The Lunar Disk

Is that a waxing crescent or waning gibbous moon? Here's a comprehensive set of worksheets complete with great visuals that will have your kids spouting off the lunar cycle in order! 

Beyond the phases of the moon, this comprehensive lesson plan covers geologic history and geology. Amateur astronauts examine photos of the lunar landscape, experiment with the creation of craters, and delve into information about the...

In this hunt for planets worksheet, students read about the Kepler satellite used to detect exoplanets. Students solve 6 problems including drawing a sun disk and determining the scale in kilometers/millimeter, finding the area of the...

Students create a poster of the phases of the moon by drawing a time line. In this phases of the moon lesson plan, students chart the moon through each phase.

Eighth graders create a slide show to show their knowledge of the eight lunar phases and lunar rotation and revolutionary periods.

Young scholars explore the Earth's only natural sattelite, the moon. They view a demonstration using tennis balls of the waxing crescent moon, waxing gibbous moon and a lunar eclipse.

Students investigate the cycles of the moon through an in class experiment.  In this lunar lesson, students utilize a tennis ball and their own head to simulate the moon and Earth and create moon phases by observing the tennis ball from...

Students discover how Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer around 230 BC, used a simple observation of the eclipse of the Moon, plus clever reasoning, to deduce the distance of the Moon. They practice the same calculation technique.

Students examine total eclipses of the Sun and their limited regions of totality. They explain that this limited view occurs because the Moon is close enough to us for different points on Earth to view it differently.

Young scholars engage in an overview of solar and lunar calendars, their history and lore. Also, of the day and the month, and their relations to the rotation period of the Earth and the orbital period of the Moon.