"Waxing Gibbeous"

The girls in my reading class had no trouble understanding the phases of the moon. Explaining to them where the earth was in relation to the moon and the sun as each phase was named was easy. We role played. I was the Sun, of course, and one girl became the moon, and the other the earth. I didn't even have to tell them what to do. After I showed them the pictures in the Astronomy book, they stood up to demonstrate, and did a great job. Even I understood it better after that.

I gave them each a sheet to take home. I told them they could record the phases of the moon over the next few weeks. The pictures of the phases, and their names (like waning gibbous, waxing gibbous, crescent, full, new, first quarter, third quarter, etc) were at the top of the sheet.

The next day, I asked them if they had seen the moon and recorded its appearance on the tracking sheet the night before. One girl had tried to, but the other said, "No, I didn't try to draw what it looked like, but it was definitely waxing gibbeous."

"Gibbeous?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"Yep, it was gibbeous."

I didn't correct her on the pronunciation just then. The time would come for that when we read the word in print again. She was using it appropriately, confidently, and how many people even know how to say that word anyway? Who knows what it means (well aside from the space buff folks)?

I was impressed that she understood what it meant.