ALEX Lesson Plan Resources

ALEX Lesson Plans  
Subject: English Language Arts (1), or Mathematics (1), or Science (1)
Title: Light and Sight – Why We Need Light to See
Description: In this lesson, students will investigate objects’ appearances in varying levels of light to help them construct an explanation that objects can only be seen when light is available to illuminate them. Students will discuss why objects look different in a dark room and graph their preferences for sleeping with a light on or off. Then, they will investigate how an object’s appearance changes in different lighting conditions in small group centers. Finally, they will model the moon’s path around the sun to see how light from the sun causes the moon’s appearance to change as it orbits Earth. At the conclusion of the lesson, students will use their experiences as evidence to explain that light is essential for sight. This lesson results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.


Subject: Digital Literacy and Computer Science (1), or English Language Arts (1)
Title: Getting to Know You
Description: The students will go on an in-school scavenger hunt to get to know the many kinds of people that make up an elementary school community. They will work in small groups and use digital cameras to take pictures of the workers they find. By completing the scavenger hunt, the students will gain a better understanding of how we are all dependent on one another in a small community.