On(line)SC
Astronomy
Nature at Night
Notes and Facilitation Points
Slide #11 - Check the current phase of the moon ahead of time.
Slide #13 - Small foam ball for just the teacher or for each student, scratch paper, pen/pencil for the foam ball and to draw.
Slide #25 - Click “The Myth of the Moon and the Stars” to print out a copy and read to your students.
What patterns do you see during the moon phases? How do these change?
Notes and Facilitation Points
Crosscutting Concepts within this lesson
Slide #6-7 Scale, Proportion, and Quantity: When eliciting students’ understanding of scale, ask students: Is the model presented at a [smaller/larger/the same] scale than the phenomenon as you might observe it directly?
EX: Are the pictures presented a smaller, larger, or the same size as you might observe it directly?
Place them in order from smallest to largest.
Slide #13-16 Patterns: Ask when time is a variable: How is [___] changing over time? What do you predict will happen to [variable] in the future? Use the pattern you see in the data to justify your answer. Students will be able to predict the moon phases with this activity through pattern recognition.
EX: How is the moon changing over time? Using the moon phase activity, what do you predict will happen to the moon during each phase?
On(line)SC
Astronomy
Nature at Night
Hello Naturalists!
Today we will be discussing Astronomy, the study of things beyond the edge of our planet.
SUN
MOON
EARTH
Are the pictures presented a smaller, larger, or the same size as you might observe directly?
Place them in order from actual smallest to largest.
Answers
SUN
MOON
EARTH
The Moon appears to be the same size as the sun because it is closer to Earth even though it’s 400x smaller
than the sun.
The moon is about ¼th the size of the Earth.
You would need about 1 million Earths to make up the size of the sun!
Mind Blown...
The moon revolves (circles) around the Earth and moves in a pattern across the atmosphere.
It goes through waning and waxing phases as it
orbits the Earth.
It appears to be shrinking in the waning phase and growing in the waxing phase.
When the full disk of the moon is completely visible, it is called a full moon.
When the disk of the moon is completely invisible, it is called a new moon.
Why does the moon go through phases?
Imagine the moon's surface as a giant mirror.
The light from the sun bounces off of it, and if you are in the right spot, you can see that reflection.
Continue to the next slide for an out of this world activity, Moon Phases!
Moon Phases
4. Turn on the lamp which symbolizes the sun, and turn off the lights.
5. Hold the pen/pencil foam ball away from your body.
6. Hold out your arm straight and slowly turn your body to the left.
7. With each ⅛th of a turn, you draw it on a piece of paper
8. Start with the moon (foam ball) in between you (the earth) and the lamp (the sun) - this phase is the new moon.
9. Slowly move 1/8th to the left. A little sliver of the moon will have light - this is the Waxing Crescent moon.
10. As you keep moving 1/8th to the left, half of the moon will have light - this is called the First Quarter moon.
11. Remember: waning= shrinking, waxing= growing
The moon orbits the earth every 28 days, so the moon phases repeat every
28 days.
How is the moon changing over time?
What is the closest star to our planet?
Trivia Question
If you said the Sun, you'd be right!
Our sun is very close to Earth compared to every other star in the universe.
We're close enough that we're caught in its gravity.
Stars are orbs of the gases hydrogen
and helium.
Their distance from Earth determines if they look small (farther away) or big (closer).
If you go outside on a clear night, with no moonlight or city lights to outshine them, you can see about 3,000 stars.
To give you an idea of how far light has to travel, a ray of light can travel around the whole planet about 7.5 times per second.
If the distance around the world is 24,837.6 miles and
light travels around it 7.5 times per second,
how many miles does light travel in one second?
Even with it moving that fast (186,282 miles per second),
it takes light from the sun about 8 minutes to reach Earth.
Join Ms. Lauren as she tells a
Native American legend,
“The Myth of the Moon and the Stars”.
THANK YOU FOR LEARNING ABOUT ASTRONOMY WITH US!
Send your moon phases drawings, questions, or comments to
We’d love hearing from you!
Slide 5 | Image #1 | "Number One Astronomy Picture of 2010: Orion from Head to Toe" by thebadastronomer is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Slide 6 | Image #1 | "The sun" by Lima Andruška is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 | Image #2 | "moon 03-10-2009" by moosejaw00 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 | Image #3 | "Earth" by Kevin M. Gill is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Slide 7 | Image #1 | "moon 03-10-2009" by moosejaw00 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 | Image #2 | "Earth" by Kevin M. Gill is licensed under CC BY 2.0 | image #3 | "The sun" by Lima Andruška is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Slide 8 | Image #1 | "'XX-34 BADGER' atmospheric nuclear test - April 1953" by The Official CTBTO Photostream is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Slides 9 & 25 | Image #1 | "Moon" by pviojo is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Slide 10 | Image #1 | "Moon" by RichardTurnerPhotography is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Slide 11 | Image #1 | "moon 03-10-2009" by moosejaw00 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Slide 12 | Image #1 | "The blood moon" by davidyuweb is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Slide 13 | Image #1 | "Caldwell 94" by NASA Hubble is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Slide 17 | Image #1 | "Moon phases" by MarkGregory007 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Slide 19 | Image #1 | "The sun" by Lima Andruška is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Slide 20 | Image #1 | "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. #night #sky #star #milkway" by mylifeasdog is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Slide 21 | Image #1 | "Pinnacles Night Sky" by Joe Parks is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Slide 22 | Image #1 | "Galaxy" by Bryce Bradford is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Slide 23 | Image #1 | "Speed of Light II" by masteruser1999 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Slide 24 | Image #1 | "Sun Destroys Earth" by Gerald Simmons is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Slide 25 | Audio #1 | ONSC Archive | “The Myth of the Moon and the Stars” read by teacher naturalist Ms. Lauren Eno
Works Cited