LASSI 2015 Annette Mason
4275 Lesson Plan Outline Expectations
Lesson Title: Rainbow Reaction
Amount of time for this lesson = ___45-60__ minutes
1. Standards and Safety and Materials:
A. Standards - 1-PS4-3 Plan and conduct an investigation to determine the effect of placing objects made of different
materials in the path of a beam of light.
B. Safety Concerns: minimal safety concerns with regular class activity
C. Materials : prisms, clear drinking glasses, glass pie pan, water, spray bottle, overhead project, light source (sun and lamp),
mirrors, CDs, crayons or colored pencils, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, recording sheet, ROY G BIV acrostic sheet
2. Objectives:
A. Students will identify and represent the colors of the spectrum of light in the correct order.
B. Students will conduct a series of experiments to create the light spectrum.
C. Students will create an acrostic poem using ROY G BIV to solidify the order of the spectrum.
3. Connections, Misconceptions, and Crosscutting Concepts:
A. Real world connections: Astronomy, telescopes, photography, rainbows
B. Student connections: rainbows, colors
C. Misconceptions: the forming of rainbows and the spectrum of colors
D. Crosscutting Concepts: patterns, descriptive writing
E. Academic Language: spectrum, refracted, experiment, evidence
4. Catch/Engagement: Read the passage from James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl when the peach encounters the rainbow and
cloudmen. Ask the children if that is how they think rainbows are formed? Have children share preconceptions. What colors are in a
rainbow? What order are the colors in? Is it always the same?
5. Pre-test: 1. What do you need to form a rainbow? 2. What is the order of the spectrum of light?
6. Activity/Exploration:
Part1: Darken the room and turn on the light source.What color is the light? Show the students the prism and have them predict
what will happen when we shine the light on it. Shine the light and then have the students record the colors they see. Discuss the
spectrum of colors found in light with the ROY G BIV.
Part 2: Experiment with using the overhead putting a little water in the glass pie pan while making observations. Try putting a few
drops of water on the overhead while making observations. Try use CDs to see the spectrum while making observations. Put mirrors
in a glass with water using sunlight and observe the light reflecting in the water. Using the spray bottle spray water into the sunlight.
Each drop acts as a prism. Connect this to the formation of rainbows in nature. This can be organized as stations.
Part 3: Review the colors of the spectrum of light with ROY G BIV. Have the kids use ROY G BIV to create an acrostic poem.
(i.e. Red is a juicy red strawberry, etc)
7. Review/Essential Questions/Explanation:
A. Low Level – What are the colors of the spectrum using ROY G BIV?
B. Middle Level- What can you use to create a rainbow or the spectrum of light?
C. High Level- What other things could be used to create a rainbow or extend this experiment?
8. Assessment: Same as pretest
9. Timeline: a) Catch 10 min. b) Pre-test 5 min c) Activity 30 min d) Review and Post-test 10 min
10. Enrichment/Elaboration: Try to see what other objects can reflect the spectrum of light. What would make double rainbows in
nature? Make rainbows with a variety of mediums.
11. IEP Accommodations/Differentiation/Diversity: What accommodations will you use to support struggling learners?
- extra time for completion
- limit materials/experiments
-oral/dictated tests or poems