Printable worksheet · Grades 2 to 5 · about 15 minutes
Moon diary: how does the Moon change in a week?
A one-page Moon diary that starts from today's Moon: its shape, how much is lit and how long until it is full. Students draw the real Moon for seven evenings, then spot the pattern.
Numbers
Today's numbers come from the Moon globe, captured when this page loaded: 12:17 UTC on November 4, 2026. Print the class set in one go so every copy matches the teacher notes. Reload for new numbers.The boxes are left blank. Students open the Moon globe and copy in the numbers themselves, so answers vary a little: the teacher notes give the method and the range to accept.Live numbers are not available right now, so the boxes are blank: students look them up in the Moon globe.
Orbital Radar · Space for Schools
Grades 2 to 5 · The Moon
Moon diary: how does the Moon change in a week?
The Moon does not make its own light. We see the part lit by the Sun, and that part changes from night to night. Draw the Moon every evening for a week.
Name Class Date
Today's Moon from the Moon globe, 12:17 UTC on November 4, 2026write them in from orbitalradar.com/moon
The Moon's shape today
Waning crescent
How much of the Moon is lit
30%%
Days since the last new Moon
24.1 days
Time until the next full Moon
20 days
Open orbitalradar.com/moon and copy what it shows right now.
Night 1
Date
Cloudy
Night 2
Date
Cloudy
Night 3
Date
Cloudy
Night 4
Date
Cloudy
Night 5
Date
Cloudy
Night 6
Date
Cloudy
Night 7
Date
Cloudy
Each evening, look for the Moon. Draw the lit part and color in the part you cannot see. If it is cloudy, tick the box and check the Moon globe instead.
Is the lit part of the Moon getting bigger or smaller this week?[1]
Which side of the Moon is lit: the left or the right?[1]
Predict: draw the Moon one week after Night 7.[2]
Challenge. Why can we sometimes see the Moon in the daytime?[2]
Extension The Moon takes about 29.5 days to go through all its shapes. About when will it look the same as on Night 1 again? [2]
Check: the shape should change a little each night, always in the same direction.
Teacher notes and answersNot on the student sheet. Printed only with "Print with answers".
Teacher notes: Moon diary
Worked from the Moon on today's sheet (12:17 UTC on November 4, 2026): Waning crescent, 30% lit, 24.1 days after the last new Moon. The next full Moon is on November 24, 2026 (UTC).
Students looked up the Moon themselves: check the shapes on the Moon globe for the week you start.
Total 6 points, plus 2 for the extension.
What students should see
Night
Shape
Lit
1 (tonight)
Waning crescent
30%
2
Waning crescent
20%
3
Waning crescent
13%
4
Waning crescent
6%
5
Waning crescent
2%
6
New Moon
0%
7
New Moon
0%
Near the new Moon the Moon is too close to the Sun to see: accept "could not see it" for those nights.
Answers
Smaller: the Moon is waning (shrinking)
The left side. The lit side always faces the Sun. (Seen from the US; in the southern hemisphere it is the other way round.)
First quarter, about 52% lit. 2 points for a drawing close to this, 1 for the right direction of change.
The Moon is above the horizon for about half of each day, and some of that time is in daylight. It is bright enough to see in a blue sky when it is not too close to the Sun. (Never look at the Sun.)
Extension: about 29 or 30 days after Night 1, around December 4, 2026.
Watch for
The dark part is not the Earth's shadow. The shape changes because we see different amounts of the Moon's sunlit half as it goes round the Earth. The Earth's shadow on the Moon is a lunar eclipse.
The Moon rises later each day, by about 50 minutes, so later in the week it may only be up after bedtime or in the morning.
Curriculum
NGSS 1-ESS1-1 (patterns of the Sun, Moon and stars); for older students, MS-ESS1-1 (a model of the Moon's phases). Texas TEKS: K.9B, 4.9B, and high school Astronomy 8A.
How these worksheets work
One page, free to print and copy for teaching. The numbers on the sheet are captured from the live tool when the page loads, and printed with the time, so a class set printed together matches the teacher notes. Reload for new numbers.
No sign-in, no ads, and nothing for students to install.
Orbital Radar · Space for Schools