Are you looking for some light lesson plans for your third, fourth, or fifth grade class? You’ve come to the right place!
Posts on this website follow a teaching journey and are written in story form.
Ms. Sneed Prepares Light Lesson Plans
Our favorite fourth grade teacher sat at the side table with her teaching partner and rifled through a folder of radiant energy materials. “We have so many physical science activities to get through. How much time should we spend on this?”
“I can see spending one or two weeks on it,” Mr. Frank replied. “Let’s sort through this mess and generate some high-quality light lesson plans.”
Ms. Sneed looked at the pile of papers and shook her head. “Agreed.”
Investigation
“If we use the main light activities as stations, we could do them all in one day,” said Ms. Sneed.
She began to sort the pages, pulling out investigations that targeted key concepts.
“These five investigations will do the trick.” As she named each, she also mentioned the materials they would need:
- How does light travel? (four mirrors, paper, pencil, hard-covered book, flashlight)
- Which materials are transparent, translucent, opaque? (flashlight, twelve or more materials to test)
- Which materials reflect light? (flashlight, twelve or more materials to test)
- What is refraction? (pencil, clear cup, opaque cup, penny, wax paper, eye dropper, beaker of water, paper with writing on it)
- What is color? (flashlight, prism and/or CD, bubbles, crayons)
Five-Day Light Lesson Plans
“For a complete learning cycle,” said Ms. Sneed, “we can use the 5E model: engage, explore (stations), explain (reading & slideshow), elaborate, and evaluate.”
Mr. Frank nodded. He opened his laptop and began the light lesson plan grid.
“On the first day,” he said, “we can ask students to list examples and non-examples of light.”
“That’s a great way to engage them. Right away they’ll begin to understand how light allows us to see.”
“Then on Day 2,” Mr. Frank continued, “we can do the activities as science stations. Students would spend 10 to 15 minutes at each center. Then they’d make generalizations to discover energy concepts on their own.”
“The next day, we can dispel misconceptions and deepen understanding with a slideshow. After that, we can spend at least one day on extension activities. We have plenty to choose from! Then we can review and assess their learning.”
“Perfect,” said Ms. Sneed. She looked over his shoulder as he added the materials to the grid.
9-Day Light Lesson Plans
“I’m not sure I want to use stations every year,” said Ms. Sneed. “What if I want to use labs instead?”
“Alright, while we’re at it, we can make a set of lesson plans using labs. Of course, we’d need five days to complete the labs. The unit would then take nine days.”
He duplicated the five-day plans and extended it.
As he typed, Ms. Sneed looked through their extension activities. “Instead of nine days, I’d definitely use a full ten days and do two of these. I love the chromatography, white light, and shadows activities!”
Enjoy Teaching Light
“Well,” said Mr. Frank, “What do you think?”
That slow teacher smile spread across Ms. Sneed’s face. “These light lesson plans include all the great activities I love – and definitely get us better organized.”
