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4th grade · Science · Unit 6 of 14

Light

Sources, shadows, reflection and refraction

What your child practices

Natural and artificial light, things that make light and things that reflect it, shadows, transparent, translucent and opaque materials, mirrors, refraction, and how light technology affects people and wildlife.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 4.7 · light reflecting from objects into our eyes so we can see them

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Light sources make their own light, like the Sun or a lamp. The Moon only reflects sunlight.
  2. Light travels in straight lines, so it can't go around corners. Blocked light makes a shadow.
  3. Mirrors reflect light. Light bends (refracts) when it passes between air, water or glass.
  4. You see an object when light from it enters your eyes.

Example: Why does a pencil in a glass of water look bent? Light from the pencil passes from water into air. Light bends when it moves between materials. This is refraction. Answer: the light refracts (bends)

Light in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 6 of 14 in 4th grade Science, after Sound and before Built to Survive: Plants.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Frosted glass lets light through but you can't see clearly. It is…

    🪟
    • translucent
    • transparent
    • reflective
    • opaque

  2. Question 2

    Which surface reflected the most light?

    Temperature after 10 minutes in the Sun (°C)
    05101520253035black paperwhite paperfoil
    • white paper
    • black paper
    • foil

  3. Question 3

    What color of clothing would keep you coolest in the sun?

    👕
    • white
    • black
    • dark blue
    • dark brown

  4. Question 4

    A pencil in a glass of water looks bent. This happens because light…

    ✏️
    • is made by the pencil
    • gets absorbed
    • bends as it passes from water into air
    • stops moving

  5. Question 5

    Light travels in a straight path. How does this explain why you can't see around a corner?

    🧱
    • light stops at corners
    • light from behind the corner cannot bend to reach you
    • corners make light
    • light turns green

  6. Question 6

    What do glasses and telescopes use to help us see better?

    🔭
    • batteries only
    • magnets
    • sound
    • lenses

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