Light and Shadow (Science)

#TheCompleteSeries7lessons

With detailed lesson plans, informative PDF slides, differentiated activity ideas, worksheets and much more, this Year 3 Light planning pack provides all you need to deliver these KS2 Science lessons, leaving you free to enjoy teaching this enlightening topic with your class.

Are you studying ancient Egypt with your class? Why not try out our 'Tombs, Torches and Timekeepers' scheme which themes these 'Light and Shadow' lessons around ancient Egypt! This scheme of work is also part of a Classic Cross-Curricular Topic.

#Lesson1LightSources

This Light Year 3 lesson plan explores what the difference between light and dark is and helps your children understand that we need light in order to see. It then goes on to explore different light sources and encourages your children to find as many different examples of light sources as they can.

This Light Sources Year 3 planning pack contains a detailed lesson plan, a PDF slideshow for the teaching input and a range of handy printable resources for the children's independent learning.

#Lesson2SunSafety

This lesson focuses on the need for us to protect ourselves in the sun and how we can do that. The children will look at the best ways we can protect their skin and eyes whilst outside in the sun, and conduct an experiment on how different SPFs or amounts of suncream can block UV light.

Alternatively, the children can spread advice on how others can protect themselves and stay safe in the sun by creating posters for your school.

This Year 3 Light planning pack contains a detailed lesson plan, a PDF slideshow for the teaching input and a range of handy printable resources for your children's independent learning.

#Lesson3TransparentTranslucentandOpaque

This Transparent, Translucent, Opaque KS2 Science lesson begins by challenging your Year 3 class to think about what shadows are and how they are formed, before going on to consider whether all objects cast shadows.

Your class can then investigate and identify objects which are transparent, translucent and opaque during their independent learning time.

This Year 3 Light and Shadow lesson pack comes completely ready to teach. There's a lesson plan, a PDF slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of handy printable teaching resources.

#Lesson4HowdoShadowsBehave

How do shadows change as the light source moves? How do shadows change as the light source gets nearer or further away? Your Year 3 class will have the chance to explore these questions for themselves in this lesson as they investigate how shadows behave.

The PDF slideshow for the whole-class input spends some time exploring how shadows fall in relation to the light source. During their independent learning time, they can then explore how shadows change by experimenting with torches and opaque objects.

This Year 3 Science planning pack comes with an easy-to-follow lesson plan, a PDF slideshow presentation, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable teaching resources.

#Lesson5HowdoShadowsChange

This Shadow Length Investigation lesson for KS2 gives your Year 3 class the opportunity to carry out a complete investigation to explore how shadows cast from the Sun change throughout the day, putting their knowledge and understanding of shadows to the test as they make predictions and draw conclusions from their results.

This Shadow Length Investigation planning pack comes completely ready for you to teach to your class. The download includes a lesson plan with differentiated activity ideas plus an alternative activity, a slideshow for the whole-class teaching input, and a range of printable teaching resources.

#Lesson6ReflectingLight

This Reflective Materials KS2 Science lesson for Year 3, the final lesson in this series, gets your class thinking about how they see objects that do not give out light. They will explore how light is reflected from different surfaces and recognise that some surfaces are more reflective than others. There is also the fun option of using mirrors to see if they can look round corners and spy friends they can't see!

An easy-to-follow lesson plan, a PDF slideshow for the whole-class input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable teaching resources are all included in the Reflective Materials lesson planning pack, meaning you can just download, teach and enjoy with your class.

#Lesson7UsingReflectiveSurfaces

In this Light Year 3 lesson plan, the children will think about how we use different reflective surfaces for different reasons, including keeping us safe and decorating.

The complete lesson pack includes instructions on how the children can create a basic kaleidoscope as well as a challenge to think of different uses for reflective surfaces. All the resources in this pack come as PDFs, including a lesson plan, differentiated activities and lesson input slides.

Free Overview (Medium-Term Plan)

Download a free overview to support your teaching of this scheme of work.

Free Assessment Grid

Download a free, editable assessment grid to support your teaching of this scheme of work.

Curriculum Objectives covered

• asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them
• setting up simple practical enquiries, comparative and fair tests
• making systematic and careful observations and, where appropriate, taking accurate measurements using standard units, using a range of equipment, including thermometers and data loggers
• gathering, recording, classifying and presenting data in a variety of ways to help in answering questions
• recording findings using simple scientific language, drawings, labelled diagrams, keys, bar charts, and tables
• reporting on findings from enquiries, including oral and written explanations, displays or presentations of results and conclusions
• using results to draw simple conclusions, make predictions for new values, suggest improvements and raise further questions
• using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings

• recognise that they need light in order to see things and that dark is the absence of light
• notice that light is reflected from surfaces
• recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes
• recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by a solid object
• find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change