5E Lesson Plan Template – Light-Transparency

Teacher Name: Kiley Elbaor

Date Created:

Subject Area: Science- Shadows and Light

Grade Level: First Grade

Standard(s):
- 1-PS4-3 Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects

made with different materials in the path of a beam of light.

- ELA. RI.1.1 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

- ELA. RI.1.6 Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations

and information provided by the words in a text.

Materials:

Teacher: 6 Printouts of arrows to place on the floor before the lesson to show the rotation, 1

pack of fruit snacks, 1 glass cup with water in it, 1 tissue box, 1 pair of sunglasses, 1 book, 40

copies of the data chart handout, 1 dry erase marker, up-front whiteboard, doc camera, 10

flashlights

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Students: Science notebook, pencil

Lesson Objectives / Learner Outcomes:

 Students will be able to rotate to all five groups and decide if they can see a shadow
and if the object is transparent with 90% accuracy.
Differentiation Strategies to Meet Diverse Learner Needs:

 Accommodation for non-white, middle-class culture – I do not need to make

accommodations for my students in the case that they are not white. All students
have an equal opportunity during my lessons and in the classroom, I am in.
 Accommodation for Visually different – I do not have any students with visual
impairments in my classroom. But if I did I would have them sit in the front for the
group reading, or I would enlarge the text on the data chart to allow them to see it
better.
 Accommodation for Hearing different – I do not have any students who are hearing
impaired, but if I did, I would use a microphone so my voice was projected, and the
student would be able to hear me.
 Accommodation for Emotionally different – I do not have any students in my
classroom that need these accommodations but if I did, I would know their triggers
and ensure that they are not affected by their schoolwork.
 Accommodation for Physically different – This would mean they have a disability, and
I would not use the term physically different, but depending on the disability of the
student I would have things such as enlarge lined paper, or large pencils depending on
student needs with the chalk if they could not hold it I would have them be an
“observer” rather than tracing someone’s shadow.
 Accommodation for Intellectually different – low – I would have them work with their
peer partner that they usually work with, so they are comfortable with who they are
working with, and their peer understands their needs.
 Accommodation for Intellectually different – gifted – I do not have this in my
classroom but if I did I Would have them do more to their shadow such as measure it
and compare and contrast the difference of the shadows based of where the sun is
positioned.
ENGAGE

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  Create interest and stimulate curiosity; provide meaningful context for learning; raise
questions for inquiry and science practices; reveal students’ current ideas and beliefs
 Describe how the teacher will capture students’ interest.
 What kind of questions should the students ask themselves after the engagement?

Say this.
“Today we are going to learn about something called light transparency, when I say light
transparency, what do you think of? What do you think this means?”
^ Students will respond
“I am going to give you an example of something that is transparent to get your brains
thinking, then we are going to go into our video to learn about more what light transparency
really means. A window is transparent.”

Play video listen below in citation area.

Transition (How will you get the students to the next phase? What will you say or do?)
Say this: “Can you think of anything else that we may see at school that can be transparent?”
EXPLORE
 Provide experience of the phenomenon; examine students’ questions to test their ideas;
investigate questions and problems
 Describe what hands-on/minds-on activities students will be doing.
 List “big idea” conceptual questions the teacher will use to encourage and/or focus
students’ exploration.
Students will be investigating different objects in a group rotation to see which objects are
transparent and to review some shadow work they will have to see if they have a shadow as
well.

 Say this: “You will work with a group. I have set up 5 different groups that you are
going to rotate to. There are arrows on the ground to show you which way you will
rotate each time. At each table there are already charts for you to collect your data,
remember to take that chart with you to each rotation, do not leave it at a table. Who

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 can remind me what we need to put at the top of our papers as soon as we get to our
first rotation?”
 ^ Students will respond.
 Show the chart as you are explaining this and use a marker to show an example of
what they are doing and have a student help you by holding the marker while you
shine the flashlight.
 “This is what the chart is going to look like. Each one has a chart for the rotation you
are in. *Show them what they are going to do (Have someone hold the marker, you
shine the flashlight then show how there is a shadow, but it is not transparent) After,
you do that, you care going to track your thoughts on the data chart. There is going to
a teacher at each group to help you as you go.”
 “Someone tell me what you are going to do first? Ok, after you get your group and
put your name on your paper, what is next? After holding up the item and check for
transparency and the shadow, what is next?

 “How should our voice levels be while we are in our groups and when we rotate?”

 “What are we going to do if we cannot decide who is going to trace first and who is
going to trace later?”

 “What happens if we finish before the timer goes off? What do you think we should
do while we wait for the timer to go off?”

 “Now, I am going to put you all in groups and we are going to get started. When the lights
turn off, the timer will start, and that is when you will get started.”

 Teacher circulates, assist where needed if there is a group that does not have an
adult at it then focus more on that group.

“Did every object have a shadow? Was every object transparent? How do you think this
would change if the lights were on and the blinds were open? Do you think the brightness of
the flashlight effected this? “

Transition Say this: “After seeing the objects and determining if they are transparent or not,
think about what makes an object transparent?”

EXPLAIN

 Introduce concepts and practices that can be used to interpret data and construct
explanations; construct multimodal explanations and justify claims in terms based on
evidence; compare different explanations generated by students; review current
scientific explanations
 Student explanations should precede introduction of terms or explanations by the

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 teacher. What questions or techniques will the teacher use to help students connect
their exploration to the concept under examination?
 List higher order thinking questions the teacher will use to solicit student explanations
and help them to justify their explanations.

Formative Assessment – Students will be able to explain what they saw in the data they
collected.
Students will respond. Use questions below to extend responses.
“What questions do you have for me?”
Read questions one at a time and record any answers students may have.

Potential Higher Order Questions

What items were transparent, why were they transparent?
Did the transparent objects have a shadow? Why or why not?
Is it possible for an item to not have a shadow?
Is there a way to make something transparent if it doesn’t seem like it is?

Transition

Say this while opening up to the book page where it shows the different shadows, page 15.

“Let’s talk about your thoughts and your questions, think about what really makes something
transparent.

ELABORATE

 Use and apply concepts and explanations in new contexts; reconstruct and extend
explanations using different modes, such as written language, diagrammatic and
graphic modes, and mathematics
 Describe how students will develop a more sophisticated understanding of the
concept.
 What vocabulary will be introduced and how will it connect to students’
observations?

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  How is this knowledge applied in our daily lives?

Teacher Directions

 Have the students get out their science journals.

 Have them draw their observations and something that really stood out to them in
one of the rotations today.
 Now, have the students write 3 sentences on what they drew and what they
observed.

Transition “We did an awesome job being scientists today and learning about light
transparency and object shadows. I am going to have you take your science notebook and
talk about what you wrote and drew in your notebooks with the partner you had earlier
today. Your goal is to ask them one question about what they observed. When the timer goes
off, we need to clean up, like great scientists do.”

EVALUATE

 Provide an opportunity for students to review and reflect on their understanding and
skills; provide evidence for changes to students’ understanding, beliefs, and skills
 How will students demonstrate that they have achieved the lesson objective?
 This should be embedded throughout the lesson as well as the end of the lesson
(formative and summative assessment).

 Have each partner share what they drew and wrote about in their science
notebooks.
 Have a small shift in conversation and have them share with the table what they
wrote rather than just the partner.
 Summative Assessment – Ask specifically about how their data help them
understand the relationship between light and transparency.

Bibliography:

Kidz, Peekaboo, director. Light | The Dr. Binocs Show | Learn Videos For Kids, 3 Sept. 2016,
https://youtu.be/d7yTlp4gBTI. Accessed 8 Feb. 2023.

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ADDITIONAL TEACHER NOTES/REVISIONS:

I did teach this lesson. I have some pictures from this day, and it went really well. The
students had some trouble rotating at the beginning but got the hang of it. The
understanding of light transparency went really well, and they had a good grasp of the
understanding and meaning of light transparency.