Tag: moon for kids

Books, Science/Math

Perfect Picture Book Friday: ON THE MOON

Kirsten W. Larson

TITLE: ON THE MOON

AUTHOR: Anna Milbourne

ILLUSTRATOR: Benji Davies

PUBLICATION INFO: Usbourne, 2006

ISBN: 978-0794506179

SOURCE: Personal library

INTENDED AUDIENCE: 4 and up (Publisher), but I think children as young as 2 would enjoy this.

GENRE: picture book (fiction)

OPENING and SYNOPSIS: “The Moon is very, very far away. What do you think it would be like to go there?” A young girl takes a trip to the Moon in this fantastic journey.

THEMES/TOPICS: space exploration, moon, astronauts, solar system

WHY I LIKE THIS BOOK: Although this book is fiction, the author intersperses lots of facts into the narrative. For example, telling children how long it would take to reach the Moon and sharing about the atmosphere (no air here!). I also appreciate that this book is appropriate for the youngest readers. Even a toddler who can recognize the Moon in the sky would enjoy this simple tale.

RESOURCES/ACTIVITIES:

Every Friday bloggers review “Perfect Picture Books.” Find a complete list of book reviews organized by topic, genre and blogger at authorSusanna Leonard Hill’s site.

 

Outside, Science/Math

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s SUPER MOON!

Kirsten W. Larson
Photo courtesy of NASA

Super moon is not the world’s newest super hero. Rather, it’s a super-huge, full moon — the biggest one we’ll see this year — coming to a sky near you on Saturday, May 5th.

So-called “super moons” occur when a full moon happens at the same time the moon is nearest the Earth, called the moon’s perigee. The moon’s orbit is an ellipse, not a circle, which means sometimes the moon is very “near” the Earth (an average of 226,000 miles away), and sometimes it’s father away. The distance between the Earth and the moon can vary by as much as 25,000 miles. That may not sound like much, but that’s about the circumference of the Earth at its equator.

The best time to see a “super moon” is when the moon is rising or setting, and it silhouettes buildings, trees or other objects. It might be worth postponing bedtime or waking up early for such a site. You can find out when the moon rises and sets in your area, here.

Space.com is encouraging people to share “super moon” stories and photos by contacting Managing Editor Tariq Malik: tmalik@space.com.

To learn more about Earth’s moon, see NASA’s kids page on the subject….here.