Before beginning this Moon Blog project, I had never really taken the time to think about the moon and its phases. I had taken for granted that I knew enough about the moon to suffice. Though I knew the moon occasionally 'came out' during the day, was not visible at times, and had specific phases, I did not ever take the time to notice the specifics about it. One thing that shocked me most was that I was unaware of how often a full moon occurs. Once I began paying attention to the moon, I was also surprised to see that the moon goes from full to new and back twice a month.
The moon phases, which is really a continuos increase and decrease of the amount of the moon that we can see, is caused by the amount of light that is blocked from reflecting off of the moon. When the Earth is between the moon and the sun, the amount of the moon that we see is dependent on the amount of sunlight that is reflected off of the moon. At different angles, we see different 'phases'. During a full moon, the Earth is between the sun and the moon. When we see a new moon (no moon at all), the moon is between the sun and the Earth.
Another aspect of the moon that surprised me is the fact that it rises and sets at different times every day. This is due to the fact that the moon revolves around the Earth at a different speed than the Earth's rotation. We see the moon at different times of the day because it is in a different location relative to the Earth each day.
Waning and waxing moon phases have always confused me a bit. After learning what they mean for myself, one way I have found to teach children to tell the difference, is with their hands. With their right hand, make a backwards 'C' with the curve of their hand. If the moon fits into the curve, it is in the waxing stages (going away). If it does not fit, it is in the waning phases. Many children may be familiar with the phrase "wax on, wax off'. This can be changed to say "wane on, wax off" to help them remember the directionality of the terms.
a 'powerful' method that you can use to teach children for predicting if the moon will grow (wax) or shrink (wane) on subsequent days- assume that you observe the moon only one time.
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