The most prominent feature in the night sky, to even the youngest children, is the Moon. The Moon is the only night-sky object beyond the clouds that appears larger than a dot. Yet, it is greatly misunderstood. Why it changes its phase, how it moves through the heavens, what the surface features really are — these are all aspects of the Moon that can be readily observed but that are plagued with misconceptions.

The Moon Cylinder, in conjunction with its curriculum guide, will help you teach your students about phases, eclipses, the Moon’s motion through the heavens, and features on the Moon’s surface. You will be able to examine and compare sites of the Apollo Moon landings, compare the near and far sides of the lunar surface, and distinguish between such surface features as highlands, maria, craters, mountains, ejecta rays, and rilles.

The cylinder comes with a masking cover, which can be used to obscure parts of the cylinder from view, thus keeping your students on task. With the phase identification activity, the wall mask is designed to allow viewing of only one phase at a time. This allows you to unveil the correct phase once your students’ phase predictions have been cast. Recommended for elementary and middle school students.