Moon Phases Lesson Plan: Earth’s Place in the Universe

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Moon Phases, and supports the standard of analyzing changes in the observable shape of the Moon throughout the course of a month. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Ask students:

• When you look up at the night sky, what do you observe?
• How does the Moon differ in shape over time?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read aloud the description on the Moon Phases topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Moon Phases Challenge and Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about the Moon’s phases while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Create a scientific vlog from the POV of an astrologist that answers this question: How does the Earth-Sun-Moon position impact your observations of the Moon?
• Make-a-Map: Make a concept map identifying the Moon’s phases as the  positions of the Moon, Earth, and Sun change throughout a month. 
• Creative Coding: Code a learning game challenging players to sort the Moon’s phases and related vocabulary terms into self-selected categories.  

More to Explore

Space Unit: Continue to build understanding of Earth’s place in the universe with more BrainPOP topics.

Teacher Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.