Lunar Phases!

This is my Lunar Phases Activity! Hope you enjoy it and don't forget to post a comment!

I may have mistakes but I may change over time. It will be fully finished!

Lunar Phases Cloze Activity

Use these words to complete the sentences.

One of the most obvious and regular things we can see about the Moon is the way it appears to change shape in the sky almost every night. (Actually you can often spot the Moon in the day-time, it’s just not as easy to see.) We know the Moon is a giant sphere made of rock, roughly 384 Thousand kilometres away. So how can it change shape?

The Moon doesn't really change shape. Just like Earth, half of the Moon is always in the sunlight, half is in the Shade. What we are seeing is more or less of the Moon’s ‘face’ directed towards the Sun. As the Moon Orbits, or circles the Earth we get to see if from different angles. Sometimes we see the full circle of the Moon, other times a lo-sided rugby ball shape or a crescent. Every cycle it seems to Disappear altogether. To help us describe this effect, we use some old-fashioned words;

• ‘Waxing’ -  means getting Bigger, or coming in.
• ‘Waning’ - means getting smaller, or going tout.
• ‘Gibbous’ - is like a lop-sided rugby ball shape.
• ‘Crescent’ - is the thin sliver shaper with pointy ends.

As shown in the diagram, the Moon orbits the Earth in an anti Clockwise direction. Earth orbit takes a little less than a month (the word ‘month’ is from the old English word ‘mōnath’ which means to Measure time with the moon). A new moon means it is facing away from us and it is fully in shade from our Perspective . A full moon shows the full reflection of the Sun.

First and last quarters allow you to see half of the Moon (confusingly, but it is 1⁄4 the way around). ‘Waxing gibbous’ means that it’s on its way to Becoming a full moon.

A ‘waning crescent’ moon tells you that a new moon is about to happen. If you can see the

right hand side of the Moon it is waxing – getting bigger. If you can see the left hand side,

it’ll be waning.

Lunar Phases - Comprehension: (you are allowed to re-read the text)

1. Roughly, how far away is the Moon? 384 Thousand kilometres away

2. Does the Moon shine with its own light? Yes / No Why, or why not: Because the sun gives the light to the moon and the moon will pass the light to the stars.

3. Approximately how long does it take for the Moon to circle the Earth?

Earth orbit takes a little less than a month

4. If you can’t see the Moon on a clear night, what could be happening?

It is becoming a full moon.

5. The Moon changes shape because it’s actually an inflatable beach ball : True / False

6. Create a definition for the word ‘gibbous’ A shape that looks like a soccer ball.

7. Grammar: Waxing and waning are words we sometimes use to talk about the tides on  Earth as well. What would be happening if the tide was ‘waning’? The tide is getting smaller.

8. Why is that when you can see half of the Moon we call it a quarter? Because the moon is bigger than half.

9. What would you expect to be brighter a gibbous or a crescent moon?

I say the sun is brighter than the moon

10.Higher level thinking: Why don’t we use the lunar phases to measure time on our

calendar any longer? Because sometimes you get the answers wrong

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Extra for experts: The Dreamworks (movie company) logo features the Moon with a

boy fishing off of it. From what you’ve learned; figure out where in the

lunar phase it would be:A quarter of a moon or a third of the moon.

Inquiry: Do people in the Northern hemisphere see the same phases

of the Moon at the same time as we see them in New Zealand?

No because the earth moves around and the countries do not move.

Bonus facts: We see the same side of the Moon all the time (an effect called ‘tidally locked’). The part we don’t see is called ‘the dark side of the Moon’, even though it gets the same sunlight as the rest of the satellite. The first time humans saw the other side was in 1959 when the Russian probe Luna took some grainy photographs.