Moon+Phases+(3rd+Grade)

= = =__3rd Grade: Moon Phases:__ (used to reinforce the reading from class) **Please listen and follow along with the reading:**= =media type="file" key="Moon Phase Reading.wma" width="300" height="45"= =Why does the moon look different every night?= During the lunar month, the Moon goes through all its phases. Just like the Earth, half of the Moon is lit by the Sun while the other half is in darkness. The phases we see result from the angle the Moon makes with the Sun as viewed from Earth.


 * At new moon,** the Moon is lined up between the Earth and the Sun. We see the side of the Moon that is not being lit by the Sun (in other words, **we see no Moon at all,** because the brightness of the Sun outshines the dim Moon!)

As the Moon moves eastward away from the Sun in the sky, we see a bit more of the sunlit side of the Moon each night.When **half of the Moon's disc is illuminated,** we call it **the first quarter moon.** This name comes from the fact that the Moon is **now one-quarter of the way through the lunar month.** From Earth, we are now looking at the sunlit side of the Moon from off to the side.

The moon **appears to grow fatter** each night until we see the full sunlit face of the Moon. We call this phase **the full moon.** It rises almost exactly as the Sun sets and sets just as the Sun rises the next day. **The Moon has now completed one half of the lunar month.**

During the **second half of the lunar month,** the Moon grows thinner each night. As it reaches **the three-quarter point in its month,** the Moon once **again shows us one side of its disc illuminated** and the other side in darkness. However, the side that we saw dark at the first quarter phase is now the lit side. As it completes its journey and **approaches new moon again**

=__Activity:__= Using Kidspiration make a diagram of one moon phase cycle in relation to the sun, moon and earth's relation to one another: You must include the sun, earth, 1st Quarter Moon, New Moon, Last Quarter Moon and Full moon. []



=__3rd Grade: Moon Phases__= (this is reinforcing what we already read in class)