Moon Finder

I took this image tonight, Tuesday, October 3, 2006 at 10:04 pm in my front yard ( I seem to do all of my science in my own yard). with a Canon PowerShot A75...Dimensions 2048 x1536(pixels)

What we see is a Waxing Gibbous Moon--on its way to Full Moon by Friday, October 6, 2006.

Check out the Moon Phase Calendar (as recommended by our own Bernhard ).

To teach my students about the Phases of the Moon, we painted them on our Modular Unit...Of course, each year I discuss the painting with the kids and we talk about the fact that there is only one moon and not eight.


2. Address the following questions in your blog (or journal):
How could you help students overcome the following common misconceptions about the phases of the moon?

• The moon is only visible at night. You can never see it in the daytime.

If the students spend a month observing and charting the moon they will discover that the moon is out in the daytime regularly. I also point out the Moon whenever I see her, to whomever is nearby, so chances are I am showing some kid the moon during my morning duty, when I see her out.

• The phases of the moon are caused by clouds.

We can notice the Moon changing shape with and without cloud cover. There are also some good kid books which illustrate the moon changing shape.

• The phases of the moon are caused by Earth's shadow on the moon.What other misconceptions might your students have about the phases of the moon?

I have not asked them, but I will survey my class and post the results for what they think they know about the Moon.