The Moon Book

Title: The Moon Book

Author: Gail Gibbons

Number of Pages: 30

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Copyright Date: 1997

Grade Level:

Type of Book: Picture Book/Informational

Synopsis:

This picture book tells everything you ever wanted to know about the moon. We learn about the moon's orbit around the earth, history about what people thought the moon was, the phases of the moon, scientific names of the phases, the solar and lunar eclipses, and how the moon effects the weather. We also learn about astronomers, and how they look at the moon from earth (telescopes, binoculars, and observatories). Gibbons describes what the moon looks like up close, and tells us the history of how we came to know all this information about our moon. She describes Luna 3 and Surveyor 1 and Apollo 8. Finally, she tells us about Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin in the Apollo 11 mission. At the end of her book, Gibbons has a list of "Moon Milestones" and "Moon Legends and Stories," as well as "More Moon Facts" for those who still want to know more.

Commentary:

This book has all the information a teacher could ask for about the moon. It answers many questions about the moon that children may raise when talking about the solar system. Teachers will learn from the book just as much as the students will! It is also an especially good book for the classroom because there are so many practical applications to teaching in it.

Teaching Ideas:
- A: Have students make a solar eclipse project like the one in the book
- S: Record the phases of the moon as they happen, ask students if they saw the moon last night

- S: Use binoculars to look at the sky and try to find the moon during the day, or send them home with one student per night so they can examine the moon at night
- SS: Watch a video of the first steps on the moon

- ELA: Have each student write their own legend about the moon

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