Saw it on Pinterest...Bought it at Dollar Tree...Made it at Home...MOON PHASE FLIP BOOK FREEBIE

As most of you already know, I am a wee bit of a Pinterest addict. In fact, Pinterest is what started me blogging, and tweeting and FBing...so it's all Pinterests' fault!  Right now I am teaching a unit on Space.  I love teaching this unit, but sometimes find the concepts a little abstract for my grade six students.  Here in Ontario students will cover Space and Astronomy again in grade 9, but I still like to do a good job teaching the expectations from the grade six curriculum.

By Moon_phases_en.jpg: Orion 8 derivative work: Arnaugir (This file was derived from:  Moon_phases_en.jpg) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

I saw a picture on the blog Science Teaching Junkie of a project that really struck me.  It was a hands-on way to demonstrate the phases of the moon.  I love teaching using hands-on materials!  The kids love it too.  I decided I had to make it...or rather I had to get my hubby to make it for me.  Here's what he made me (and my students) last week.

Where does Dollar Tree fit in?  I bought everything I needed there!  If you want to make your own Phases of the Moon viewer you will need:

• 1 piece of black foam core
• 8 mid sized foam balls
• 1 larger sized foam ball
• glue gun
• markers

My hubby traced a circle in the middle of the foam core and cut it out with a box cutter.  He coloured half of each mid sized foam ball with a black permanent marker.  He also coloured the larger foam ball to look like a Sun.  I am sure you could paint the foam balls too, but the markers were fast and easy.  Next, he used the glue gun to mount the foam balls at evenly spaced intervals around the hole in the middle of the board and then mounted the Sun on one side.  This was students will get the view you see below, with the Sun always facing one side of the moon.

I was still skeptical about whether or not this would work until I stuck my head through the opening.  I was amazed as I rotated the board around! I was looking at each phase of the moon.  My head acted as the EARTH and I could see the Sun in some of the phases and not in others (like the diagram above).  This was awesome!  

I called my daughter and told her to put it over her head too. After an eye roll and strange look she tried it.   I had to talk her through the phases as she didn't remember any of them.  See what I mean about the concepts "not sticking" when you can't experience them in a hands-on manner?  She had studied Space last year, but had only learned about the phases by watching a video.  

You could label the phases on the board if you want to...but I think I am going to use it as a  pre and post assessment for my students.    

I love using the Moon Book by Gail Gibbons when I am teaching the phases of the moon.  Although this book is written for primary students, I use it to reinforce the phases of the moon with full-color illustrations and basic information. Using beautiful, spacious layouts, in addition to learning about lunar phases, students also learn about eclipses, lunar exploration, and the moon's effect on the earth. The detailed illustrations help readers visualize the movement of the moon in relation to the earth and sun, and moon exploration is explained simply, without too much overwhelming detail. Gibbons' direct style makes this book an excellent teaching tool for a first look at the moon, the earth's natural satellite. (adapted from Scholastic.com)


Each year the students make a Phases of the Moon Flip Book.  Each night students go outside and observe the moon.  They are to record the time, the weather and any other observations.  Students then sketch what they see when they look at the moon.  If they moon is not visible due to weather factors or time of night, they may use an on line source such as the one you can view HERE to find the phase and record it that way.  Once they have done the recording for 28 days, they carefully cut out all the dates, put them in chronological order, staple the corner and Presto!  they have created their own animated flip book.  Students will be amazed when the flip through the pages and see the phases of the moon come to life in an animated fashion.

Click on the image below to download this FREEBIE.

While you are on TpT check out the 

HANDS-ON, MINDS-ON SCIENCE CENTRES 

created to help teach the expectations for this topic!  

On January 7, 2018, Linda S. said:

"These centres can't be beat in terms of covering all of the learning expectations and engaging students' interest. My class loves them."