Fourth graders at Varina Elementary have been learning about the phases of the moon in Science (4.8c) and about fractions in Math (SOL4.2). Today students in Ms. Belcher’s class illustrated the fractional parts of the lunar cycle with ABCYa! Animate. First we divided the lunar cycle into eight parts and discussed the fraction representing each part. I pointed out that some of the fractions can be reduced, and they even provide names for some of the phases. For example, 2/8 of the cycle is called the first quarter because it is actually 1/4 of the way through. On each frame of their animations the students illustrated a different phase of the moon and wrote its corresponding fraction (new moon = 0/8, waxing crescent = 1/8, first quarter = 2/8 or 1/4, waxing gibbous = 3/8, full moon = 4/8 or 1/2, etc). We used the copy cat button to make sure that the moon stayed in the same place so that when the animation played, it would look like the phases of the moon were really happening. You can see them all here.
