4th grade classes
Ann Browning, Avis Chase, Stephanie Good, Suzanne Cook
Millcreek Elementary School

Organizers

How has light, heat and electricity impacted my life? Can I survive without them?

Academic Expectations and Demonstrators

-1.1 Students use reference tools such as dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedias, and computer reference programs and research tools such as interviews and surveys to find the information they need to meet specific demands, explore interests, or solve specific problems.

-Use research tools to access and synthesize information.

-Identify and use print and non-print (e.g., video, CD-ROM) resources to obtain information.

-1.11 Students write using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

-Use a process approach to writing.

-Use writing as a learning tool.

-Establish and use criteria for effective writing to evaluate own and others' writing.

-1.16 Students use computers and other kinds of technology to collect, organize, and communicate information and ideas.

-Use a variety of technologies in various ways.

-Use technology to display information in various ways.

-Gather and manipulate data using technology.

-Express information and ideas using technology.

-2.3 Students identify and analyze systems and the ways their components work together or affect each other.

-Identify components of a system.

-Distinguish between systems and subsystems and describe interactions between them.

-Create a system.

-5.2 Students use creative thinking skills to develop or invent novel, constructive ideas or products.

-Generate a variety of ideas and products.

-6.1 Students connect knowledge and experiences from different subject areas.

-Use the knowledge and experiences from one subject area to form an explanation and then extend that explanation by making connections with knowledge and experiences from another subject area.  

-1.2 Students make sense of the variety of materials they read.

-Demonstrate an understanding of print materials read in and out of school.

-Respond to reading through a variety of forms.

-Relate reading experiences to life situations.

-Select and use appropriate print materials for a variety of purposes.

-1.3 Students make sense of the various things they observe.

-Connect observations to prior knowledge / experiences.

-Observe for a specific purpose

-1.5 - 1.9 Students use mathematical ideas and procedures to communicate, reason, and solve problems.

-Communicate the meanings of number, space, change, data, and measurement using words, pictures, physical materials, and symbols.

-Listen to, read about, write about, and speak about mathematical ideas and procedures.

-1.13 Students make sense of ideas and communicate ideas with the visual arts.

-Use drawing, painting, print making, modelings, and constructing to communicate ideas and feelings.

-2.1 Students understand scientific ways of thinking and working and use those methods to solve real-life problems.

-Collect data by using a variety of observation techniques and measurement tools.

-Record and represent data in an organized form.

-Infer and formulate explanations or predict an outcome based on data.

-Identify variables that cause or influence an outcome.

-Design, conduct, and report an investigation or experiment.

-2.4 Students use the concept of scale and scientific models to explain the organization and functioning of living and nonliving things and predict other characteristics that might be observed.

-Investigate models to determine how things work.

-Represent a real event, object, or concept with a model.

-3.3 Students demonstrate the ability to be adaptable and flexible through appropriate tasks or projects.

-Identify changes in daily life.

-Analyze the effects of change on personal life.

-Plan alternative responses to various situations.

-3.4 Students demonstrate the ability to be resourceful and creative.

-Attempt new tasks or challenges with confidence.

-5.1 Students use critical thinking skills such as analyzing, prioritizing, categorizing, evaluating, and comparing to solve a variety of problems in real-life situations.

-Examine cause-and-effect relationships.

-6.2 Students use what they already know to acquire new knowledge, develop new skills, or interpret new experiences.

-Connect knowledge with past experiences.

-Make predictions based on information.  

-6.3 Students expand their understanding of existing knowledge by making connections with new knowledge, skills, and experiences.

-Develop generalizations based on data regarding relationships among objects, ideas, and actions.

Essential Questions

1. What are the components of an electrical circuit?
2. How does electricity produce light and heat?
3. How are heat and temperature different?
4. How can light be reflected, refracted and absorbed?

Culminating Performance

Create a brochure that demonstrates your knowledge about one of the following topics from our unit. The possible topics include:

• How to make an electrical circuit.
• How electricity produces light.
• How electricity produces heat.
• Research a famous inventor/contributor to our understanding of light, heat, and electricity.
• How to conserve energy.
• Safety tips on electricity

Consider your audience and your purpose as you create this brochure. It should include what you have learned in both written and visual format.

Knowledge

-WR-E-1 Purpose/Audience--The writer establishes and maintains a focused purpose to communicate with an audience by: narrowing the topic to establish a focus; analyzing and addressing the needs of the intended audience; adhering to the characteristics of the form; employing a suitable tone; allowing voice to emerge when appropriate

-WR-E-1 Idea Development--The writer develops and supports main ideas and deepens the audience's understanding by using: logical, justified, and suitable explanation; relevant elaboration; related connections and reflections; idea development strategies appropriate for the form

-WR-E-1 Organization--The writer creates unity and coherence to accomplish the focused purpose by: engaging the audience and establishing a context for reading; placing ideas and support in a meaningful order; guiding the reader through the piece with transitions and transitional elements; providing effective closure

-WR-E-1 Sentences--The writer creates effective sentences that are: varied in structure and length; complete and correct

-WR-E-1 Language--The writer demonstrates: effective word choice (strong verbs and nouns, concrete and/or sensory details, language appropriate to the content, purpose, and intended audience); concise use of language; correct usage/grammar

-WR-E-1 Correctness--The writer demonstrates: correct spelling; correct punctuation; correct capitalization; appropriate documentation (e.g., citing authors or titles within the text, listing sources) of ideas and information from outside sources

-WR-E-1.4 Characteristics of transactive writing may include text and language features of the selected form

-WR-E-1.4 Characteristics of transactive writing may include information to engage/orient the reader to clarify and justify purposes

-WR-E-1.4 Characteristics of transactive writing may include ideas to communicate the specific purpose for an intended audience

-WR-E-1.4 Characteristics of transactive writing may include explanation and support to help the reader understand the author's purpose

-WR-E-1.4 Characteristics of transactive writing may include well-organized idea development and support (e.g., facts, examples, reasons, comparisons, anecdotes, descriptive detail, charts, diagrams, photos/pictures) to accomplish a specific purpose

-WR-E-1.4 Characteristics of transactive writing may include effective conclusions

-SC-E-1.1.1 Objects have many observable properties such as size, mass, shape, color, temperature, magnetism, and the ability to react with other substances. Some properties can be measured using tools such as metric rulers, balances, and thermometers.

-SC-E-1.1.3 Materials can exist in different states--solid, liquid, and gas. Some common materials, such as water, can be changed from one state to another by heating or cooling.

-SC-E-1.3.1 Light travels in a straight line until it strikes an object. Light can be reflected by a shiny object (e.g., mirror, spoon), refracted by a lens (e.g., magnifying glass, eyeglasses), or absorbed by an object (e.g., dark surface).

-SC-E-1.3.2 Heat can be produced in many ways such as burning or rubbing. One way heat can move from one object to another is by conduction. Some materials absorb and conduct heat better than others. For example, metal objects conduct heat better than wooden objects.

-SC-E-1.3.3 Electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects. Electrical circuits require a complete conducting path through which an electrical current can pass.

-SC-E-2.2.1 The Sun provides the light and heat necessary to maintain the temperature of Earth. The Sun's light and heat are necessary to sustain life on Earth.

-SC-E-2.3.3 Changes in movement of objects in the sky have patterns that can be observed and described. The Sun appears to move across the sky in the same way every day, but the Sun's apparent path changes slowly over seasons. The moon moves across the sky on a daily basis much like the Sun. The observable shape of the moon changes from day to day in a cycle that lasts about a month.

---Students will ask simple scientific questions that can be investigated through observations combined with scientific information.

---Students will use simple equipment (e.g., magnifiers, magnets), tools (e.g., metric rulers, thermometers), skills (e.g., classifying, predicting), technology (e.g., electronic media, calculators, World Wide Web), and mathematics in scientific investigations.

---Students will use evidence (e.g., observations, data) from simple scientific investigations and scientific knowledge to develop reasonable explanations.

---Students will communicate (e.g., draw, graph, write) designs, procedures, observations, and results of scientific investigations.

---Students will distinguish between natural objects and objects made by humans and examine the interaction between science and technology. Technology (e.g., thermometer, hand lens) is used to study science, while science provides theories for technology. Science is used to design simple technological solutions to problems (e.g., use understanding of heat transfer in designing an insulated container for ice cubes).

---Students will examine the role science plays in everyday life.

-Vocabulary – see Fayette County Public Schools Competency Assurance document

T4.4.2 Access and navigate web sites

T6.4.5 Write portfolio pieces

T3.1 Use proper citations

T4.4 Locate information using the Internet

T5.2 Evaluate information using electronic references

T5.6 Enter and edit word processing information

T5.7 Enter and edit spreadsheet information

T5.7.2 Enter, manipulate and create visual representation of data

T6.1.1 Define an end product

T6.1.2 Develop a plan for the project

T6.5.1 Choose appropriate information for purpose and audience

Skills/Procedures

Critical Resources:

Instructional/Assessment Activities:

Lesson 1:

Lesson 2:

Lesson 3:

Lesson 4:

Lesson 5:

Lesson 6:

Lesson 7:

Lesson 8:

Lesson 9:

Lesson 10:

Lesson 11:

1. The opposite of an insulator is a __________.

a. resistor

b. circuit

c. battery

d. conductor

2. A circuit that has only one path for the current is called _________________.

a. an electrical current

b. a parallel circuit

c. a series circuit

d. an electric cell

3. How are a series circuit and a parallel circuit different?

a. In a series circuit, there can only be one bulb.

b. In a parallel circuit, there is more than one path for the current.

c. In a series circuit, there are a series of paths for the current to travel.

d. In a parallel circuit, there must be a bulb at either end.

4. A pathway for current is called:

a. a charge

b. a resistor

c. a circuit

d. a magnet

5. Which is an example of refraction?

a. Light hits a glass straight on and keeps on going straight.

b. Light hits a glass at an angle, bends, and changes direction.

c. A mirror reflects an object directly.

d. Light hits a wall.

6. Why do letters seen in a mirror appear to be reversed?

a. A mirror reflects your image straight back at you.

b. A mirror is very smooth.

c. A mirror reverses images from left to right.

d. The reflective light from a mirror is traveling in many different directions.

7. A bright yellow raincoat looks yellow because:

a. It absorbs yellow light and reflects all other colors.

b. It reflects a mix of blue and red light.

c. It absorbs blue light and reflects a mix of red and green light.

d. It refracts yellow light differently than other colors.

8. Light travels:

a. Through walls.

b. Around objects.

c. In straight lines.

d. In a curvy pattern.

9. Suppose you drop a penny into a shallow pool of water. You try to grab it but cannot seem to get your fingers in the right place. This happens because of:

a. Reflection

b. Absorption

c. Refraction

d. Light energy

10. Most light bulbs have a coating inside the glass that makes them look white. Light still passes through the coating, so it is:

a. Opaque

b. Transparent

c. Translucent

d. A prism

11. One effect of the burning of wood, coal, and oil is:

a. A release of thermal energy into the air.

b. An increase in the amount of oxygen added to the air.

c. A raising of the global temperature.

d. An increase in the amount of water vapor in the air.

12. Paula is doing a survey on the different ways that people heat their homes. Which question does not belong in her survey?

a. Do you have a fireplace?

b. What is your average gas bill per month?

c. How many lamps or lights have 100-watt bulbs?

d. If you have a wood burning stove, how often do you use it?

13. Temperature is:

a. a measure of how close or far two objects are from each other.

b. a measure of how hot or cold an object is.

c. a measure of how often an event occurs.

d. a measure of light.

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