5E Unit Sketch Template

Unit Age / Grade Level Light/Shadows Candidate Name Kiley Elbaor

NGSS:
- 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.
- ESS.1. B Earth and the Solar System: Seasonal patterns of the sunrise and sunset can be
observed, described, and predicted.
- 1-PS4-2: Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that objects in
darkness can be seen only when illuminated.
-

English, Math or Social Studies Standard if Selected: English:

- 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.

Central Concept Students will be able to understand how shadows are made and how light
affects the shadows by the end of the unit plan and the meaning of translucent objects.
Learning Outcome(s) – at least 1 per standard, no more than 5 total
1. Students will be able to go outside three different times, trace their shadow each time, and
then understand that the sun's position deciphers where their shadow is going to be with 90%
accuracy.
2. Students will be able to create observations by conducting investigations to determine how
the illumination and amount of light in their box helps them determine the kind and color of
object they have with 90% accuracy.
3. Students will understand that the sun’s position will decipher if the groundhog sees their
shadow with 90% accuracy.
4. 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.
5. Students will be able to understand the meaning of transparency with 100% accuracy in both
of the transparency-focused groups.

Outline of Lessons – Be sure to include all 5 Es.

Unit Sketch Template

Day 1:
- Engage: As a class, we will discuss what a shadow is, and read a book about shadows
and how they move.
- Explore: The students will go outside at two different points of the day and trace their
shadows. The two different points of the day will show them how their shadow is
moved based on the sun’s movement in the sky.
- Explain: The students will have an open-ended discussion based on the following
questions:
o How much did your shadow move?
o When we walked around and looked at the shadows were any of them very
different from yours?
o Can we stop our shadows from moving?
o Is there any way we can make our shadows move differently?
o Are our shadows going to be in the same spot every day if we go outside at the
same time tomorrow?
- Elaborate: The students will use their science notebooks to draw and write about their
shadows, their findings, and how the shadow moved based on where the sun was in the
sky.
- Evaluate: The students will use the writings or drawings in their notebooks to peer-to-
peer discuss how the activity went and their learnings from drawing their shadows. They
will be able to explain the shift in the shadow drawing.

Day 2:
- Engage: The students will start with a small eraser, the lights will be off and they will
have to see how many of them can see the object in their hands in the dark, and we will
take a survey to see how many of them could actually see the object.
- Explore: The students will be grouped together, and they will have a tunnel with an
object in there we will go through phases of how much light we are letting in and use a
chart to track our data on if we can discover what the object inside is based on the
amount of light let in.
- Explain: We would make a vocabulary list based on our new findings and discover the
meanings.
- Elaborate: We would then chart the findings based on what the students found and how
many of the students saw the correct object based on the amount of light that was let
in.
- Evaluate: Finally, we will then have a class discussion so the students can explain how
darkness makes it hard to see objects and light is needed to illuminate objects to be able
to see them.

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Unit Sketch Template

Day 3:
- Engage: I will explain to the students how we have been working on shadows. I will then
discuss how Groundhog Day is coming up and we will go over what that means and why
shadows are included and very important for this day.
- Explore: The students will use their prior knowledge and investigation skills to draw an
image of a groundhog seeing its shadow and properly placing the shadow based on
where the sun is and where the groundhog is.
- Explain: The students will have an open-ended discussion based on the following
questions:
o Why does it matter where you put the sun and her shadow?
o Can we see our shadows if we were to put the sun at the top of our paper, like
where the sun is at 12:00 pm?
o Can we stop the groundhog from seeing its shadow?
- Elaborate: The students will draw their predictions then we will graph their predictions
to work on graphing and then have a class-based discussion on how the weather plays a
role in if the groundhog will see their shadow or not.
- Evaluate: Finally, we will go in the hallway and observe their graph to see the data we
collected.

Day 4:
- Engage: I will introduce light transparency and we will make our predictions on what this
means, I will give them an example to get their brains thinking of something that is
transparent, then I am going to play a video to introduce and explain transparency.
- Explore: We will work in groups to rotate and have a number of different stations. There
will be different objects at 5 different stations, and they will track their findings on a
chart to decide if the item is transparent or not. We will also put shadows in this lesson
to continue to cover new learnings and they will have to decide if the object had a
shadow as well.
- Explain: The students will have an open-ended discussion based on the following
questions:
o What items were transparent, and why were they transparent?
o Did the transparent objects have a shadow? Why or why not?
o Is it possible for an item to not have a shadow?
o Is there a way to make something transparent if it doesn’t seem like it is?

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Unit Sketch Template

- Elaborate: I will then have the students get out their science journals and draw or write
their observations on what stood out to them on their rotation.
- Evaluate: We will then do a turn and talk and talk about what they drew and wrote in
their notebooks and share with their table partners.

Day 5:
- Engage: I will explain to the students that we are going to be reviewing some topics we
have been working on and going over some of the skills they have been learning. I will
ask them what they have been learning and what skills they have been working on.
- Explore: The students will rotate and independently work at each station since this is a
summative assessment: 1. Shadows- students will have the paper there, a flashlight, and
Legos. They will have to find a way to make a shadow and draw the shadow then in their
notebooks write how they made the shadow and decide if it was the same size as the
original Legos. 2. Shadows- they will have paper already at their station and they will
need to draw the sun, themselves, and where the shadow will be based on where the
sun is. 3. There will be three objects and they will need to use a flashlight to decide
which item is transparent and write about it in their notebooks on why they picked that
object. 4. They will get a chart that has already cut-out pictures attached to it with a
paperclip. Then they will glue the pictures in the correct columns based on full
transparency, with some light coming through (translucent) and no light coming through
the object (opaque).
- Explain: The students will have an open-ended discussion based on the following
questions:
o What items were transparent, and why were they transparent?
o How did you create a shadow with the Legos on the paper?
o How did you know to put the shadow where you put it based on where you put
the sun?
o Did you change the size of the shadow based on where the sun was in your
picture in the sky?
- Elaborate: The students will use their journals to write their final thoughts and what
shadows and light transparency are.
- Evaluate: They will do a turn and talk to talk about the different rotations and what they
did at the station to come to their conclusions.

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Unit Sketch Template

Critical Vocabulary:
- Light
- Shadows
- Transparency
- Translucent
- Opaque
Assessments
Formative- For all of the lessons the students used their science journals to collect their
thoughts and data to form an understanding of each lesson.
Summative- The final lesson is a summative assessment to show an understanding of both the
meaning of shadows and light transparency by doing an independent rotation through four
stations with activities that cover the new topics.

Resources (at least 2)

1. “Home Page: Next Generation Science Standards.” Home Page | Next Generation
Science Standards, https://www.nextgenscience.org/.
2. Kidz, Peekaboo, director. Light | The Dr. Binocs Show | Learn Videos For Kids, 3 Sept.
2016, https://youtu.be/d7yTlp4gBTI. Accessed 8 Feb. 2023.

Concept Map – the actual map or a link to the map

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Unit Sketch Template