The moon.
Grade 4 (A-B)
Lesson objectives.
At the end of this lesson the students should be
able to:
 Describe the motion and characteristics of the
moon.
KEY QUESTIONS.
 Why is the Moon bright on some nights?
 Why does the Moon change its shape?
 How can we find out what the surface of
the Moon is like?
let's take a look at the features
of the Moon.
All about the moon!
The Moon is a ball of rock in Space
Is the moon a planet?
No, the moon is not a planet.
the moon is the natural satellite of all
planets. Except for Mercury and Venus, all
the planets have moons.
Know more about the moon.
 The Moon is very different to the Earth. The Moon is
not a planet either!
 It is made of rock and it moves around the Earth in a
circle.
 Remember how we spoke about the planets which
orbit the Sun. The Moon does the same thing - it
orbits around the Earth.
The planets and their moons.
Planet
Number of moons
Mercury
0
Venus
0
Earth
1
Mars
2
Jupiter
79
Saturn
62
Uranus
27
Neptune
14
Moon’s facts.
 The Moon is 384 000 kilometers from Earth.
 The Moon is made of rock and the surface is rock and
grey sand.
 The Moon has no air and no water.
 The Moon is smaller than the Earth.
 People weigh less on the Moon than on Earth
because the force of gravity is less on the Moon.
 The Sun is much further away from Earth than the
Moon.
Exploring the moon.
In 20 July 1969, the rocket
you see in the picture
carried two men Neil
Armstrong and Edwin
Aldrin to the Moon for the
first time. The rocket and
spacecraft were called
Apollo 11.
Visit:
 Watch this video of astronauts landing on the Moon.
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/videos/space/moonlandin
g.html
Let us imagine that we are in that rocket!
We travel through Space at 5 800 kilometers in every hour.
After three days' travel, we reach the Moon. We can see
that the Moon is round, like a ball. We can see that the
surface is rough, with mountains and many craters.
The surface is the outside of an object. You can rub your
hand on the surface of your desk. A crater is a hole that
was caused by something hitting a surface. If you throw a
stone into sand, you make a crater in the sand.
The Moon orbits the Earth once every
29½ days
The phases of the moon.
 As the Moon orbits around the Earth, it appears as
though the Moon is changing its shape in the sky.
 The Moon changes from a thin crescent to a full circle
or disk (full moon) and then it shrinks back to a thin
crescent again. It is then not visible for a few days
again. These changes in the Moon's shape are called
the Moon's phases.
Look at the diagram
showing all phases
of the moon.
KEY CONCEPTS.
 The Moon is a ball of rock.
 It moves through Space and goes around the
Earth.
 It reflects light from the Sun onto the Earth.
 The Moon has phases due to its position in
relation to the Sun and the Earth
Check your information.
‘True’ or ‘false’
a. The moon is a planet. _______
b. Mars has 2 moons. _______
c. You weigh the same on Earth and moon. _______
d. The moon is made of molten rocks. ________
e. Mercury and Venus have no moon. _______
f. The moon is further than the sun. _______
g. The Earth orbits the moon. _______
h. On 1969, two astronauts landed on the moon for the first time.
_______
i. Moon is the natural satellite of the planets. _______
j. The moon doesn’t have its own light. ________
Answer key.
a. False
b. True
c. False
d. False
e. True
f. False
g. False
h. True
i. True
j. True