Understanding

I have learned so much about the moon!  The moon orbits the earth.  Because of the rotation of the Earth, mixed with the orbit of the moon, the moon is sometimes in the sky during the day - when we can't even see it.  Another very cool thing I learned is that the moon rotates at the exact rate that it orbits the Earth, which is why we always see the same side of it.

To teach this to children, I would employ the method Dr. Burns used with us in class.  I never understood it until then, but it made so much more sense to me after that.  One person holds the flashlight (the sun), another holds a ball (the Earth), a third person holds a smaller ball (the moon).  Based on the moon's movement around the Earth, it is easy to see the shadow cast on the moon at different times during the month.