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3rd grade · Science · Unit 1 of 8

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.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 3.P2U1.1 · the relationship between light, objects and the human eye

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Some things make light, like the Sun or a lamp. Others reflect it, like the Moon or a mirror.
  2. Light passes through transparent things, some through translucent ones, and none through opaque ones.
  3. We see things when light from them enters our eyes.

Example: Does the Moon make light or reflect it? The Moon has no light of its own. It shines with sunlight bouncing off it. Answer: reflect

Light in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 1 of 8 in 3rd grade Science, before Sound.

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: Arizona Department of Education

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

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

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

  2. Question 2

    What does a mirror do to light?

    🪞
    • reflects it
    • makes it colder
    • absorbs all of it
    • turns it into sound

  3. Question 3

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

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

  4. Question 4

    Which light source gives off light but very little heat?

    🟢
    • the Sun
    • a campfire
    • a candle
    • a glow stick

  5. Question 5

    Why can we see the Moon?

    🌙
    • it is on fire
    • it glows in the dark by itself
    • it reflects light from the Sun
    • it makes its own light

  6. Question 6

    Too many outdoor lights at night can confuse…

    🐦
    • worms
    • polar bears
    • migrating birds
    • fish in deep oceans

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