Light Detectives: Sources, Blockers and Shadows
🎯 Today's mission briefing
We are learning that some things make their own light, and that a shadow appears wherever something blocks the light.
You'll know you've got it when:
- I can sort things into 'makes its own light' and 'only borrows light'
- I can explain that a shadow is made where an object blocks the light
- I can test everyday materials and say which ones block light, let light through, or do a bit of both
- I can make my shadow grow bigger and smaller on purpose, and say how I did it
The dark cupboard test
Connects to what your guest already knows and makes them curious. Activating prior knowledge is one of the strongest predictors of new learning.
Helper, read aloud: Here's a question that sounds easy and isn't. Take your favourite red toy into the darkest place in the house — a cupboard, the bathroom with the door shut, under a blanket. Close it all up. Now: is your toy still red? Can you see it? ... You can't see ANYTHING, can you? So where did the red go? Did the toy stop being red in there — or did something else go missing? Come back into the light and tell me what you think. (Hold that thought. It's the biggest idea in today's lesson and you're about to crack it.)