Name: Cassie Rowles

Class: ELED 3221

Date: March 24th, 2015
edTPA Indirect Instruction Lesson Plan Template
Place a title for your lesson here
_____________________________________________________________________________
Central Focus/Big Idea: Earth and the Universe
Subject of this lesson: Moon Phases
Grade Level: 4th
NC Essential Standard(s):
4.E.1.2 Explain the causes of day and night and the phases of the moon.
4.E.1.2 Explain the monthly changes in the appearance of the moon, based on the moons orbit
around the earth.
Next Generation Science Standard(s):
1-ESS1-2. Make observations at different times of year to relate the amount of daylight to the
time of year.
21st Century Skills:
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Outcome for 4th grade: Students construct their own scientific understanding and develop their
scientific process skills by asking scientific questions, designing and conducting investigations,
constructing explanations from their observations, and discussing their explanations with
others.

Communication

Outcome for 4th grade: Students prepare and interpret a variety of methods for demonstrating
understanding and explaining the results of investigations including charts and graphs,
diagrams and illustrations, photographic images, and informational and procedural text.

Academic Language Demand

Language Function: Students are learning about phases of the moon and by using
pictures students will put the phases in order. Students will then explain and describe
what is happening in each phase.
Analyze

Argue

Categorize

Compare/contras

Describe

Explain

Interpret

Predict

Question

t
Retell

Summarize

Scientific Vocabulary: New moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon,
waning gibbous, last quarter, waning crescent, orbit, axis, illuminated, waxing and waning.
Instructional Objective: Students will understand the phases of the moon by watching a video
and teacher demonstration. Students will work collaboratively in small groups to put pictures of
the moon phases in order. Students will describe and explain what is happening in each moon
phase and record the names of each phase on a worksheet.
Prior Knowledge: Students need to already know that the moon orbits the earth and the earth
orbits the sun.
Content Knowledge: Teacher will have all materials prepared ahead of time and will have done
the demonstration prior to lesson. Teacher will have watched the video to make sure it is
appropriate. Teacher will know vocabulary to explain moon phases in depth.
Accommodations for special needs: Students with special needs in the classroom will be put
with peers in groups for assistance and teacher will check on them more often. For ELL
students teacher will speak slowly and clearly. Teacher will check for understanding more often
will ELL students.
Materials and Technology requirements:

Styrofoam ball and popsicle stick (1 for teacher)

Lamp- no shade (1 for teacher)
Brain pop video (The Moon)- https://jr.brainpop.com/
Pictures of Phases for each group- (5 groups)
A piece of paper for each group-(5 groups)
Glue/pencils
Bag with moon phase picture for each group (5 bags)

Total Estimated Time: 1 class period/ 30-40 minutes

Source of lesson: Textbook
Safety considerations:

Make sure students know how to handle resources.

No hitting classmates with equipment
Teacher does modeling first
Glue only goes on paper

Content and Strategies (Procedure)

In your procedure, be sure to include all of the following 5 Es. Your procedure should be
detailed enough for a colleague to follow. If you will be relying on technology (e.g., a YouTube
video), describe your back up plan thoroughly. Imagine your most novice colleague needing to
teach from your plan. Dont just answer the questions. Additionally, I expect you to include
possible questions you could ask for each section. This needs to include higher-order questions.
Engage: Begin by saying, Today we are going to learn about moon phases. Ask students,
What are moon phases? Why does the moon have phases?

Moon phases are when the moon orbits the earth.

The moon has phases because it orbits earth, which causes the portion we see illuminated to
change.
o Ask, Does anyone know what illuminated means?
Illuminated-light up

Students will watch Brain Pop video on the moon.

Who can raise their hand and tell me one thing they learned about the phases of the moon
through the video?

Explore:

Teacher Demonstration
o Teacher will have a Styrofoam ball that represents the moon, a light bulb that represents
the sun and teachers head represents the earth.
o Your eyes will see the view of the moon phases from the Earth.
o Hold the moon ball in your left hand with your arm stretched out.
Ask, How much of the moon ball can you see at one time?
o Darken the room.
Ask, Is it easy to see the moon ball? Is any part of it illuminated?
o Turn on the light bulb to represent the sun. Look at it from a couple of different angles.
Ask, Is it illuminated now? How much of it is illuminated? Now you can
see because of the light part of the ball is illuminated.
o Now we are going to look at the phases of the moon. Teacher will hold the moon ball
with arm stretched out. Teacher will move counter clockwise to show phases of the
moon, while stating the names of each phase.
o After teacher has gone through the moon phases one time the teacher will go through the
phases a second time, having the students give the name of each phase. Teacher will also
have different students draw pictures of the phases on the board as teacher models.

Explanation:
Teacher will ask students questions to learn about the moon phases in depth.

What is the moon?

o The moon is the earths closest neighbor in space.
o It is a piece of rock that goes around our planet.
o The moon is big but much smaller than earth.
o It has mountain and valleys just like earth.
o It also has craters or holes made by rocks that crashed into the moon long ago.
How does the moon move?
o The moon orbits or goes around the earth.
o It takes about 28 days for the moon to orbit the earth.
o While the moon orbits the earth the earth orbits the sun.
o The sun rises in the east and sets in the west and the moon does the same.
o The sun and the moon move across the sky because of the earths rotation.
What are the phases of the moon?
o We see the moon because the suns light shines on it.
o The sun shines on part of the moon, the other side is too dark to see.
o One side of the moon is always lit by the sun.
o As the moon rotates, and orbits the earth, different parts of the moon are lit by the sun.
o The moon looks like it is changing shape, but its just going through phases.
o Phases:
New moon: The sun lights the side of the moon that faces the Earth. The side of
the moon that faces us is dark so we cant see it.
Waxing Crescent: Part of the moon is beginning to show.
First quarter: Half of the moon is visible.
Waxing Gibbous: When most of the moon is visible it is a gibbous moon can see
all but a little.
Full Moon: About 14 days after the new moon. During a full moon the sun
lights the side of the moon that faces us and we can see the entire face of the
moon.
Waning Gibbous: We can see most of the moon but the difference between a
waxing gibbous and a waning gibbous is the waning gibbous you see more of the
moon each night.
Last Quarter: See exactly half of the moons lighted surface.
Waning Crescent: You can see only a small sliver of the moon. Each night less
of the moon is visible for less time.
o When the shape of the moon seems to grow bigger it is called waxing.
o When the shape of the moon seems to grow smaller it is called waning.
o After about 28 days the cycle starts over.

Elaborate:

Have students make a drawing showing the apparent moon phases when the moon is at various
positions in its orbit around the earth.
Students will be given a worksheet (at the end of the lesson) and will glue pictures in the correct
order. Students will use the words from the word bank to name each picture.

Teacher will monitor students as they complete the worksheet and will check the groups work to
make sure it is correct before they glue the pictures on.

Evaluate:
Formative: Teacher will walk around and make sure students are on task. Teacher will answer
any questions students may have. Teacher will also ask questions to check for understanding.
Summative:

Students will be given a quiz (at the end of the lesson) to show mastery of skill.
To have mastery of skill students must have 4 out of the 6 question correct.

Assessment Results of all objectives/skills:

All 5 groups were able to put the moon phases in order.

Quiz assessment: 25 students
o 3 students got all correct
o 5 students got 1 wrong
o 8 students got 2 wrong
o 5 students got 3 wrong
o 4 students got more than 4 wrong

Reflection on lesson: See reflection below.

Name: _______________________________

Date:____________________________
Moon Phase Quiz

1.

If the moon is full, it will rise in the East as the sun

A. rises in the East
B. sets in the East
C. rises in the West
D. sets in the West

2.

If the moon is between the earth and the sun, its phase will be:
A. new
B. crescent
C. gibbous
D. full

3.

Which of the following statements best describes why the moon has phases when viewed from the earth?
A. The earths shadow creates the moons phases.
B. How much of the illuminated half moon we see from the earth depends on the relative position of the earth, moon,
and sun.
C. Different parts of the moon emit light at different times of the month.
D. Clouds in the earths atmosphere block parts of the moon from our view.

4.

Which of these phases is not a moon phase?

A. Blue Moon
B. New Moon
C. Waning Gibbous
D. Waxing Gibbous

5.

Which of these statements is true?

A. The moon orbits the sun
B. The sun orbits the moon
C. The earth orbits the moon
D. The moon orbits the earth

6.

What are the moon phases in the correct order?

A. Waning Crescent, Last quarter, Waning gibbous, Full moon, Waxing Gibbous, First Quarter, Waxing Crescent,
New Moon
B. New Moon, Waxing crescent, First quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, Waning
crescent
C. Waxing crescent, Full Moon, Last Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Waning crescent, New Moon, Waning Gibbous, First
Quarter
D. Full Moon, Waxing Gibbous, Waxing crescent, New Moon, Waxing crescent, Waning Gibbous, First Quarter, Last
Quarter