Name the Moon Phases

Eight moon cards fill this 2nd grade page in two columns, each with a moon on a pale square and two ruled lines beside it. A word bank at the top holds four phase names: new moon, last quarter, full moon and first quarter. The child looks at each moon and writes its name on the lines, using each name twice. On the sheet shown the moons are a full moon, a half lit on the right, a half lit on the left, a new moon, a full moon, another half lit on the left, a new moon and a half lit on the right.

The four main phases are named here, and the page makes children tell apart the two that look most alike. First quarter and last quarter are both half moons, and the only difference is which side is lit; as seen from north of the equator, first quarter is lit on the right. The name quarter confuses almost everyone, because the Moon looks half lit; it means a quarter of the way through the Moon's cycle. Crescents and gibbous moons are left out so the vocabulary stays small enough to learn well.

One sheet, eight moons, eight names. Each moon has two lines because every phase name is two words long. Use it after the moon phases in order face, which teaches the sequence without names. A calendar showing the phase symbols for the current month lets children name tonight's moon. In NGSS this sits with 1-ESS1-1, taught at grade 2 here with the words attached.