Oreo Moon Phases

Name: Casey Managhan

Date: April 16, 2013

Lesson Name: Oreo Moon phases

Materials used:

For this lesson I used the small box of Oreo cookies to make my example. These can be purchased at any convenient store or grocery store. For a classroom it would be a good idea to buy two or three packages depending on the class size of course. The extras are always good for snack time too. You will need either plastic spoons or knives or even Popsicle sticks to carve out the icing to create the moon phase. If you prefer you can allow the students to lick the icing off into the correct shape. You will need Elmer’s glue (not the stick) or a hot glue gun. You want to make sure the cookies stay in place on the plate. You will need something to use to carve or cut the phase of the moon. You will need a yellow marker to draw the sun. You will need paper plates to glue and label the different phases. Not the syrophome plates because the marker smears to easily and hardly stays. And last you will need markers to label the moon phases; any colors will work even multiple colors will be fine. The more creative the better.

Any resources that helped inspire this project:

The project we did in class about space is what inspired me to do this lesson. First grade is about the time students learn about space, and I thought what a great way to teach the young students about the moon. The Oreos are a good way to get them excited because, well what kid doesn’t like cookies? Using the Oreo’s will create an association with the moon. This way the students will associate other round foods and objects to the moon, which in hope will cause the students to think and remember the phases of the moon. I came across this lesson on Pinterest and it was perfect, my lesson search ended there when I found Oreo moon phases.

List the subject that your lesson ties in with:

This lesson ties in with the subject of science.

Step-by-step with text and photos:

1)   The first step is to gather all the materials needed. These materials include paper plates, markers, glue, Oreo’s and a spoon or popsicle stick to carve the phase of the moon.

2)   The second step is to begin taking the Oreo cookies and peeling them into halves.

3)   After the cookies have been put into halves make sure each student has seven halves with the icing on them, and make sure each student has one full cookie with both halves. Then we can begin with creating the phases of the moon.

4)   To create the phases of the moon you can give the students a spoon; Popsicle stick, plastic knife, or you can let the students lick the icing into the correct shape.

5)    Now you will carve the moon phases into shape. The phases include full moon, 1^st quarter, new moon, waxing crescent, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous, third quarter, waning crescent. Because this lesson is for first graders it is okay to only model four of the eight phases (new moon, crescent moon, first quarter, and full moon).

6)   Once the phases are carved out of the cookies it is time to label the paper plate. You will want to label a spot for the sun, then label each phase on the outside of the plate. These labeled spots are where the cookies will be placed and glued too. For the first graders it would probably be best to label the plates for them. 

7)   The final step is to glue the phases to the plate, and enjoy a cookie for snack!

Extra tips for problem-solving: (if there are issues that arose during construction)

Tips I found useful were to be very gentle with the cookie. The cookies break very easily as you can see the cracks in the pictures. Also it was a little difficult to carve the icing sometimes because either not enough would come off or too much would come off. Patients is key. I found when too much icing came off it was best to use the icing already scraped from the cookies to repair it. When you peel the cookies apart to get them into halves you needed to have all the icing on one side. The best way to accomplish this was to twist the top cookie a little before pulling them apart.

Art Vocabulary:

This project uses the shape element because we are reshaping the Oreo icing to be a moon phase. In order to do that we have to shape the icing to the correct phase shape.

This project uses the size element because the size/amount of icing left on the cookie is what determines the phase. The size of the icing left on the cookie is what determines the phase the moon is in. This project is also using the element of value. It uses value because it relates to the lightness and darkness of the image. Depending on where the light of the sun is hitting the moon is what creates the different moon phases.