Description
What our Earth’s Moon lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: Earth’s Moon is a high-interest reading comprehension lesson plan. As such, students will practice various close reading and comprehension skills. In addition, they will learn about this amazing ball of light in the night sky. This lesson is for students in 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. Sandwich cookies (1–2 packs per group), plastic knives or spoons, paper plates, printable moon phase chart, markers, and labels are the necessary supplies for the activity.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page provides an extra paragraph of information to help guide the lesson and remind you what to focus on. It explains that you can teach this lesson in a whole-class setting or as an independent, small-group activity. The blank lines on this page are available for you to write out thoughts and ideas you have as you prepare the lesson.
EARTH’S MOON LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
Introduction to the Moon
The Earth’s Moon lesson plan contains two content pages. At the start, it provides a small box of basic information about the moon. It is approximately 238,900 miles away from the earth. Its average temperature is around -300°F or -184°C in the shaded parts, and up to 214°F or 101°C in the sun! It would take between three and five days to travel to the moon from Earth. And when it comes to gravity, 100 pounds on Earth equals only 17 pounds on the moon.
The moon is Earth’s only natural satellite and one of the brightest objects in our night sky. The name moon comes from an old English word mōna and has been used for centuries. The moon is about 238,900 miles (384,400 kilometers) away from Earth, which is so far that it would take a jet plane over 18 days to get there! Even though it seems small in the sky, it plays a significant role in life on Earth.
With a diameter of 2,159 miles, the moon is about one-quarter the size of Earth. If the earth were hollow, it could fit nearly 50 moons inside it! The moon looks like a perfect sphere, but it’s slightly flattened at the poles. Its color can change depending on what’s happening in the sky. It often looks white or gray but can appear red or orange during a lunar eclipse.
History
Scientists believe the moon formed billions of years ago when a massive object about the size of Mars collided with Earth. This impact sent pieces of rock into space, which eventually came together to form the moon. Over time, it cooled and developed the craters and plains we see today.
Astronauts have visited the moon several times. The first people to land on the moon were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 as part of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. Armstrong became famous for saying, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Since then, 12 astronauts have walked on the moon, conducting experiments and collecting moon rocks to learn more about it.
Scientists are still studying the moon. NASA and other space agencies plan to send astronauts back soon as part of the Artemis program. These missions will help us learn more about the moon and prepare us for exploring other planets, like Mars.
Interesting Facts
Did you know the moon has seas without water? These are flat plains called maria, which are formed by ancient lava flows. It also has no air, so there is no wind or weather. Because of this, footprints left by astronauts could stay there for millions of years! Here’s a fun fact: The moon is slowly moving away from Earth at a rate of about 1.5 inches per year.
The moon appears to change shape in the sky, but it really stays the same! These shapes, called phases, happen because of how sunlight hits it. From Earth, we see the moon grow from a thin crescent to a full moon and then shrink again. It takes about 29.5 days for the moon to complete one cycle. The lesson provides an image to help students understand the phases from new moon to new moon.
Gravity on the moon is much weaker than on Earth. If you weigh 100 pounds on Earth, you would only weigh 17 pounds on the moon. This is why astronauts can hop and bounce as they walk on its surface. Its gravity also causes tides in the Earth’s oceans, pulling and pushing the water to create high and low tides.
Culture and Importance
Many cultures have stories about the moon. Some Native American tribes refer to the full moons by unique names, like the Wolf Moon or Harvest Moon. Ancient people used the moon to track time and seasons. Some even believed a man or rabbit was living on its surface!
The moon is like a giant lantern in the sky. But it is more than just a pretty sight. It helps keep Earth stable by controlling its tilt and seasons. It has also inspired people to dream, explore, and learn about space. At the end of the day, it reminds us how much there is to discover in our universe.
EARTH’S MOON LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The Earth’s Moon lesson plan includes two worksheets: an activity worksheet and a practice worksheet. Each one will help students solidify their grasp of the material they learned throughout the lesson. You can refer to the classroom procedure guidelines to know when to hand out each worksheet.
SANDWICH COOKIE MOON PHASES ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
For the activity, students demonstrate their understanding of the moon phases by creating a chart using sandwich cookies. They will follow the steps on the worksheet to carefully create each phase by cutting out parts of the frosting. When they finish, they will place the cookies on a plate in the correct order of the phases and label them accordingly. (Perhaps, after you check their work, you can let them eat their moon phase cookies!)
EARTH’S MOON REVIEW PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet lists 10 questions based on the content. These questions all relate to the content pages, so students will need to refer to them often for the answers. In addition, each question provides which reading tool the question corresponds to, such as text feature, vocabulary, or comprehension.
Worksheet Answer Keys
At the end of the lesson plan document is an answer key for the practice worksheet. The correct answers are all in red to make it easier for you to compare them with students’ responses. If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
