There are 8 different moon phases. The sun hits the Earth and casts a shadow on the moon. That is why we see parts of the moon here and there. WANING MOON means that the moon is losing light. The light reflected is shrinking or decreasing. WAXING MOON means that the moon is growing or expanding in light.

This is the NEW MOON. This moon occurs when the moon is in alignment with the Earth and the Sun. The illuminated part of the moon is on the opposite side of what we can see (which means that the backside of the moon faces the sun), and that is why we can't see the moon.

This is the WAXING CRESCENT moon. Crescent means that the moon is less than 1/2 visible, and waxing means that it is growing in light. An easy way to remember this is to think of the letter C.

This is the FIRST QUARTER moon. The moon is a quarter way around its orbit of the Earth. That means it is 25% done.

This is the WAXING GIBBOUS moon. This means that we can see more than half of the moon and that the moon is growing or expanding in light.