Date: May 1994

Grade Level(s): Kindergarten, 1, 2, 3

Subject(s):

• Science

We often think of rainbows as magical. This makes the rainbow an exciting starting point for study of the spectrum. Think about the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. The colors of visible light will be seen in this enjoyable experiment.

PURPOSE:

To teach beginning grades to be aware of the fascination of astronomy and teach elementary scientific principles.

OBJECTIVES:

1. To have children observe a visible spectrum.
2. Light demonstrates existence of a spectrum.
3. Notice that light hits bubble and is reflected off the top and bottom of surfaces.
4. Reflected light separates into rainbow colors known as inference color.
5. Finally, as bubbles get thinner the colors become redder.

RESOURCES AND MATERIALS:

1. Five 1 gallon containers of water
2. Five cups liquid washing detergent
3. Light source- Sunlight or 1 or 2 light filament with sockets.

1. Take children outdoors on a sunny day and divide children into science groups.(5)
2. Use cooperative learning techniques and assign children their job.(record keeper, time keeper, materials, clean-up, etc.)
3. In pans gently mix water and detergent.
4. Have children use straws to blow large bubbles.
5. Observe bubbles while in sunlight and examine colors that appear on surface of bubbles.
6. Have children record colors of spectrum observed, draw pictures, then graph results.
7. Have each group report its observations and display results for all to see.

Encourage children to share their discoveries and results of their experiments with their classmates, families and friends. Use this lesson as a springboard to introduce a future unit on astronomy and space. Discuss the importance of color and how it plays an important role in our lives as we make many color decisions each day. Each of us have different color preferences and we make others aware of it by the colors we choose in our lives daily.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES:

Language - Look up spectrum in the dictionary and have children discover its meaning, syllables, part of speech. etc.

Creative writing - Have children make up their own Rainbow Legend and share it with classmates.

Art - Different colors of light and different colors of paint can be mixed: red, green and blue combine to form white light. Primary colors red, blue and yellow make black. Have kids experiment by mixing colors and then paint their spectrum.

Home activities - In afternoon or early morning have children use a hose with a sprayer to create a rainbow.

May 1994

These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center's Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops.