Hi, Paul, My first thought reading your comment was to recollect my own experiences (as parent and also teacher) with today's education system "dumbing things down." But then it registered: first grade? I *then* thought, wow, maybe the teacher's right; that's a bit young to get so technical. But then I thought, wait: why is a first grade teacher teaching about a Gibbous moon to begin with? - or, really, the concept of "phases of the moon" at all? Were I the principal, I'd send a note to both the teacher and you requesting a friendly conference to first express my appreciation for your attention to children's science education and then to introduce the idea of "developmentally appropriate curriculum." I'm aware there are differences of opinion here. As for my own, with children of that young age I'd have more of an objective to inspire students to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the moon, first and foremost (for parents) via some "moon gazing" over the course of a season, having children experience firsthand those "six phases." Ha, ha, what they'd actually observe would be only continuous, gradual changes--- in an endless cycle! On a moonlit night children might be encouraged to go back inside and put pencil to paper and sketch a landscape. Personally, besides the old poem that even very young children could learn: "I see the moon, and the moon sees me. God bless the moon, and God bless me," I'd read aloud and maybe have them memorize Robert Louis Stevenson's poem The Moon, in "A Child's Garden of Verses." There are also moon proverbs and myths to share: the Old Farmer's ÃÛÌÒÁµÈË is a great source for that (too!). Parents needn't be concerned. There's plenty of time for the rest, a more intellectual understanding of the moon. Hopefully by then children would have established something of a personal connection and have reason to care. :)
Hi, Paul, My first thought reading your comment was to recollect my own experiences (as parent and also teacher) with today's education system "dumbing things down." But then it registered: first grade? I *then* thought, wow, maybe the teacher's right; that's a bit young to get so technical. But then I thought, wait: why is a first grade teacher teaching about a Gibbous moon to begin with? - or, really, the concept of "phases of the moon" at all? Were I the principal, I'd send a note to both the teacher and you requesting a friendly conference to first express my appreciation for your attention to children's science education and then to introduce the idea of "developmentally appropriate curriculum." I'm aware there are differences of opinion here. As for my own, with children of that young age I'd have more of an objective to inspire students to appreciate the beauty and wonder of the moon, first and foremost (for parents) via some "moon gazing" over the course of a season, having children experience firsthand those "six phases." Ha, ha, what they'd actually observe would be only continuous, gradual changes--- in an endless cycle! On a moonlit night children might be encouraged to go back inside and put pencil to paper and sketch a landscape. Personally, besides the old poem that even very young children could learn: "I see the moon, and the moon sees me. God bless the moon, and God bless me," I'd read aloud and maybe have them memorize Robert Louis Stevenson's poem The Moon, in "A Child's Garden of Verses." There are also moon proverbs and myths to share: the Old Farmer's ÃÛÌÒÁµÈË is a great source for that (too!). Parents needn't be concerned. There's plenty of time for the rest, a more intellectual understanding of the moon. Hopefully by then children would have established something of a personal connection and have reason to care. :)