Phases of the moon

Olivia Swisher
7th-12th Grade Special Education Science

Common Core Standards:

• During the years of grades 5-8, all students must use the following scientific processes, with appropriate
laboratory safety techniques, to construct their knowledge and understanding in all science content areas:
• Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations.
• Design and conduct a scientific investigation.
• Use appropriate mathematics, tools and techniques to gather data and information.
• Analyze and interpret data.
• Develop descriptions, models, explanations and predictions.
• Think critically and logically to connect evidence and explanations.
• Recognize and analyze alternative explanations and predictions.
• Communicate scientific procedures and explanations.

Lesson Summary:

The purpose of this lesson is to build on the skills to analyze and interpret data. Another purpose of this
lesson is to improve on the development of descriptions and models. By doing this lesson students will also
improve on their techniques to gather data and information. This lesson will involve the students researching
the different phases of the moon and learning what each one looks like.

Estimated Duration:

This lesson will take about 2.5 hours. I plan on dividing this lesson into three days, and three different class
periods. Day one and two will be 60 minutes. Day three will be 30 minutes.

Commentary:
To begin this lesson, I will have a discussion with my students to talk about the different phases of the moon
to refresh their memory on what we have already talked about. My students will then have to use the
computers in our classroom to research the different phases of the moon and what each phase looks like. To
get the students hooked into the lesson I will let them create the phases of the moon with Oreo’s and the
cream inside of them. They first have to do the research and create a poster on the phases of the moon. I
don’t anticipate any challenges for this lesson.
Instructional Procedures:

Day 1:
For the first 10 minutes I will go over with the class the 8 phases of the moon that we talked about on a
previous day. The students are welcome to take notes if they want. For the next 5 to 10 minutes I will
explain the assignment. I will tell the students that they need to get on a computer in our room and research
the 8 phases of the moon. They need to know the name of each phase, what each phase looks like, and 2
facts about each phase. They are required to create a poster displaying all of these things. They can use any
form to make their poster such as a word document, glogster or an actual poster board. For the remaining 20
minutes of the class period the students will be independently starting their research on the phases of the
moon. They will be able to finish the rest of their project the next day. The whole time I will be available to
answer any questions they may have.

Day 2:
The students will have the whole 60 minutes of the class period to finish their research. I will be available to
answer questions if the students have any. They can start putting their project together during class if they
have time. If they don’t then they will have to finish the project at home. The project will be due the next
day.

Day 3:
The students will turn in their projects. Then we will do a fun activity with Oreo’s and the cream to form the
different phases of the moon. After the students create the phases with the Oreo’s and cream they can eat
them as a snack.

Pre-Assessment:
In the beginning of this lesson I will talk to my students about the phases of the moon to refresh their
memories. This will help them gather data and information that they will need to move forward with this
project just like in the Common Core Standards.
Scoring Guidelines:
I will use my own judgement and write down which students could recall information about the phases of
the moon and what exactly they could recall. When the students come to me with questions I will assess how
much they are understanding the concept of the different phases of the moon.

Post-Assessment:
The individual poster project will give the teacher an idea of how much of the phases of the moon the
students understand. The students will also get another chance to show the teacher how much they know
about the phases of the moon when they do the activity with the Oreo’s.

Scoring Guidelines:
If the student’s receive an 80% on the project this means that they only missed one phase of the moon. They
either missed what it actually looked like or the name of the phase of the moon. By the student getting an
80% this means that they understood the phases of the moon pretty well. I will grade all the other posters
based on how much effort they put into it and if the phases are correct. Students who miss 2 or more
questions will be pulled aside at a later time to talk with me to see what parts of the phases of the moon they
don’t understand.

Differentiated Instructional Support

Describe how instruction can be differentiated (changed or altered) to meet the needs of gifted or accelerated
students:
I would alter this assignment if it were for gifted students by making them have 3 facts about each phase of
the moons instead of 2 facts. The students would also have to present the project in front of the whole class.

Discuss additional activities you could do to meet the needs of students who might be struggling with the
material:
For students who are struggling with the concepts of the phases of the moon I would break each phase down
to help the students. I could offer one on one time to work with those students that need that extra help. I
could modify the project and make them only define the phases of the moon and find 1 fact about each
phase.

Extension
If some students wanted to learn more about the learning standards that I’m addressing in this lesson they
could go to this link. http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Learning-in-Ohio/OLS-Graphic-Sections/Learning-
Standards
This website is helpful to students because they can navigate around the website and really read about
different learning standards from different grades.

Homework Options and Home Connections

For this lesson, if the students don’t finish their project in class it will become homework. In the future other
assignments will be assigned as homework about the phases of the moon. Some of these homework
assignments will involve looking things up on the internet and doing research.

Interdisciplinary Connections
This lesson can be integrated with other forms of science lessons like physical science. There could be
another lesson combined with this lesson that has to do with other things about the moon. This lesson can
also be combined with history. Someone can tie in history of the moon that will relate to the phases of the
moon.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers I will need a computer and some type of projection machine to project what is on my
computer to the white board so that my students will be able to see it. I will also need
plates and packages of Oreo’s.

For students My students will need access to the computers, whether that be a laptop a desktop
computer or a tablet. They will also need pencils, poster boards, markers, and colored
pencils.

Key Vocabulary

The students need to define what each phase of the moon does and looks like. Waxing Crescent, Waning
Crescent, Waning Gibbous, Waxing Gibbous, New, Full, and Half.
Additional Notes