Will light shine through?

Students begin to explore what materials allow light to show through and which do not allow light to pass through. Some students expressed, "Light won't show through dark colors" and "It is to thick, light will not go through."Others believed, "If we hold these two pieces together, we can see orange!" and "We need a bigger light, then it will work!"

"Ryli! Can you see the light on the other side?" Valentino and Ryli explore light travel with a plastic red plate. They decided that light does travel through but it changed to a different color. 

Michael and Kyle noticed that some papers are so thin and clear that the light traveled as far as the wall. They agreed that the light did not change and that their prediction was correct. 

"I made an orange circle!" Theo put two colored pieces of plastic paper together to create another familiar color with his flashlight. He saw that the light was showing but it had changed colors. 

Valentino noticed that no light came through when he used the styrofoam piece to investigate light travel. He was surprised by this discovery!

Hmm...Who could be exploring the dark space? I spy a red finger light and two flashlights...

Madyson and Justin are reading stories together and noticing how different size flashlights allow them to see in the dark. They wondered if we could see their lights shining in the classroom. During our group discussion students concluded that the black sheets kept the light inside and we could not see light through them. They added that the dark space resembled a "dark cave" or "cage" that animals could live in. 

The Water class will continue to experiment and investigate the mystery of light and dark. Recently we have distinguished between large vocabulary words including, "opague, translucent, and transparent." Finding things around the house or outside and investigating through a light source are ways to continue our studies at home.