First Grade · Science · week 16

The Moon: light at night

Discover that the Moon does not make its own light, but reflects sunlight, much like a mirror.

At night, the Moon glows in the sky, but it is not making its own light like the Sun does. The Moon is really a giant ball of rock, and it only shines because sunlight bounces off it, the same way light bounces off a mirror.

This connects right back to what you learned about mirrors: the Moon does not create light, it reflects it. If the Sun's light stopped reaching the Moon, the Moon would go completely dark.

📋 For the teacher
Teach it (10–15 min):
  • Do this demonstration in as dark a room as possible for the clearest effect.
  • Connect explicitly back to week 14's mirror lesson: the Moon behaves like a mirror in the sky.
  • Look at the real Moon together on a clear night this week, and talk about it reflecting sunlight even when the Sun is not visible.
  • Correct gently if your child says the Moon "glows by itself" -- this is the single biggest misconception to catch this week.
Talk about it:
  • What happened to the ball when you turned off the flashlight?
  • Which real thing does the flashlight represent? Which does the ball represent?
  • Does the Moon make its own light, or reflect the Sun's light?

Mastery looks like: They explain that the Moon does not make its own light but reflects sunlight, and connect this to the mirror idea from an earlier week.

Common stumbles: Believing the Moon glows on its own, like a light bulb; forgetting that this is the same reflecting idea as a mirror, just applied in space.

Homework for this lessonType it, write it with a stylus, or print it for pencil & paper.open →
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