Micro Lesson #2 - Planning Assessment

I love the assessment tool for this lesson.  Students will be working with a partner to photograph themselves recreating the 8 phases of the moon, using a flashlight, a Styrofoam ball, and their own head.  They will then upload their photos to the computer and use a software program like iMovie to make a mini-documentary.  They will then identify each phase of the moon and explain how they achieved it. This requires that they fully understand the relationship between the positions of the sun, moon and earth and be able to communicate that knowledge verbally or in text to another person.  It allows for students to express themselves creatively, and demonstrate their knowledge in a unique way.  This assessment links perfectly with  the objective of understanding the four-week lunar cycle, and the 5th grade standards of describing the position and motion of objects (such as the moon or planets) in the sky over time.