Apollo Missions

1. Outside the Spacecraft –@airandspace celebrating the 50th anniversary of EVAs, artifacts, photos, videos, and more! (link)
2. “We choose the Moon” Interactive Website (link) dedicated to the Apollo Missions. Amazing details with photos, audio, and video
3. John F. Kennedy’s Speech at Rice University (Youtube)
   • ReadWorks – “Climbing Space” has excerpts from Kennedy’s speech and reading comprehension questions, worksheet (pdf)
4. Space Race Timeline – students will practice using a timeline and learn key moments from the space race, worksheet (pdf)
5. Apollo Missions: Fabulous Summary of each mission with videos and images from each (NASA Link)
6. Apollo Mission Patches – fantastic video that animates the mission patches and weaves in audio clips for each mission (link)
7. Quiz, Quiz, Trade – Apollo Missions Review (blog entry)
   • Click here to print out the set of cards, ready to laminate. (pdf)
8. Apollo Landing Sites – learn about the locations and geology of the six Apollo landing sites, handout (pdf) and official image (link)
9. Plotting Apollo Landing Sites: Latitude & Longitude – worksheet (pdf)
10. Readers Theater Moon Talk (link)
    • This was a GREAT way to end our Apollo unit. We used the longer version and I photocopied a class set and highlighted the different speaking parts for each reader. I had 2 readers for Armstrong, 2 for Aldrin, 1 for Collins, 5 readers for mission control, 2 readers for the narrator, and one reader for Nixon.
11. Crash Landing (pdf) – what do you need to survive on the moon? Great activity for students to really think about what they would need if they were stranded on the moon and had to get back to base. For my 6th graders, I had them rank the cards from 1-12 to see which team made the best choices compared to the expert ranking. Materials: Handout (pdf) and spreadsheet (excel template), and the original lesson (pdf) has the expert rankings and supply cards that you can print out an laminate.

Moon Information & Moon Phases 

1. Rotation vs. Revolution – this is a great little demo and activity to show how the Moon rotates and revolves around the Earth. I had the students try out their own theories on how to make the penny rotate/revolve, then gave them the hint to try it with Lincoln facing the quarter. I also demonstrated it with a Styrofoam ball on a stick – handout (pdf)
2. Comparing the Size of the Earth and the Moon Activity – hands on activity for a better understanding of the relationship between the size of the Earth and the Moon
   • StudentWorksheet & Answer Key (pdf) and templates to cut out (pdf) (blog entry)
3. NASA Moon Website (link)
4. Google Moon (link)
5. Bill Nye The Science Guy: Moon Video (link)
6. NASA – Exploring the Moon Educator Guide, over 100 pages of resources (link)
7. BrainPOP – Phases of the Moon Video
8. Moon Phases – handouts from the moon phases lesson plan by Utah Education Network (UEN) (blog entry)
   • Moon phase images, phases, and descriptions (pdf)
     • Laminate, cut apart cards, and store into zip-top bag – 1 bag per 2 students
   • Moon Phase – Matching Worksheet (pdf)
   • Drawing Moon Phases Worksheet (pdf)
   • Moon Phases Flip Book (pdf)
9. “Karate Kid” to help remember “Wax on, Wane off” (link) – I use the phrase “Wax on, Wane off” to practice identification. When the moon is waxing, the right side is getting brighter/larger, when it is waning, the left side is getting smaller/dimmer. (From where we are in the Northern Hemisphere)
   • Also: “Light-Left-Last-Quarter” to help differentiate between First and Third/Last Quarter Phases
10. Moon Phase Finder Template – glue onto paper plate, cut out center
11. Birthday Moons – this is a classic lesson that has I have used over the years. I made a Birthday Moon Phases worksheet (pdf) for my students to use based on the original lesson.
    • The Old Farmer’s Almanac for Kids (link) – At the bottom of the page, you can select the year and month to view the phases for the month/year you were born
12. Where is the Moon? Where is the Sun? A hands on activity to  show the positions of the Sun and Moon in the sky during different moon phases. (blog entry)
    • Laminated placemat, Suns (larger and smaller version), Earth, and 8 Moon Phases (pdf) (one set per two students)
    • Student worksheet (pdf) & Teacher answer key (pdf)
    • Teacher answer key as ppt slides (link)
13. Moon Clock (pdf) enlarge to 120%, laminating optional
    • Using a Moon Clock Worksheet (pdf)

Tides (Updated 2.9.15)

1. BrainPOP Video: Tides
2. Beach Playlist – Learning about the tides requires some beach themed music (Spotify)
3. “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” – Poem by H.W. Longfellow (link) & lesson plan (link), also a Poetry Cut-Up Lesson Plan (pdf) (blog entry)
4. D-Day (link) – Normandy, how did the tides and weather determine when the Allies would invade? (link)
5. Tides Notes – students will learn the basics about tides and how to gather data using the NOAA Tides website, Google Slides (link) and types of tides worksheet (pdf)
6. Tides using NOAA Real Time Data – student will learn how to use the NOAA website (link) to find current tide information, learn how to read tide graphs and charts, and find water temperatures for 10 different stations and compare their data, Google Slides (link) and worksheet (pdf) (blog entry)
7. NOAA – Tides & Current Maps with real-time data (link)
8. New Jersey Tide Charts (link) – you can link to other states as well for tide data
9. Tides & Moon Phases – students will learn how to read a tide chart and graph tide data to see the relationship between tides and moon phases, worksheet (pdf) for January Tides in Atlantic City, NJ, worksheet for February Tides in Seaside Heights, NJ (pdf) (image link), or a blank template (pdf) for students to choose data from a different location.