Have you ever noticed that the Moon appears to change shape? Does this occur randomly or is there a pattern of change? Discover the answer by taking a virtual trip to the Moon for your birthday!

NE Standards:
1.5.3 By the end of first grade, students will develop an understanding of the changes in the earth and sky.
4.2.1 By the end of fourth grade, students will develop the abilities needed to do scientific inquiry.
4.5.2 By the end of fourth grade, students will develop an understanding of objects in the sky.
4.5.3 By the end of fourth grade, students will develop an understanding of the changes in the earth and sky.
8.5.3 By the end of eighth grade, students will develop an understanding of the earth in the solar system.

Objectives:

to recognize and describe the patterns of the Moon's phases. 
to generate a birthday moon for student  birth date this year and the previous year using given web sites. 
to classify birthday moon
to predict moon phase for next year's birthday

Vocabulary

 Materials/Technologies:  (click on linked for printable worksheets)

Procedures: 

For younger students

I. Springboard:  Ask students to write a feeling they have experienced regarding the moon.  
Ask students to recall stories they may have heard or read about the moon.
Read aloud Owl Moon. 
Introduce the word phases.  
Distribute Moon Phases diagram and discuss that the moon does not always look the same.
Ask students what they think the moon looked like on their birthdays.
Instruct students to:

1. Go to http://saatel.it/users/lore/moon.html to find out what the Moon looked like
   or will look like on your birthday this year.
2. Draw what the Moon looked like on your birthday this year and  last year. 
3. Place the pictures for this year's birthday moons on the Moon Graph.

  T: Ask the following questions:

Find what the Moon looked like on the day you were born.  Draw a picture of it.

* Go back to the web site and determine if your predictions were correct.

For older students:

1. Begin your trip by visiting the Virtual Reality Moon Phase Pictures Web site (a virtual time machine that enables you to time-travel to see how the Moon would appear for almost any date in the past, present, and future). For your birth date (either the current year or the year you were born), select the correct field settings (see sample settings) and click the "Show Phase" button. Using a pencil, sketch exactly how the Moon appears on your birthday (shade the dark side of the Moon).

2. Sketch how the Moon appears every three days for the next 30 days after your birthday.

Extensions:

If time and technology is available, have students look at many birthday moons for different years to make more pattern comparisons and predictions.  Start with how the Moon looked on the day they were born.  The pictures and graphs created should be compared to show that the Moon will be different on their birthdays every year.  Some of the questions above could be used.

Place pictures of moon phases on a blank calendar for the current month.  Look at the pictures and determine how many pictures are in each phase.  Which have the most pictures?  Which have the least?  

II.  Distribute moon phases cut and paste pages.  Instruct students to place the moon phase pictures in the correct box on the paste page.

Closure:  Students predict what the moon will look like tomorrow, next week, a year from today.

Assessment:  Students accurately predict what the moon will like on their next birthdays.

Students correctly place pictures of moon phases by titles on cut-and-paste activity.

Handheld Assessment: With Sketchy assign the students to draw the phases of the moon in order. 

References: 

http://153.90.193.71/ceres/demo/moon/html/birthday1.htm   and               http://www.wsanford.com/~wsanford/exo/b-day_moons.html