Shadow Investigation

In Science we have been exploring shadows as a start to our new Science unit of work.  

Before we went down to the concrete oval to look at our shadows, we shared what we thought shadows were. Here are some of our ideas.

*  They are made when something blocks out the sun.
*  Shadows copy you.
*  Shadows  can be lots of different shapes and they are black.
*  Shadows can be different sizes.
*  A shadow is a like a reflection of something but it is all black.
*  We don't see shadows from the sun when it is night time or when it is raining.

After we wrote our ideas about what we thought a shadow was, we all went down to the concrete oval and drew our own shadows. We repeated this activity again this morning and we will go out again after lunch.

We have already observed some things about shadows. 

*  Shadows can be on different angles depending on the time of day.
*  Yesterday afternoon our shadows weren't the same length as they were this morning.
*  Yesterday afternoon a lot of the concrete oval was covered with the shadows from the trees near the car park, but today, those same shadows were only on the wall.  There was hardly any other shadows on the concrete oval.
*  Today the shadows looked darker because there were no clouds over the sun, whereas yesterday the sun kept getting blocked by some clouds.
* We noticed that the sun this morning was in a different position in the sky then yesterday afternoon.

When we go back outside later today around 12.00 we will be looking to see if the shadows made by our bodies are longer or shorter, how much of the oval the tree shadows will cover and where the sun is in the sky.

What does your shadow look like at different times of the day?

At what time of the day is your back yard covered in shadows?

What places do you see shadows?