Seeing the light in Year 1

Seeing the light in Year 1 When beginning a new topic we focus on the ‘knowledge’ element of the International Primary Curriculum. Doing a ‘knowledge harvest’ means that we can respond to children’s ideas and misconceptions accurately. By finding out what children already know, we can identify next steps. The ‘Entry Point’ is always an engaging and memorable kinesthetic experience in which children are immersed in a new topic.

When beginning a new topic we focus on the ‘knowledge’ element of the International Primary Curriculum. Doing a ‘knowledge harvest’ means that we can respond to children’s ideas and misconceptions accurately. By finding out what children already know, we can identify their next steps. The ‘Entry Point’ is always an engaging and memorable kinesthetic experience in which children are immersed in a new topic.

Year 1 had an amazing start to their topic 'Seeing the Light'. They began by thinking about what they already knew about light and light sources. There were some great discussions about the moon, mirrors and shiny objects. After this, they gathered some objects together that they thought could be light sources and set out to investigate their ideas. In a darkened classroom, they tested each object. The children found it really interesting to discover that many of the sparkly objects could not be seen without the presence of a torch and this led to a discussion about reflection. The children concluded that not everything that is shiny is a light source and were fascinated to find out that the moon is lit by the sun!

In the coming weeks, the children are looking forward to expanding their knowledge about light including looking into shadows and light sources.

Discover more:

• Building bird boxes in Year 1
• Year 3 IPC topic ‘Visual Representations’