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Moon Journal Cover
(This can be printed off and reproduced)

Moon Journal
V( This can be printed off and reproduced to make journals)

PowerPoint Storyboard

Report Questions

E-Pals
(This website will help you locate and set up e-pals for your class.)

Moon Legend - Reader's Theater

Editing Checklist

Bibliography Maker

Before Your Begin the Unit

There are a few things that you need to set up ahead of time. 
1.  You will need to establish e-pals with at least two different classes from different parts of the world. http://www.epals.com/
Each night you, or someone from the class, will take a picture of the moon with a digital camera. The image will then be e-mailed with  the date, and the time the picture was taken.  They in turn will do the same and the classes will compare pictures to determine if they are the same or different, depending on where you are in the world.

2. Run off the Moon Journal Cover and the Moon Journal pages and create a journal for each student to make recordings in.

3. Find some friends that will come into your class to pose as NASA scientists and reserve a day for the presentation.

4. Prepare a folder containing the necessary handouts for your students. I include checklists, worksheets, storyboards, etc.  Anything that will help them stay organized and as independent as possible is included.

California Content Standards
Below you will find the standards that will be addressed by completing this unit. Since it is an interdisciplinary unit, you will see that there are standards met from a variety of subjects.

b. Students know the way in which the Moon’s appearance changes during the four-week lunar cycle.

c. Students know telescopes magnify the appearance of some distant objects in the
sky, including the Moon and the planets. The number of stars that can be seen
through telescopes is dramatically greater than the number that can be seen by the
unaided eye.

d. Students know that Earth is one of several planets that orbit the Sun and that the
Moon orbits Earth.

e. Students know the position of the Sun in the sky changes during the course of the
day and from season to season.

Language Arts - Grade 3

Reading

1.0 Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development

Vocabulary and Concept Development
1.6 Use sentence and word context to find the meaning of unknown words.
1.7 Use a dictionary to learn the meaning and other features of unknown words.

Structural Features of Informational Materials
2.1 Use titles, tables of contents, chapter headings, glossaries, and indexes to locate information in text.

Comprehension and Analysis of Grade-Level-Appropriate Text
2.2 Ask questions and support answers by connecting prior knowledge with literal information found in, and inferred from, the text.
2.3 Demonstrate comprehension by identifying answers in the text.
2.4 Recall major points in the text and make and modify predictions about forthcoming information.
2.5 Distinguish the main idea and supporting details in expository text.
2.6 Extract appropriate and significant information from the text, including problems and solutions.
2.7 Follow simple multiple-step written instructions (e.g., how to assemble a product or play a board game).

Writing

1.0 Writing Strategies
Organization and Focus
1.1 Create a single paragraph:
a. Develop a topic sentence.
b. Include simple supporting facts and details.

Penmanship
1.2 Write legibly in cursive or joined italic, allowing margins and correct spacing between letters in a word and words in a sentence.

Research
1.3 Understand the structure and organization of various reference materials (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, encyclopedia).

Evaluation and Revision
1.4 Revise drafts to improve the coherence and logical progression of ideas by using an established rubric.

Written and Oral English Language Conventions

1.0 Written and Oral English Language Conventions
Students write and speak with a command of standard English conventions appropriate to this grade level.

Sentence Structure
1.1 Understand and be able to use complete and correct declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in writing and speaking.

Grammar
1.2 Identify subjects and verbs that are in agreement and identify and use pronouns, adjectives, compound words, and articles correctly in writing and speaking.
1.3 Identify and use past, present, and future verb tenses properly in writing and speaking.
1.4 Identify and use subjects and verbs correctly in speaking and writing simple sentences.

Punctuation
1.5 Punctuate dates, city and state, and titles of books correctly.
1.6 Use commas in dates, locations, and addresses and for items in a series.

Capitalization
1.7 Capitalize geographical names, holidays, historical periods, and special events correctly.

Spelling
1.8 Spell correctly one-syllable words that have blends, contractions, compounds, orthographic patterns (e.g., qu, consonant doubling, changing the ending of a word from -y to -ies when forming the plural), and common homophones (e.g., hair-hare). 1.9 Arrange words in alphabetic order.

Listening and Speaking

1.0 Listening and Speaking Strategies

Organization and Delivery of Oral Communication
1.5 Organize ideas chronologically or around major points of information.
1.6 Provide a beginning, a middle, and an end, including concrete details that develop a central idea.
1.7 Use clear and specific vocabulary to communicate ideas and establish the tone.
1.8 Clarify and enhance oral presentations through the use of appropriate props (e.g., objects, pictures, charts).

2.0 Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students deliver brief recitations and oral presentations about familiar experiences or interests that are organized around a coherent thesis statement.

2.1 Make brief narrative presentations:
a. Provide a context for an incident that is the subject of the presentation.
b. Provide insight into why the selected incident is memorable