Here you will find all of the work we have done on our unit covering Light and Sound.  I will try to include a brief explanation of the lesson, as well as any worksheets we have used.
 

Lesson 1

Introduction

 

 

 

 We started our new unit by looking at two pictures. In those pictures there were a variety of things going on, each of which showed us a source of light or sound. After looking at the pictures for a while, we recorded as many of these sources as we could find.  We then discussed with our neighbour, and added some of their thoughts to our paper. We saved the other side of our recording sheet to use as our unit title page.

Light Picture           Sound Picture          Worksheet

 

Lesson 2

Properties of Light

 

 

 

 Today's class was used to introduce us to the properties of light.  We were read a definition for light (that made no sense to us!)  So, we had to look more closely at it, and get it into grade 4 language.  We learned that light is a type of energy we can see, and that light has distinct properties.  We read about those properties, and then answered questions pertaining to each one.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 3

Properties of Sound

 

 

 Similar to light, we needed to get a good introduction to sound.  We followed a similar procedure, coming to the conclusion that sound is vibrations our ear can hear.  We also answered questions to help us to start building our understanding of the properties of sound.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 4

Light Travels in a Straight Line

 

 

 

 With a basic understanding of how light and sound work, it was time to start experimenting.  Today we looked at one of the properties of light:  Light travels in a straight line.  Our experiment involved shining light through a series of pieces of paper with holes in them.  When the holes were aligned, a ray of light (a single beam of light), made its way through to the last paper.  When the cards were not aligned, then no light made it to the final paper.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 5

What is Sound

 

 

 Today we did our first experiment with sound.  The experiment was an activity that allowed us to play with tuning forks to see how sound travels and can create movement in objects.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 6

Reflecting Light

 

 

 

 Our next light experiment focused on the property of light stating that light can be reflected.  We looked at a variety of different surfaces to determine just how well light can be reflected.  We discovered that light reflects best off of a shiny or light surface, where as it does not reflect well off of a dark surface.  We also learned that a smooth surface makes a more clear reflection.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 7

Vibration

 

 

 

 Today we were back to sound.  We looked more closely at the vibrations that make sound happen.  Using our vocal cords as an example, we took the time to feel the vibrations as sounds were made.  We used the questions on our worksheet to spark discussions about just how the vibrations that cause sound make the air around the object move outward towards our ear, and that is how we hear things.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 8

Work Period

 

 For today's lesson all the materials from our experiments were brought back to class.  We were to use our time to complete any work that was not complete.  If we were done all of it, we were allowed to experiment further with any of the activities we had done.

 

Lesson 9

Discussion Period

 

 We used today's lesson to discuss the questions from our worksheets to date.  We focused on the key concepts (the properties of light and sound), and used some visuals to help explain these points.

 

Lesson 10

Refraction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We started today by discussing a question we had looked at previously.  This was the one about a spear fisher who throws his spear in front of a fish to catch it.  We talked about light bending when it enters the water, and expanded this to learn that light bends when ever it changes from one medium (substance) to another - this is called "refraction".  We looked at a diagram to show how humans take advantage of this, specifically using glass, to make lenses.  Our experiment today was to build a lens to look at some objects using only water and plastic wrap.

Worksheet               Answers

At the end of class today we were given a note indicating that we will be writing a quiz in about one week's time.  The note indicated that we are to be familiar with the properties of light and sound.

Quiz Note

 

Lesson 11

Echoes

 

 

 

 Today's experiment was quite difficult.  Not that the concepts were overly hard, but we only had one set of supplies, and we need the room absolutely silent.  Today we were working on the reflection of sound, also known as an echo.  We used two cardboard tubes, a watch, and a cookie sheet to bounce the ticking noise into our ear.  We then switched the cookie sheet for a variety of other surfaces.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 12

Ears

 

 

 Our lesson today was about the human ear.  We read some information, answered some questions, and discussed what we were learning.  We were able to relate what we already knew (about sound travelling and vibrations), to how the sound is carried through our ear canal to our ear drum.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 13

Quiz

 

 We wrote our quiz on the properties of light and sound today.  When we were complete we used the time to finish up any incomplete work.

 

Lesson 14

Light Sources

 

 

 

 

 Some of us were not quite complete our quiz, so our quizzes were all handed back at the start of today's lesson.  When we had our best answers on the paper we traded our complete quiz for a worksheet dealing with light sources.  While others completed their quiz we taught ourselves that light that we see can either be from a light source, or can come from a reflection.  We also learned that light sources can be natural (would exist even without humans - fire, glow bugs, etc) or artificial (human involvement is necessary - light bulbs, fireworks, etc).  Each of these light sources could also come from a hot or a cool source.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 15

Reflectors

 

 For today's lesson click on the link below:

Online Information

 

Lesson 16

Work Period

 

 

 We have not had quite enough  time to finish up our work over the last two lessons, so today we used our period to try to get caught up on that work.  We started by reviewing the concepts of natural and artificial light, as well as light sources versus reflected light.  We then got to work on our incomplete sheets.

 

Lesson 17

Do Light and Heat Stick Together?

 

 

 

 We have been labelling things as hot light and cool light, so today we did an experiment to show the difference.  We had to do this experiment in pairs and share our information.  Each pair was given a thermometer and a light source.  The temperature of the light source was taken before it was turned on.  The thermometer remained in contact with the light source, and the temperature was recorded every minute for five minutes.  We compiled our data and graphed it to find that some lights get really hot in comparison to others.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 18

Prisms

 

 

 

 Our lesson today was to do with prisms and rainbows.  Will you ever find the pot of gold?  Not if you read our information page from today's lesson.  We learned that a rainbow is formed when white light bends as it passes through a prism (water in most cases.)  We also found out that rainbows are really circles!  After reading the information we took a prism and a light source and tried to make our own rainbows.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 19

Uses of Sound

 

 

 

 

 Today's class started with a review of sound - what is it, what are the properties, and how does it get to our ear?  We then were given some reading about "pitch" and "volume."  We read that these are two ways that sounds change, and we are able to use those changes to help us.  Following our reading, we worked as a class to answer our discussion questions.  We started by answering them alone, and when done found a partner to compare our answers.  Once we had discussed with the partner, and added their ideas to our answer, we both then found another pair and repeated the process.  in then end, we had input from everyone in the class.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 20

Uses of Light

 

 

 

 

 Our class today was very similar to yesterday's.  We started by reviewing light - what is it and what are the properties?  We then read some information about uses of light.  We did this in small groups, reading out loud to each other.  Once again, we started the questions by ourselves, and eventually had the input of all our peers.  At the end of class we played a game to help build our list of things that use light.  We all stood, and in order we called out something that involves light, trying not to repeat our classmates.  We cycled through the class several times.

Worksheet               Answers

 

Lesson 21

Making a Guitar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Today we started a task that would take us two periods, we made a guitar out of some common household items.  We were shown an example, and the supplies were laid out.  After talking about the procedure and the safety concerns with this project, we read through the procedure again on our own.  Once complete, we got to building.  After finishing up there were some discussion questions for us to look at.

Worksheet               Answers

We are nearing the end of our unit, so today a review sheet was sent home. As a class we read the questions for our test, and found that we knew most of the answers quite well.

Review

 

Lesson 23

The Affects of Light and Sound on the Environment

 

 

 

 For today's lesson we paired off and sat down with another pair to read a short bit of information.  We then separated and were given a role, from whose perspective we needed to consider the information we had just read.  After some time discussion with our partner, we re-joined the other pair to discuss (debate) the facts.  We repeated this two more times, switching information, roles and opposing pairs.  At the end of class we discussed the points together.

Information and Roles

 

Lesson 24

Review

 

 

 

 

 We used today's period to review for our test next class.  The test was used to make questions for a series of games to help us study.  The first game we played was a true/false game.  We were read a sentence and then had to move to a "T" sign, or a "F" sign.  We then had to explain why we went there.  For the next game we were put into small groups.  We were then given a question and had to write out the answer as quickly as possible. To follow that we stayed in our small groups to answer some discussion questions, this time it was not a speed round, but a detail round.  The questions were asked and we tried to write as much detail as possible.  Each of the questions we talked about in our group, was also discussed as a class.

Practise Questions

 

Lesson 25

Test

 

 Today we wrote out unit test on Light and Sound, proving how we have mastered these forms of energy.

 
   
This concludes our unit on Light and Sound.  Our next unit is Habitats and Communities.