Phases of the Moon

Name and order new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, and full, waxing and waning.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 6

The moon's phases have names. Here are the main shapes: new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, and full.
After the new moon, the lit part grows each night, lit on the right side. Growing is called waxing: waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, then full.
After the full moon, the lit part shrinks, now lit on the left side. Shrinking is called waning: waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent, and back to new.
A quarter moon looks like half a circle. It's called a quarter because the moon is a quarter of the way around its trip.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Science:

S4E2.b — Develop a model based on observations to describe the repeating pattern of the phases of the moon (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, and full).