Online teaching is not for the faint of heart! It is difficult enough to keep the attention of upper elementary and middle school students in the classroom, much less online! These virtual moon phase activities are a great way to add more engagement into your lessons!
If you are a teaching remotely this year, first of all, cheers to you! You are AMAZING!
Here are a few virtual moon phase activities to help you plan your unit on the phases of the moon, eclipses, and tides. They have been tried and tested with the students in my classroom and have a been a hit!
If you’re teaching in person this year, take a look at my blog post “6 Proven Moon Phase Activities to Engage Your Students” for a list of hands-on activities that your students will love!
1. Phases of the Moon Gizmos Activity
If you’re lucky enough to have a district that has purchased a subscription to Gizmos, you NEED to check out this moon phase simulation! The digital worksheets that go along with the simulation are so easy for students to use, plus you can share them on Google Classroom so easily!
If you don’t have a subscription, you can check out the simulation for free for 5 minutes to get your feet wet!
2. Virtual Moon Phase Activity With Digital Task Cards
If you are teaching remotely, you will love using digital task cards!
I love them so much, I have an entire post on using digital task cards in the classroom!
The moon phase digital task cards are easy to share on Google Classroom.
Best of all, the text is embedded in the slide. This means your students can’t “accidentally” delete the text!!! Can I hear a wahoo!???
Great for:
- homework
- review
- breakout room activities!
3. PBS Moon Phase Interactive Simulation
If you don’t have access to the Explore Learning Gizmos simulations, don’t worry! PBS always produces top-notch programming. Their moon phase interactive simulation doesn’t disappoint!
It’s easy to use, standards aligned, and comes with supporting materials! Plus, if you are a Google school, you can easily share on Google Classroom as well!
4. Moon Phase Digital Interactive Notebook
Teaching moon phases, eclipses, and tides with a digital interactive notebook is a great way to engage your distance learners!
They will love the drag and drop activities, colorful diagrams, and videos embedded in this high-interest activity.
Teachers will love the differentiation, ease of use, and prep-free set up!!!
Take a look at the video preview on this page to see what this ready made, no-prep interactive notebook has to offer your students!
5. Music
You know how sometimes you get a song stuck in your head? Wouldn’t it be great if those songs were actually meaningful science content, not just useless stuff??
You’re in luck!
My students LOVE LOVE LOVE these moon phase videos!
They are super catchy, and I can guarantee you’ll be singing along!!!
Bundle and Save!
This Earth, moon, sun relationship bundle contains everything you need to teach phases, eclipses, and tides – both in person, and digital.
***Best of all, this bundle is GROWING! This means that any future resources added can be downloaded at no cost to you!
Aligned to VA SOL, NGSS, and TEKS!
