5E Lesson Plan Template – Light

Teacher Name: Kiley Elbaor

Date Created:

Subject Area: Science- Shadows and Light

Grade Level: First Grade

Standard(s):
- ESS.1. B Earth and the Solar System: Seasonal patterns of the sunrise and sunset can

be observed, described, and predicted.

- 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: Science Works; Sunup, Sundown by Jacqui Bailey, and 40 pieces of chalk

Students: Science notebook, pencil

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Lesson Objectives / Learner Outcomes:

 Students will be able to go outside three different times, trace their shadow each
time, and then understand that the suns position deciphers where their shadow is
going to be 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 put the book on the projector 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

 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 shadows, when I say the word shadows
what do you think of? What is a shadow?”

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^ Students will respond
“Shadows are a dark shape produced by a body of figure coming between rays of light and a
surface. This means that when you are standing outside your body is between the ground
and the sun’s rays and that’s why your shadow is created. So today, we are going to be
talking about shadows and how they can be in different places or different sizes based on
where the sun is at in the sky.”

Read Story

Transition (How will you get the students to the next phase? What will you say or do?)
Say this: “Now you are going to get a chance to make some shadows outside. We are going to
go outside at two different times today to see if our shadows change.”
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 how their shadows change from morning to afternoon and how
they move based on where the sun’s place is in the sky.

 Say this: “You will work with your partner. We are going to go outside now, and then
this afternoon. I am going to give you a piece of chalk and you will trace each other’s
shadows.”
 “There is a box of chalk, on your way into the hallways each of you will need to grab a
piece of chalk to trace the shadows when we go outside. I want you and your partner
to find your own space on the blacktop, one of your shadows will be traced now and
one will be traced this afternoon. Make sure you write both of your names by the
shadow, so we know where to go back later when we come outside.”

 “Someone tell me what you are going to do first? Ok, after you get your chalk and go
outside, what is next? After you trace your shadow, what is next?

 “How will our voice levels change from walking in the hallway to when we are

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 outside?”

 “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 mess up with the shadow?”

 “Now, let’s all get in line to walk outside, so we can trace our shadows before the sun gets too
high, because remember when the sun is at its peak can we see a shadow?”

 Teacher circulates, assist where needed and if there is an odd number you can trace a
student’s shadow so they can see their shadow change as well.

“Was the shadow easy to, see? How do you know? How do you think the shadow is going to
change? Do you think the shadow is going to change at all? “

Transition Say this: Blow Outside Whistle- students will know to line up. “Alright, let’s all
bring our chalk back inside, put it back in the box, and sit at the carpet so we can talk about
what we saw.”

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
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 when we went
back outside and traced our shadow again.
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.

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 Potential Higher Order Questions
How much did your shadow move?
When we walked around and looked at the shadows were any of them very different
from yours?
Can we stop our shadow from moving?
Is there any way we can make our shadows move differently?
Are our shadows going to be in the same spot everyday if we go outside at the same time
tomorrow?

Transition

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

“Let’s talk about how the shadows are different and where they are at different times of the
day.”

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?
 How is this knowledge applied in our daily lives?

Teacher Directions

 Have the students get out their science journals.

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  Have them draw their shadows and where the shadows were and were the sun was at
the time, we traced the shadow.
 Now, have the students write 3 sentences on how the shadows moved based on
where the sun was currently at in the sky.

Transition “We did an awesome job being scientists today and learning about or own
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. 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 with their partner for the
shadows in their notebook.
 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 helps them
understand the relationship between the suns position and their shadows position.

Bibliography:

“Home Page: Next Generation Science Standards.” Home Page | Next Generation Science
Standards, https://www.nextgenscience.org/.

ADDITIONAL TEACHER NOTES/REVISIONS:

I did teach this lesson but the day we learned it, it was raining outside, and we were not able
to go outside. We instead drew the different points of the sun and where the shadows would
be. There had to be an improvisation in the lesson and a shift because it had to be done this

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day so we could not go outside. But it still does go very well and the students worked well in
groups to draw the shadows and where they would be based on the suns point in the day.