BMUFSD: First Graders Use Flashlights To View Phases Of The Moon

Press release from the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District:

2021-10-27

Using a flashlight and a white foam ball attached to a pencil to represent the moon, first graders in Dorene Tomaskovic’s class stood in the classroom with the lights off and watched the light from the flashlight reflected on the ball to view different phases of the moon.

Students took turns being the “earth” holding the “moon” over their heads. The person who was the “earth/moon” kept turning slowly as the flashlight, the “sun,” showed four phases of the moon. One turn displayed the full moon and another turn showed a quarter moon. With another turn, there was no light at all, which meant that it is a new moon. Then, with another slight turn, the students got to see a quarter moon again.

Students learned that the moon’s phases are caused by the positions of the moon and earth as the moon orbits the earth and the earth orbits the sun. The illuminated face of the moon is reflecting light from the sun, which the flashlight was simulating.

“This is like the moon that I see at night,” said one student. “But the moon doesn’t move that fast,” she said as she watched her partner spin rapidly while holding the white ball.

This press release was produced by the Briarcliff Manor Union Free School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.