I See the Moon and the Moon Sees Me!

    It could be said that our class loves science, and it could be argued that that is an understatement. The kids are so engrossed in any type of scientific investigation or exploration, so it is great to do cross-curricular units! Most times they don't realize they are writing more complex paragraphs and doing more complicated mathematics; it is just all fun to them. We started our day and night sky unit today and the kids were so excited they actually jumped up and down! We watched the Brainpop Jr. vid on the moon. Brainpop Jr. is one of the neatest resources; the videos are short which is appropriate for their attention span. They are easy to pause for teachable moments or whole class talks. The videos also have this little notepad on the right side of the screen with key vocabulary and main points which is great for learning the spelling of new vocabulary and being able to follow the pertinent points. There are differentiated quizzes for each video and this is great for informally assessing their progress and it allows me to address any misconceptions. Needless to say, I love Brainpop Jr. For any of my teacher friends- you can even use the activities in computer center for an extension of your formal lesson in addition to the vid!  
   While we replayed the five minute clip to review the main points we created moon phase spinners. This was a huge hit! We then used them to "research" the phases of the moon and how they gradually wane and wax.