Mark,
I like how you have planned this as a unit, and it’ll probably take place over the month as you have suggested.
In the autumn, the 3rd quarter Moon is high in the sky in the mornings. It will be great to view last week of September and last week of October at around 10am. Either of these times would be great to start this unit, since we must (I hope) get at least one sunny morning in a week!