k so they can bring their observations to the next art lesson.
***Color wheel adapted from Gene Baer, Paste, Pencils, Scissors &
Crayons. West Nyack, NY.: Parker Publishing Company, 1979.
Fourth Grade - Visual Arts - Lesson 2 - Light and Shadow
Investigate changes in shadows created by a shifting light source.
Observe differences between shadows out of doors and those inside the classroom.
Experiment with drawing shadows out of doors.
Text of "My Shadow" by Robert Louis Stevenson, printed below
Stake, branch, or stick (at least 2 ft) with sharp tip
Rock about 4" in diameter
Drawing paper, 1 for each child
Suggested Books Strongly Recommended to Supplement the Lesson
Goor, Ron & Nancy. Shadows: Here, There, and Everywhere. New York: Crowell, 1981.
Gore, Sheila. My Shadow. New York: Doubleday, 1989.
Both of these books have excellent photographs that will help the students to understand more about the observations they will have made about their shadows.
Note to Teacher
According to the Core Knowledge curriculum, the students study simple optics in Third Grade science. You may want to look at the Third Grade Scope and Sequence for January to see what material you can build upon in this art lesson.
In order for this lesson to be most effective, you will need to take the students outside on a day with sunshine, so you may need to save it for a time when those conditions are easily met.
Start the lesson by taking the class outdoors on a sunny day with the materials listed above. (It might be helpful if each student brought along a notebook as a hard surface for drawing out of doors.) Put the stake into the ground in a way that the sun casts a very clear shadow. Observe with the students exactly where the shadow falls, and have someone mark that place with the rock. (You may want to have the student write the exact time in chalk on the rock.)
Find a comfortable place for everyone to sit down, then read or recite the Stevenson poem to the class. Many of the students will have studied the poem in First Grade. Those who remember it may want to join you in reciting the poem:
I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
But what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.
The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India rubber ball,
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.
He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me.
One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
Had stayed at home beside me and was fast asleep in bed.
Robert Louis Stevenson
Brainstorm with the students about the things that are going on in the poem, stanza by stanza; then have the class report the results of their shadow watching. For example, from the image that Stevenson creates in the first stanza, you might ask: Where do you think the source of light was if the child says "I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed."? Ask: Why did the child in Stevenson's poem say that his shadow had stayed in bed in the last stanza?
Encourage the students to talk about the reasons for shadows shortening and lengthening, and what they noticed about the differences between shadows outdoors and indoors. (It is possible that discernible shadows are produced in your classroom, for example, if you have fluorescent lighting.)
If you have been able to find either of the two Suggested Books above, this would be a good time to read and show them to the class. Be sure that the students have a clear idea of the way in which an opaque object (such as the stake you put in the ground or their bodies) out of doors blocks the rays of the sun. 