THE SOLAR SYSTEM:
THE MOON

MOON LESSON

Directions:

Print The Moon reading comprehension passage and questions (see below).

Students should read the passage silently, then answer the questions.  Teachers may also use the text as part of a classroom lesson plan.

Lesson Excerpt

     A moon is a smaller body that is in orbit around a planet.  Moons are natural satellites of a planet.  Jupiter has the most – sixty-three.  Mercury and Venus don't have any moons. Earth has just one moon.  It is about 239,000 miles away from Earth.  Moons don't make any light.  They just reflect the sun's light, like a mirror.  The sun shines on the moon, and its light reflects off the moon's rocks and dust.  

     The Earth's moon makes one orbit around the Earth one time a month, every 28 days.  The same side of the moon points toward Earth all the time.  We see the moon in different shapes at different times.  This is called the ‘phases of the moon.'  The different phases have to do with the position of the moon and sun. 

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