If you cannot answer all these questions, do not worry, you are going to learn more about the moon and at the end of this worksheet you can come back to these questions and I am sure you will then be able to answer it all.
The moon is very different from Earth and the Moon in NOT a planet. It is made of rocks and it moves around Earth in a circle (or orbit) - just like Earth orbits around the Sun, the Moon orbits around Earth.
Some interesting facts about the moon
Try and answer these question (first think a little about the facts you just read)
In 1969 a rocket called Apollo 11 where send to the Moon with three men in it - this was the first time a human went to the Moon.
Read the following story and imagine it is you going to the Moon. When you are done reading the story, re-tell it to your friend.
The spacecraft goes down slowly to the Moon's surface and blows up a big dust cloud in the air. There is no air on the Moon so the dust just falls back quickly to the surface. We have to put on our space suits, we must make sure there is air in the tanks to breathe, we need our radios to talk to one another and special glass helmets to protect our eyes from the Sun.
The ground under our feet is grey sand, dust and small rocks.
The craters that we see are big holes in the surface of the Moon. (this is created because some Moon Rocks that travel very fast through space, sometimes smash into the Moon.) In the places where they hit, they make a hole and a ring of sand.
The sky is black, not blue. We can see the stars and the Sun at the same time. The Sun is much brighter than on Earth and we are glad we have protective glass in our helmets.
We wear special shoes because the temperature of the ground is hotter than boiling water, but if we stop in the shade of a rock, the temperature is colder than ice. (The temperature changes so much because there is no air on the Moon. On Earth the air keeps the Earth's surface from getting too hot or too cold.)
A phase is a period of time.
As the moon orbits around Earth it looks like it is changing its shape. It can change from a small crescent to a full circle.
The different phases are named the following (from left to right on the picture)
The moon moves in an orbit around Earth and it takes 29 and a half days to complete the full orbit (go around Earth once)
But does the moon really change its shape? No, it is just because the Moon orbits Earth and depending on the position of the Sun, the Moon and Earth in the orbit, Earth can block the Sun's light from reaching the Moon and casts a shadow - you cannot see the part of the moon where the shadow is - we only see the part of the Moon on which the Sun shines.
You can design and make a 3D model of the Moon (if you want you can build Earth and the Sun or the whole Solar system). You can choose any material you would like to use and if you need an idea on how to build a 3D Moon, you can watch the video.
Read the Moon story on http://yourstoryclub.com/short-stories-for-kids/short-story-for-kids-proudy-moon/ (you can just read it or you can also compile some of your own questions and answer it.)
