Page 18 - Microsoft Word - SCI KS2 Y3 Y4 gs.doc

Science Y3/Y4 – Weather – week 10

WEATHER – RAINBOWS

Truth to Teach (Source)

To look at the significance of rainbows in the Bible.

To appreciate that sunlight is a mixture of different colours of light which the rainbow shows as
separate.

To learn that a spectrum consists of seven colours.

To show how each drop of water acts like a prism to split the sunlight into seven colours.

To make a colour spinner to show the seven colours of a rainbow.

Way to Work (Means)

1. Review this half term’s lessons.

2. Read Genesis 9:9-17 and discuss the significance of the rainbow as a sign of God’s
covenant.

3. Establish how much the children already know about how a rainbow is formed.
(It is caused by the sun shining on raindrops. Each raindrop acts like a prism, splitting the
white sunlight into a spectrum of seven colours – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo
and violet.) Show the children a prism. The prism bends the seven colours in white light
by different amounts. We can only see these colours when light passes through a
transparent substance such as water or glass.

4. Blow some bubbles from a child’s container of bubbles. A spectrum can be seen in bubbles
of water. Let the children try this too.

5. Explain that Sir Isaac Newton was the first person to show that light could be split into
colours.

6. Show the children how to make a colour spinner with seven colours. Other children may
like to make one with three colours – red, green and blue. When this is spun we see white
light again.

7. Let the children complete their worksheet and make their spinners then gather back to
share their results and to reinforce the main teaching points of the lesson.

16