Lesson plans in progress with teacher.

1. (Seated group activity) How far is the moon from the Earth? Prediction with models.

2. (SLIDE) Explain that the moon has no light of its own, and the phases result from how we see the light and shadow sides (day and night) of the moon.

3. (SLIDE) Make the connection of the phases of the moon with the calendar, roughly one week between new moon and first quarter, etc, and about one month for the lunar cycle to complete.

4. (Small group activity in center or front of a darkened room) Model moon phases with a central light source (the sun) and a sphere on a stick (moon) in the student’s outstretched hand. The students will form a circle around the light, groups of six at a time is good. This activity takes about 5-7 minutes per group.

5. (SLIDE) (Entire group activity in center or front of room) Predict and experiment how craters and rays are formed by dropping pebbles in a pie plate filled with flour/ cocoa. (We’ll bring a drop cloth for easy cleanup.) Please choose three volunteers to be pebble droppers. Students will gather around three pie pans to observe, but not close enough to get splashed.

6. (SLIDES) Show how the maria features of the full moon might be imagined as "the man in the moon" or the “Rabbit in the moon” and tell the Japanese legend of the Rabbit in the Moon (Tsuki no Unagi) relating that different cultures around the world have different traditions.

7. (If time allows) VIDEO, + hand shadows on the wall.

Conclude with a hand shadows video for fun. Two and a half minute video plus playtime making hand shadows.