Moon Phase Lesson Plan for Elementary-Age Students

Understand the phases of the moon can be a difficult concept for a child in elementary school. There are many different aspects of the phases of the moon that children should learn. A moon phase lesson plan should be educational, but fun so students can better understand the lesson being taught. Some concepts of teaching the phases of the moon will be reviewed here.

First, we should help children understand moon phase activity (the cycle of the moon), which is divided into 4 parts: new moon (where you see the moon at all), first quarter (only half the moon is visible), third quarter (only half of the moon can be seen), and the full moon (full moon can be seen).

Your moon phase lesson plan should explain the difference in these phases of the moon. use pictures and diagrams or software that illustrate what these moon phases look like.

Your moon phase lesson plan should go over the earth and orbiting satellites. You should first explain that the Earth orbits the sun. Explain that the Earth orbits the Sun in about 365 days. Next explain that the earth rotates on its axis one complete revolution in about 24 hours. Then he explains that the moon orbits the earth. The moon is about 28 days for the entire planet orbits the earth. Then you can explain how the position of the earth, the sun or the moon affects the phases of the moon and which part of the moon we can see.

Then explain how the moon does not produce light, simply reflects the sunlight. You should also explain that the moon is visible both day and night.

To help your students understand this concept, as you can do an experiment hands. For this experiment you will need a dark room class, soft balls or polystyrene balls, and flashlights. Information on how to perform this experiment can be found at www.eduref.org. It will help you teach the phase of the moon. This experiment has been approved for children in grades K-6.

Allow plenty of time for the lecture phase of the moon. If your students have questions, be sure to respond and clarify that by example, as the moon phase can be a very confusing topic.

Keep it fun and interesting for students. Remember that students understand the phase of the moon better (and enjoy your lesson more) if you are using a variety of teaching tools, like the hands of experiments, diagrams, pictures, software and verbal explanations.