Lunar Observations

Lunar Observations

    After the fifth grade, I never thought I would be making a moon journal ever again, but here I am! Honestly, I think I enjoyed it more in college than I did in elementary school. However, I was very disappointed because of course, it was cloudy every single day this week.

    Despite this, I think this is a very beneficial activity for elementary schoolers. Even as a college student, I was forced to look closer at my surroundings and make deeper observations about them. It is important for students to be able to observe the world around them outside the classroom. Not to mention, as an elementary student I felt very accomplished when I observed and identified the correct phase of the moon!

    A teacher can construct their class's moon journal however they would like. However, it is important to make the journal for a long enough time span, so that students are able to see the different moon phases. It is also important to establish expectations at the beginning of the week. When I was in elementary school, I had to draw only which moon phase I saw. However, this week, along with the moon, we were required to illustrate more of our surroundings. I thought this was beneficial so that one can recall where exactly they observed the moon. In some cases, when viewed in different locations, one might perceive the moon differently than another. With that being said, in my future classroom, I would require either a description of other surroundings or even better, some illustration.

    Again, I was unable to see the moon this week, but here is a photo showing how our journals were constructed as well as some additional illustrations of my surroundings. I stood outside of the dorms in front of a small cluster of pine trees, as you can see. In regard to the "Notes" section, I looked at an almanac to see what the predicted moon phase was for that particular night, despite the fact that I personally could not see any of the phases.