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5 Ideas to Teach Students about Moon Phases

5 Ideas for Teaching Moon Phases
Ready to teach your students about moon phases? Get ready for some big misconceptions!
 

Misconceptions

Here are some common misconceptions I’ve heard from students.
1. You can only see the moon at night.
2. The shape of the moon changes.
3.  The moon does not rotate.

My Massive Fail

Who has sent home the moon calendar where students are supposed to draw what the moon looks like each day?  Who has ever had 1/4 of their students complete it? I would have been thrilled at 1/4.   I tried my first two years teaching and I think maybe 2 out of 120 students did it.  The third year, I made it optional for extra credit (the ONLY time I’ve done extra credit).  One student took me up on that.

So clearly, students wouldn’t be making these observations on their own at home and joyfully bringing in their observation sheets with their expert analysis to discuss.  That’s fine. Half the time you can’t see the moon anyway.  So, I took a new approach the next year using the 5E Model.

 

A Different Approach

1. ENGAGE: StarDate Website

This website will flat out show you the moon phases for each date: http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon.

1. Print a Moon Phase calendar for each student for the current month.
 
2. Make observations. Box the New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Last Quarter. Ask students about how many days apart those each are (about a week). Ask students to compare the moon’s appearance the first day of the month and the last day of the month (they should look very similar because the pattern repeats). Write down 3 observations about the patterns.
Predicting Moon Phases

 

3. Follow up with Oreo Moon Phases (ULTIMATE ENGAGEMENT). Here are my top tips!
  • Use Double Stuff Oreos. The cream filling pulls off easily with a plastic knife (or something not sharp and appropriate for school) and maintains its shape.
  • Each student needs a plate with 4 cookies.
  • Label the Earth and Sun on the plate before starting.
  • LIGHT starts on the RIGHT. Following the New Moon, the crescent will appear on the right.
  • After the phase reaches a full moon, the phases will appear as the opposite of the one across from it as it moves back toward the new moon.
  • Identify the phase names.

 

2. EXPLORE/EXPLAIN: Styrofoam Ball Model

This is an old-school activity, but it sticks around because it’s a good one.  You go through some basic information about phases of the moon and observe changes using a model (styrofoam ball on a pencil).

Predicting Moon Phases

 

3. EXPLAIN: Moon Phases Digital Inquiry

In this activity, students combine information from multiple sources to explain why the moon’s appearance seems to change. This is differentiated, no-prep, and already a favorite activity style among teachers.

See it on TpT! Moon Phases Digital Inquiry

Moon Phases Digital Inquiry for Google Classroom

 

4. ELABORATE: Making Predictions

In Texas, students in 4th and 5th grade need to be able to make simple predictions in the lunar cycle.  The math is pretty simple because these are just approximations, but some of my students have struggled with this.  I teach students how to make predictions for new moon, full moon, first quarter moon, and last quarter moon.
 
Go back to the calendar from the Engage activity. Use what you know to predict when the next New Moon and Full Moon will occur. Use the Moon Phase Calendar website to check your predictions in the next month. There are about two weeks between a full moon and new moon and about a month passes before you will see the same phase again. Continue by making predictions for the next couple of months and check the online calendars to verify your predictions.
 
 

5. ELABORATE: Moon Phases Task Cards

Do your students need extra practice identifying phases and making predictions?
See it on TpT! Moon Phases Task Cards
 
Moon Phase Task Cards
 
For evaluating this particular standard, I recommend using 4th Grade Science TEKS-Based Assessments.
 

6. Bonus Idea

Here’s a list of 10 things to do with moon phases– make sure your students have access to a website with the moon phases and go!

Ari Mosquera

Standards

TEKS 4.8C collect and analyze data to identify sequences and predict patterns of change in shadows, seasons, and the observable appearance of the Moon over time

NGSS MS-ESS1-1 Develop and use a model of the Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and moon, and seasons

Moon Phases Teaching Resources

Find my favorite resources for teaching about moon phases on TPT. 

Moon Phases Labs
Moon Phases Slides and Worksheet

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9 thoughts on “5 Ideas to Teach Students about Moon Phases”

  2. While researching moon phases for upcoming lessons, I came across the teaching ideas which I thought looked great; however it would have been beneficial if, in your links,you notified users that your ideas/resources are on TPT and they require a payment. It may save precious time unnecessarily investigating resources..

    • I certainly don’t want to be misleading so I added that the links were to TpT. Hopefully, you can still use the images and descriptions to come with activities for your students. The moon is one of my favorite topics! Enjoy!

      -Ari

  4. Just thought I would mention that we actually never see the “dark side of the moon” because the rotational period is exactly the same as the orbital period, so the same portion of the Moon’s sphere is always facing the Earth.

  5. I love this site. I’m trying to decide what thinking map I could use for the moon phases. Any suggestions? Tree map or flow map??? It’s for my evaluation so it has to be in within a map. Thanks.

  6. Great ideas, but I have to clarify. The moon DOES rotate.
    “The moon orbits the Earth once every 27.322 days. It also takes approximately 27 days for the moon to rotate once on its axis. As a result, the moon does not seem to be spinning but appears to observers from Earth to be keeping almost perfectly still. Scientists call this synchronous rotation.”
    https://www.space.com/24871-does-the-moon-rotate.html

    • Hi Maria! I listed “The moon does not rotate” as a misconception students often have. Thank you for providing more information!

      Ari

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Ari Mosquera

Hi, I'm Ari!

As a new teacher, I struggled to plan engaging, rigorous science lessons. Throughout my time teaching upper elementary and in my graduate studies, I discovered what worked well and developed science curriculum for busy teachers.  Now, teachers across the country use Science Penguin activities every single day in their classrooms!

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