Teaching Day-by-Day: The Moon

Week One - Looking at the moon scientifically
1. Plan a moon party. It's nice if you can hold your moon party on a moonlit night, but you can celebrate the moon in the daytime as well. What will you serve for refreshments? Moon cookies? A moon cake? What games will you play? Pin the crater on the moon?
2. Well, it's made of green cheese... What were some of your first beliefs about the moon? Did you think a man lived in it? Were you afraid werewolves would come out when the moon was full? Compare your early beliefs about the moon with those of your classmates.
3. Wait til the moon comes up. Find out what time the moon will rise tonight. Will it rise the same time tomorrow night? Why or why not? How does the rest of your family explain the moon's
   rising?

4. Shine on, shine on, harvest phobos. We're not the only ones in this solar system with a moon. What other planets have moons? What are their moons' names? Why doesn't our moon have a name?
5. Who turned out the lights? Unlike a solar eclipse, you can directly observe a lunar eclipse. Use an almanac to find out if and when a lunar eclipse will be observable in your area this year. Find out what causes an eclipse and what some of the ancients thought about it.

Week Two - The moon in language


6. Say something memorable. Find out when the first person walked on the moon and what his first words were when he stepped out onto the moon's surface. What would you have said?


7. Are we there yet? Find out the distance from Earth to the moon. How long would you have to travel on a road from Earth to the moon, in a car going 100 mph, to reach the moon (without stopping at rest stops)?
8. To each his own libration. What is meant by the libration in longitude and the libration in latitude of the moon? What can we see because of it?
9. For the next three months, keep a visual and written record of the moon and it's position in the sky at the same time every night. Does the moon's shape and position vary? Figure out a way to record your observations so that others can understand them without interpretations.
10. Just what did you mean by that? Brainstorm with your family as many words as possible that contain or refer to the word moon: mooning, honeymoon, moonstruck, etc.
11. Where did we get that? Use the words listed yesterday to make a master list of moon words and phrases. Find out as much as you can about the meaning and derivation of each word and phrase.
12. Find poems, titles and phrases in which moon is compared to other things. If the saying uses the word like or as, it's called a simile. If the saying uses neither of those words, it's called a metaphor. List the similes and metaphors you have found.

Week Three - The moon in the arts


13. The moon is like a______. Make up a poem in which you use one or more of the similes and metaphors you discovered yesterday, or make up a simile or metaphor you like better to use in the poem.
14. That's not the moon, it's la luna. Find as many foreign words for moon as possible. Make a chart or map displaying your discoveries.
15. He's a raving moonatic! The Roman word for moon was luna. That word serves as a basis for some English words such as lunar, lunacy. Find and define other words derived from luna.


16. What's a five letter word for________? Devise a crossword puzzle in which you use the information you've gained so far this month.
17. Listen, dear, they're playing our moon song. Get your family and neighbors together to name and sing songs that have the word moon in the title.
18. Make Mine Music Now find songs about the moon in your school's music books. Get together with a group of friends and either sing the song or play it on some instruments for the class.
19. Moonshine in art. Look through art books, prints and slides for a painting that shows the moon. Notice how the artist paints the moon itself and then how he or she shows the light of the moon on the other objects.

Week Four - The moon in literature


20. The moon looks like this. Using paint crayons, pen, ink or chalk, make your own artwork in which the moon is shining.

21. The moon sounds like this. Play selections of classical music that are about the moon, such as "Clair de Lune" and "The Moonlight Sonata." Listen to them and then discuss how the music made you feel.
22. The moon feels like this. If you could touch a magical moon, not quite like the one in our sky, what would you like it to feel like? Write down your thoughts and share them.
23. Many moons ago. Find a book about the moon written many years ago or have a grandparent tell you an old wive's tale about the moon. Why couldn't the story be true?
24. Why? Because! Many of the myths explain the moon's existence and it's phases. Find a myth you like best and tell it to the rest of the class.

25. Boys and girls come out to play. The moon is mentioned in many Mother Goose rhymes. Read
    some of these Mother Goose moon rhymes to each other.
26. It's all in the way you look at it. Visit an art or science museum to get different perspectives of the moon. Record the information that you find in each museum. bring your observations to school on Monday.

Week Five - Many moons


27. Here a moon, there a moon. Raid the school library for picture books that have the word moon in the title. Examine the books together and then put them into five categories. Now do it with three categories. How about with only two?
28. The man in the moon is a lady. Many cultures personify the moon as a woman. Use books on mythology to find different names and characterizations of the moon in myths. Make a chart showing the sex of the moon in each myth.
29. The Indians and settlers gave names to some moons. The September full moon is called the harvest moon. October's moon is the hunter's moon. Since farmers plant in May, it's moon is called the planter's moon. With your family, name the other full moons for the year.
30. The moon is a ghostly galleon. There is something about the moon that is ghostly. Make up a ghost story about the moon. Wait until dark and then tell your story in the spookiest voice to someone older than you.

April, 2005, Vol.35, No.7