The moon (Week 8)

Manna moment and read aloud

1 Corinthians 4:7 (NLT)- "What do you have that God hasn't given you?  And if everything you have is from God, why do you boast as though it were not a gift?"
This scripture is on the opening page of this book, and while this book teaches some facts about the moon, it also addresses a character issue of pride.  All things are from God and if you have them, they are a gift to praise God for and point back to Him.

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The moon facts presented here are:

•           The moon gives light at night that is reflected from the sun.
•           The moon goes through different phases.

•           The moon is responsible for tides on Earth.

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MoonFinder by Jay Ryan is a second book that I presented to the students that has wonderful tips on how to find the moon in the sky with beautifully illustrated pictures.  While I did not have time to read them the story, I was able to show them the pictures of the moon and how you can find it in the sky.  I highly recommend this book if you are wanting to be a Moonfinder.

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Phases of the Moon order

After we finished with our read a-louds, we traveled to the board.  I gave each student a different 'phase' of the moon and they had to place themselves in order based on the phases drawn on the board.  A wonderful mom took our picture as a class.

cucumber moons

Now that they are familiar with the phases of the moon, I had them make the phases out of cucumbers.  This is typically done with Oreos but I find cucumbers to be just as wonderful and less messy.  Speaking from experience, my children receive more reminders of the phases of the moon with cucumbers than oreos as I don't typically buy oreos but always buy cucumbers.

I did not put a new moon on the top as usually we aren't able to see it and then placed the crescents, quarters, and gibbous' after.

Moon phase Headbands

As a take home reminder of the moon phases, I had the students glue moons to a head band.

A great extension of this activity is to have a large ball represent the earth or a globe in the middle of the room and have the students with their head bands on rotate around the earth.  It might be a dizzy experience but they would love it.

Phases of the Moon Scramble

Some students were finished with their head bands before others and so I scrambled the Moon phase cards and had them re-order them at the board.

Moon Log

I gave each student a moon log to document their observations of the moon.  It does have the dates written on them as today, there will be a full moon.  You can change the dates to match when you are observing.  There are extra tips for finding the moon on here that are helpful.

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