Your Done-for-You Moon Unit: Engaging, Simple, and Ready to Teach

The best part about teaching science, IMHO, is that moment when you can see that you’ve opened doors for your students. The “AHA!” moment or the “Huh, I didn’t know that” response is an elixir for me. Which is why I love teaching the Moon unit! Students see if nearly every night but never notice it. As familiar as the Moon is to us all, there are so many misunderstandings that this unit is ripe with “AHA” moments!

And now, with the launching of the Artemis, the Moon is all over the news. What a great opportunity to captivate and educate!

In this post, I’m sharing a completely done-for-you MS-ESS1-1 unit that takes the guesswork out of teaching lunar phases. Instead of scrambling to piece together activities, notes, and review, you’ll have a cohesive sequence that builds understanding step-by-step—while keeping students actively involved the whole time. Whether your students need hands-on models, visual supports, or repeated practice, this unit is designed to meet them where they are and actually make the content stick.

Day 1: The Hook

Start the unit with a time lapse video of the Moon and its phases and ask students to make observations and ask questions about what they see.

Sometimes, students will observe that the shadow moves from the right to the left. Great teaching moment! Often, middle schoolers think the changing phases of the Moon are caused by Earth’s shadow. Great teaching moment! Some students have heard the term “dark side of the Moon.” Another great teaching moment!

After a few minutes, share an interactive notebook or some other note taking tool and explain the phases of the Moon and what causes them. Give students a flashlight and a tennis ball to model the phases.

Practice the phases of the Moon with a self checking worksheet like this Snoopy themed one you can download for free by clicking here.

Days 2 and 3: Hands On

These really are the best days of the unit! Here are two hands on activities I do every year:

1. Make a calendar with the moon phases. Give students a calendar of the current month (Here’s one for April, 2026) and have them draw the phase of the Moon for each day. I love this because it helps students see phases as a process and it also keeps the phase top-of-mind each day.
2. Make a flip book. Stack 29 index cards and hold them together with a binder clip. Have students draw the Moon phases so that they can see an animation of an entire month when they flip through the flip book. Check out this resource on TpT if you don’t want to create it from scratch yourself.

Day 4: Review

MS-ESS1-1 continues after Moon phases with seasons, but I like to stop here and review. One game we use often is this Bubble review game, but try Zap, Quizlet Live, or Quiz Quiz Trade.

I’d love to hear what resources you use to teach Moon phases! Drop a line below and let me know!