http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/magicth/pdf/weight.pdf
Measure the weight of objects on Earth and determine what it’s weight would be on the moon.
http://www.thursdaysclassroom.com/04may00/activity4a.html
Math problems looking at the difference in gravity on Earth and the moon.
http://www.thursdaysclassroom.com/04may00/activitypoem.html
A poem about a moon buggy.
http://www.thursdaysclassroom.com/04may00/teach2.html
Students can read an article about “The Amazing Moon Buggy” and then complete a cause and effect sheet.
http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Astronomy/AST0201.html
A lesson on the phases of the moon. After listening to Goodnight Moon, students use construction paper and coat hangers to construct lunar calendars.
http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Astronomy/AST0003.html
This lesson is designed to help students understand the concepts of rotation and revolution.
http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Science/Space_Sciences/SPA0016.html
When a month has two full moons, the second moon is sometimes referred to as a Blue Moon. The students will demonstrate an understanding of moon features by creating an art/writing project about the moon.
http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/html/Birthday/birthday1.htm
Students become familiar with lunar phases by locating and then graphing the Moon phase of their own birthdays. After listening and discussing lunar myths and legends they create their own Birthday Moon Stories.
Waxing and Waning
Demonstrate the different phases of the moon with a Styrofoam ball, a flashlight, and a pencil. Use a black marker or tempra paint to color one-half of the ball. Poke the sharpened end of the pencil into the ball. Darken the room, and then have a student volunteer to shine the flashlight on you. Sit about four feet away from the flashlight. Invite the students to sit behind you to observe the phases. Hold the pencil in front of you, just about your head, with the white side of the ball facing you. Point out that the side of the moon facing you is receiving no light. This represents a new moon. Slowly turn in a counterclockwise circle, always keeping the white side of the ball facing you. As you turn, direct students’ attention to the increasing amount of light shining on the ball, representing the waxing phase. Pause briefly at the full moon stage before showing the Moon beginning to wane. Conclude the activity by asking students to observe the moon during the new few nights. Then discuss the different phases your students observe.
-The Mailbox Grade 3 Superbook, page 267
Measuring the Moon
Students may be surprised to learn that the Moon’s gravity is only one-sixth of that on Earth. That means that if they were on the moon, your students could jump six times higher and farther than they do now. Have students calculate their athletic abilities on the moon with a jumping activity. Take students and a measuring tape outdoors or to the gym. Mark a starting point for the jumpers. Have each student make two horizontal jumps. Measure the distance of each jump, and instruct each student to use his farthest measurement to determine how far he would have jumped on the moon. As students marvel at their distances, point out that there once was a cow that jumped over the moon- now, did the difference in gravity have anything to do with that?
-The Mailbox Grade 3 Superbook, page 267