throughout the lesson students predict what may or may not happen to their own experiments, to those done on the moon, and comparatively between the two differing atmospheres. The resource is specifically valuable to me due to it's consistent student directed and inquiry-based nature, examples of higher order thinking questions can be found throughout the lesson. I can see this resource being used in the classroom during an introduction lesson to the concept of gravity, possibly taking place in multiple parts throughout a week or a unit.

I picked this site because it was very fun and colorful! There were moving diagrams to show how the planets rotate around the sun as well as interactive games. There was information on the solar system as a whole as well as links to each of the planets and the planets' moons. Very educational! I would use this in my classroom as a center on the computer. I would have different centers set up around the room for the children to explore, and this would be an interactive website that would offer information to the students.

While navigating through the website, students will be able to obtain knowledge on our solar system and all of the planets involved. Each planet has its own page of information. I like this website, because you can have the students use technology (the computers) and team work to find all of the information on each of the planets. I would have pairs of students receive one planet, and then sharing to the class about their information (This would help the kinesthetic learners) Also, there is a short 4 minute video that is called the "The Solar System Song" which has information about each planet. I would use this after the students all shared their information on what they learned on their planet. By sharing this video it incorporates technology, review and for those visual learners a small video to help them remember planets. There is also a planet quiz on the website as well as links to the stars and moons pages.

A clear calendar by month and year. Nice way to compare one month to another. Can select Northern or Southern hemispheres.

I choose this website because it is interactive and fun for younger students. It also covers a lot of information that is useful in studying the solar system. For use in the classroom, I would have my students use this website as a resource in creating a project on the patterns in the solar system.

This website includes information on each planet, the sun, the moon, asteroids, comets, meteorites, explorations of space, telescopes, types of equipment etc... I would use this website for an activity where students learn about each planet, the universe and what is in the universe. I also like this website because it contains videos of the Mars space shuttle, telescopes, etc... I think that would be a useful tool for students who are visual, auditory and kinesthetic.