'Over the Moon' Lesson Plan for Lunar Year (Grades 3–5)

Turn movie day into a meaningful learning experience with this Over the Moon Movie Guide & SEL Lesson Plan for Grades 3–5. This 120-minute resource blends ELA, Social-Emotional Learning, cultural exploration, and STEM into one structured and thoughtful lesson.

Students explore themes of grief, resilience, family change, and hope through guided viewing and discussion. Pre-viewing vocabulary builds background knowledge, while active viewing prompts keep students focused and thinking. Post-viewing reflections help children process emotions in a safe and supportive way.

A comprehensive lesson plan, a 12-page student workbook, an answer key, a grading rubric, STEM extension activities, cultural research tasks (Moon Festival and Chang'e legend), a letter to parents, and teacher notes on how to deal with loss are all included in the resource. Everything is low prep and well-organized.

Themes, character development, informative writing, empathy, and problem-solving are among skills that students practice. Storytelling is linked to engineering and space themes through cross-curricular activities.

Minimal preparation.
Supportive on an emotional level.
Strong academically.

An effective strategy for giving your children a purposeful, standards-based, and meaningful movie day.