How wide is the Moon? _____________

2. How much of the Moon faces the sun? _____________

3. Which word refers to the shape of the Moon, as it appears to us? _____________

4. What is the name of the dividing line, separating the lit and unlit sides of the Moon? ______

5. The Moon orbits the Earth roughly once per _____________

6. Words that have similar etymological histories, like “month” and “Moon” are ____________

7. What is the length of time for the Moon to go through all its phases? _____________

8. In which part of the Moon's cycle is it closest to the Sun? _____________

9. Which term means "growing or getting bigger"? _____________

10. Because the Moon is orbiting the Earth, after a couple of days it’s moved a bit to the _____

11. When the Moon is in “first quarter”, we see it as _____________

12. Which term means "swollen or convex"? _____________

13. What is the phase of the Moon, when it rises at sunset and sets and sunrise? ___________

14. What term is used when the Moon is viewed as shrinking? _____________

15. Which phase comes a week after full moon? _____________

16. The Moon can be lit by light, reflected from the Earth, called _____________

go around Earth?

A Moon phase is what the Moon looks like from Earth at a particular time. In the space

below, draw a few pictures of different Moon phases, based on what you have seen

before.

🌑🌒🌓🌔🌕🌖🌗🌘

2. About how often does a Full Moon happen? _____about once a month_____________

Gizmo Warm-up

1. In the Phases of the Moon Gizmo, click Play ( ).

What do you notice about the motion of the Moon?

________it moves in a circular orbit around the

earth________________________________

The path that the Moon takes is called its orbit. The

Moon is revolving around Earth.

2. What do you notice about the motion of Earth?

_________the earth is spinning_______________________________

This motion is called rotation. Earth rotates on its axis, a straight line connecting the North

Pole to the South Pole.

3. Where would you have to be to see the view shown above? Explain. _______You would

have to be in space looking down at the north pole of the earth. I know this because we see

the continents spinning around a central point, so it must be a pole. I also recognize North

america and eurasia which identifies that it is the north pole___________________

2019

Activity A:

Moon phases

Get the Gizmo ready:

∙ Click Reset ( ).

Question: Why do we see phases of the Moon?

1. Brainstorm: Why do you think we see phases of the Moon? __because the moon is at

different positions around the earth relative to the sun. the sun is the source of light that

causes us to be able to see the moon. When the side of the moon that is reflecting the

sunlight is facing us, we see a full moon. When it is not entirely facing us,because the moon

has changed positions around the earth, we see less of the moon._________________

2. Run Gizmo:

∙ Click Play. As the Moon goes around Earth, notice what the Moon looks like on the

right side of the Gizmo. (This shows what an observer on the North Pole would

see.)

∙ Turn on Show view area to see which part of the Moon is visible from Earth.

3. Observe: How does the Moon’s appearance change as the Moon revolves around Earth?

____the amount of the moon that is visible (reflecting the suns rays) to earth increases until

the moon is on the opposite side of the earth than the sun, than the visible area

decreases.______

4. Analyze:

A. Look at the overhead view of the Moon and Earth. How much of the Moon is always

lit up, or illuminated, by the Sun? ____half__________

B. Can we always see the same amount of the illuminated side of the Moon from Earth?

Explain. ____no, sometimes the moon is not opposite to the sun around us, and we

cannot see parts of the side that is illuminated by the sun.____

5. Think and discuss: Based on your observations, why do we see Moon phases?

______Because the moon rotates around the earth.________

2019

Activity B:

Name that phase!

Get the Gizmo ready:

∙ Click Reset.

Goals: Learn the names of Moon phases and when they occur.

1. Run Gizmo: Click Play. When you are ready to fill in part of the diagram, click Pause ( ).

Sketch what the Moon looks like and write the phase name and day next to your sketch.

(The first two are done for you.) Click Play to continue.

2. Predict: Suppose you saw a waxing gibbous Moon. What phase would you expect one week

later? _____if you saw a very early waxing gibbous, you would see a full moon in a week. If you

saw a medium to late waxing gibbous you would see a waning gibbous in a week. __ Test your

prediction using the Gizmo.

3. Think and discuss: Waxing means “growing” and waning means “shrinking.”

A. Seen from the North Pole, which side of a waxing Moon is illuminated? ____the right

side_______

B. Which side is illuminated when the Moon is waning? _______the left

side__________________

C. Suppose you see a crescent Moon. How do you know if it is waxing or waning?

________depending on if the crescent is on the left or right (right = waxing, left =

waning.___________________________________________________________

2019

Extension:

The Man in the

Moon

Get the Gizmo ready:

∙ Click Reset.

∙ Turn on Show flag.

Question: If you look closely at the Full Moon, you may notice dark areas that look a bit

like a face. This is known as “The Man in the Moon.” Does this side of the Moon always

face Earth?

1. Form hypothesis: Do you think we always see the same side of the Moon? _____yes________

2. Run Gizmo: Click Play. The flag helps you notice how quickly the Moon is rotating. Click

Pause when the flag has rotated in a full circle, showing that the Moon has rotated

once.

3. Observe: Where does the flag point as the Moon revolves around Earth? ___the flag points at

the earth____________

4. Draw conclusions: Do we always see the same side of the Moon? How do you know?

________yes, we always see the same side of the moon's rotation period is the same as

as the time it takes to orbit around the earth. _______________________

5. Observe:

A. How long did it take for the Moon to go around Earth?

________30 days____________________

B. How long did it take for the flag to rotate once in a full circle?

___________30 days_________________

6. Analyze: What do you notice about these two time intervals? ______they are the

same_________________

7. Think and discuss: Suppose the Moon rotated on its axis just as quickly as Earth. Would we

still always see the same side of the Moon from Earth? Explain.

__________no, we would see all the sides of the moon, because its rotation period would

be 24h and not 30 days. Since the rotation period is 30x shorter than the orbit period, we

will see the moon rotate 30 times.________________