Lost in Space: Constellations and Moon Phases

I have finally come to a point with the children in our space unit that I can release control and let the kids participate in some guided inquiry independently. This week we began to study the phases of the moon and constellations.  Half of the class learned about the moon phases by doing some short readings and creating a flip book, wile the other half read about the constellations by also doing some readings and then creating constellations of their own.



You can never get any better than through instructions.
They are the foundation of any good activity!



I began by creating very explicit instructions for both activities, which I reviewed with the children in a class. I then sent each group to their area of the class. I am very lucky to have a support worker in the class for Science, Her help in supporting the students to carry out their tasks has been invaluable in assuring the success of the unit. Being a support worker myself I know how valuable her time is. Thank you Vesna!

Simon demos his flip book.

The kids studying the moon phases worked on a lesson I adapted from the Discoverycube website. You can do this activity with your own class by printing out the flip book pages template and following the instructions. You can download the template here.

I have really been focused on providing fun, unique, and highly visual learning experiences for the kids durning this space unit. I think it really helps them to develop a concrete understanding of something they would never actually be able to to see in real life. We finished up our learning about the moon phases with a moon phases quiz.

This sheet is the perfect opportunity to discuss why
some stars appear bigger than others in constellations.
I asked the kids to think about it before poking them out.

The constellations group also did an art activity to facilitate learning. This group also did a short reading on constellations and then made constellations of their own. For this activity I copied constellations from cards I found online at www.scienceteacher.com. The cards themselves were too small for me to use but they are fantastic for finding constellations from every season with names and meanings in English. You can find them

here. The kids used sharpened pencils to poke out the stars. I had the kids use plasticene to avoid any pencil related injuries.



Be careful!



All done, looking great!



Once they got their constellations made, the kids used flashlights to create replications of constellations that appear in the night sky inside of a box painted black inside. Talk about excited. The kids went NUTS over this activity.  Some of the kids even worked at moving them as though they were following the rotation of the Earth. I am loving the connections they are making.  I'll definitely keep it in the tool kit for next time I do a space unit!

Looking at Cassiopeia in te constellation box.

As with the moon phases group, the constellation kids also finished off the activity with a constellations quiz just to cement the connection between the information and the activity.

If you are interested in doing this activity you can find my lesson handouts on Share My Lesson here constellations and Moon Phases