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Grade 4 Science · World 1: Earth and Moon Orbit · Level 7
Moon Journal
Use a month of observations to predict the next phase in the 29½-day pattern.
Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.
What children learn in Level 7
- Scientists keep journals. A moon journal records what the moon looks like every few nights.
- From new moon to first quarter takes about a week. To full moon, about two weeks. Back to new moon, about 29 and a half days.
- Because the pattern repeats, you can predict! If there's a full moon on March 3, the next one will be about 29 and a half days later, around April 1 or 2.
- Try it with a grown-up: draw the moon every clear night for a month. Then predict what it will look like next.
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).