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5th grade · Science · Unit 6 of 15

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 5.8(C) · light traveling in straight lines and being reflected, refracted or absorbed

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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 6 of 15 in 5th grade Science, after Forms of Energy and before Weather and the Water Cycle.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    Which light source gives off light but very little heat?

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

  2. Question 2

    Light travels…

    ➡️
    • only around corners
    • in a straight path
    • only in curves
    • in zigzags only

  3. Question 3

    Which of these is an artificial source of light?

    🔦
    • a firefly
    • the Sun
    • a flashlight
    • lightning

  4. Question 4

    Which of these is a natural source of light?

    ⚡
    • a TV
    • a flashlight
    • lightning
    • a lamp

  5. Question 5

    Too many outdoor lights at night can confuse…

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

  6. Question 6

    Which surface reflected the most light?

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

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