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This is my elementray 5E lesson plan for earth, moon and sun. I think this is for second grade, Can you guys give me some advice?

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Lesson_Plan_5EX-zhenli.doc (0.25 Mb)

This looks too abstract for 2nd grade. While the cookie thing is fun, it does not really reinforce anything other than the shape of the moon phase. I used this same lesson for high school astronomy. Again, fun but not really a good lesson about the moon. The whole 3d spacial concept about the moon-earth system and the sun is quite abstract for 2nd grade students. Maybe better - have the room darkened. Kids sit in the middle, you stand to the side with a ball, the kids draw the portion of the ball that they see lit up by the light. Something like that. Then, take the kids outside one morning when there is a visible moon and talk about why they can see it in the daytime. Thinking about where the sun is etc... The cookie thing is ok for older kids, but not an easy abstraction for younger than 6th grade.

Although this seems like an enjoyable lesson for second graders, it can pose some problems with classroom management. Students might be tempted to eat the Oreo cookies and may not know that the cookie represents the moon. You might also want to cover some misconceptions that students may have, such as the moon is made out of cheese. Also, I would like to know what video you will be playing for your students during the engagement part of the lesson. It is important to keep the focus of the lesson to be more on why the moon has different phases rather than on what are the phases of the moon. With that said, there should be some emphasis on the sun's role.

I have seen this activity done before, and it seems to engage students' learning of the topic, however, you might want to list what prior knowledge the students have learned about moon phases and what causes moon phases. Will you be spending several lessons on this before doing the activity? I highly suggest the activity listed #6 on this website: http://ps.uci.edu/~observat/sites/default/files/ELEM_Activity_MoonPhases.pdf There can be several misconceptions learners have, as it can be a difficult topic even for adults. If these misconceptions are throughly addressed, student's explanations will be strengthened and the oreo activity will make more of an impact on students' understanding of moon phases.