Investigations With Light
Part Two
"In the right light,
at the right time,
everything is extraordinary."
Aaron Rose
The classroom environment was alive with the children's ideas and interest in investigating light. As we responded to their work over several weeks we saw their thinking grow and their knowledge of light beam bright with new questions and discoveries. I am excited to share with you the second half of our light inquiry in this blog post. I hope you enjoy seeing our ideas illuminated!!!!!
Can You See Through It?
This invitation was created after seeing the children's initial work with the flashlights and the coloured bottles which I shared in the previous post. We wanted to extend their thinking and provide for them more time and materials to investigate with.
In response to one of the children's question, we investigated the property of transparent and opaque. During inquiry work the children investigated with flashlights and the loose parts tray. We documented their work and then we brought everyone together to share their ideas.
The child began by presenting his question to the class. Then he shared how he used the flashlight to shine light through the bottle. He said, "That the light shines through on things like the sun because the light shines in the bottle and comes out the other side because the water is in there."
The following photos show the rest of the children's investigations using the flashlights and materials to investigate translucent, transparent and opaque objects.
Creating With Light
In the art studio a space to create with the loose parts tray was created. We added candles to support the children's interest in light. The materials offered in the tray also reflected a variety of attributes each specifically chosen for their potential to interact with the light. One of the children worked quietly for several days creating transient art with the materials from the tray. Her designs reflected in the mirror and she carefully observed her actions as she worked. She made her thinking visible through her creations. We can see that she explored patterning, reflection and light. What can you see by looking closely?
Where Does Light Come From?
The children gathered for inquiry circle to discuss their previous knowledge of light. We asked, "Where does light come from?" We then documented their responses as follows:
"It come from the trees and leaves."
"From God. It comes from the sun and the rainbow and rain."
"It comes from the sun and candles."
"It comes from light bulbs and then you can see while you eat."
"From my house when I eat. I have light bulbs."
"You get light from birthday cakes on the top of the candles."
"Inside the roof there is light. It is coming from somewhere inside the roof. It goes inside the house. It lights up when you turn the switch on."
"From a fire pit."
"From sun, my grandma told me because there is sunshine."
"Light comes from the sun and the rainbow."
The children demonstrated a good understanding of where they had seen light in their experiences. We would now take this information and extend their thinking with new opportunities to explore the properties of light. One of the children concluded our discussion with a question: "How does the sun glow?"
Flashlight
by Lizi Boyd
We shared with the children the text, "Flashlight." This wordless picture book by Lizi Boyd was an opportunity to explore a literacy connection to our investigations. The children enjoyed reading this text by flashlight too. We turned off the classroom lights and told the story using the flashlight to highlight parts of the beautiful illustrations as we spoke.
One of the children documented her work with the flashlight and wooden blocks over several days.
What makes things glow?
The children showed us repeatedly either in their play investigations or by their questions recorded for the question box that they were interested in why things glowed. During an inquiry circle I asked them to share their thoughts about this question. Then I shared the non-fiction text, "All About Light" with this group. This was a wonderful read-aloud to conclude our discussion.
Lighting Up The Moon
One of the children began his sharing bag presentation by showing the children his cut out representation of the moon. Then he used a flashlight to demonstrate how the moon glows. He said, "The moon lights up at night." The children were very interested in his presentation. They asked, "How does the moon light up?" We suggested they write their questions down for the question box. Soon there were several children recording their questions in the writing centre. Miss Virban assisted them in recording their questions and I continued the discussion about the moon with the rest of the children.
The Children's Questions
"How does the sun light up?"
"How does the light glow up?"
"How does a light bulb light up?"
"How does the moon and sun light up through the windows?"
"How does the stars light up?"
"How does the sun light up?"
"How does the light glow in the moon?"
Creating A Place To Wonder
These invitations to investigate and wonder were created as a response to the children's questions about light and their curiosity about how light glows. There were two interests about light with the children. One focused on the sun and moon in the natural world and the other came from their work with the flashlights. This provided a good opportunity to discuss both types of light natural and artificial. We provided the children with a glow in the dark sensory bin and placed prisms, flashlights and several texts about light within the spaces.
The Light Cave
The children began to call the space with the blacklight, "The light cave." Two of the children decided to make a sign for the front of the inquiry table. They taped their signs to the front of the table. The children continued their explorations and I added a tray of light bulbs, clipboards and coloured pencils to the space to support them in recording their observations.
In the light cave the children created transient art using the glow-in-the-dark loose parts tray. They also discovered that some of their clothing and shoes glowed under the light. They enjoyed working in this space and wondered how the materials were glowing.
I painted this peg family with glow in the dark paint from Walmart. Adding them to the loose parts tray resulted in lots of storytelling as the children used them in their imaginary play scenarios.
Look how we glow in the dark under the black light!
Here is a video of one of the children creating with the
loose parts in the light cave under the black light.
loose parts in the light cave under the black light.
"There Is Light!"
We looked at the text, "All About Light" again. Now that the children had some time with the new materials at our inquiry table we wanted to see if their thinking had been extended.
We provided an opportunity for the children to take a closer look at the various types of light bulbs to support their interest in how light glows.
They shared her initial observations readily, " There is a kind of really little cord. When the switch goes on it glows up you can see where you are going. There is a kind of "V" in this. When the "V" goes straight the light goes on." The children recorded their observations using the coloured pencils and paper.
One of the children shared, "There is a switch. When you press the switch the cord goes on and the light glows up." She looked closely at the light bulb and noticed, "There are strings inside of this." She carefully drew what she saw inside of the light bulb.
One of the children observed the light bulb intently. He drew what he noticed about the light bulb. He recorded the numbers on the top of the light bulb. We then talked about what these numbers might represent.
"Hey, there is metal in here. Metal on the sides and a spring at the top because light bulbs need electricity."
"There is light. The light comes from the cord."
The children recorded her observations creatively.
The children visited the inquiry table several times over the course of a week. They would use the magnifying lens to look at the light bulbs. Next, they explored the text, "All About Light."
I had brought my son's snap circuit set to school for the children to explore at the inquiry table. After allowing them some time to play with the snap circuits I asked him if he would share how he creates with this wonderful toy. The children listened as he shared his experiences with creating circuits. We purchased this set at our local Mastermind store and I highly recommend it if you have a child who is interested in circuits.
Puddles of Sunlight
After sharing the book, "Oscar and the Moth" the children shared their ideas through a discussion. One of the children shared, "The sun is making a shadow on the carpet." All of the children took notice of this and began exploring the patch of sunlight. They began to search the room for patches of sunlight that were coming through the slats in the blinds.
What Makes It Glow?
The following day I shared the book, "Oscar and the Moth" with the other group of children. Their discussion focused around a variety of questions. I recorded their questions so we could plan extension activities based on their current understanding and wonderings about light.
'How does the light glow?'
'How does fish glow with their lights in them?'
'How does the moths glow up at night?'
'How does the earth glow at night time when it spins around?'
'How does the light make cats glow from my shirt?'
'That New York shirt glows. I don't know how it glows?'
'How does my pants glow in the light cave?'
'How does my sweater glow in the cave?'
An invitation to sort a variety of objects into two categories under the black light was created. The children labelled the two bowls: glow and no glow. Then they observerd which ones glowed under the black light and placed them in the appropriate bowl. Then we discussed what these objects might have in common to make them all glow. To help the children understand how a black light works we watch the following You Tube video.
Drawing With Light
The children looked at several of Pablo Picasso's light drawings. We talking about how he held a light source and a photographer took his picture while he drew in the air with the flashlight. The children were amazed and we named the images in Picasso's drawings after looking at them using the projector. Then we created our own light drawings. We used the art storage room and began by hanging a white sheet to for a background. Then the children used flashlights to create an image with the light. I photographed them by changing the settings on my camera to slow down the shutter speed. The results were fantastic. The children were so excited to see their light drawings. They enthusiastically drew with the light several times. It was fascinating to capture the movement of light. I created a short video of their work which I shared with them during an inquiry circle.
Rainbow Lights
During play block I set out an invitation to work with LED rope lighting, mirrors and rainbow blocks on a white sheet that I had placed on the ground.
Several of the children began by wrapping themselves in the lights.
This child discovered that shadows are not always black.
A child used the mirrors to investigate the reflection of the rainbow blocks and the rope lighting.
Building Light City
There were several students who began a project that lasted for two weeks using the materials in this invitation. They began by building with the rainbow blocks around the stretched-out rope lighting. Their design used the rope lighting as its base. Then they added Lego construction to their work. When they finished building their play turned to imaginary role-play as they explored their ideas around how the police capture bad guys. This play continued and grew each day. We left their work displayed on the carpet honoring their ideas.
This group redesigned their Light City after the first week. Here is their second design.
I leave you with this final image created on the light panel. When I came in one morning the sunshine was bathing these lovelies in coloured light. For us, this was a wonderful discovery as it showed how the children's ideas really did become illuminated by light!!!
"You are a child of
divine love and
Light.
Get out there and
Shine!"
Trudy Vesotsky
