Where Is Teddy?
It is night. Sam's room is dark. His teddy is on the table.
If Sam waits long enough, will he see Teddy?
Page 1
Science · Grade 1 Science
Chapter 1: Light and What We See
Light has to reach a thing before you can see it.
It is night. Sam's room is dark. His teddy is on the table.
If Sam waits long enough, will he see Teddy?
Make your guess to turn the page.
Still to come: 6 pages · Words to Know · What We Learned · 4 questions · Ask and Wonder
The idea this lesson is working on — Many children think the eyes do the seeing on their own, so in a dark room you only need to wait until your eyes get used to it. The book starts with Sam waiting and seeing nothing, and ends by naming why: with no light, nothing bounces off Teddy into his eyes. Ask: what changed when the lamp came on? Teddy did not move.
Your eyes do not send out light — Many people picture seeing like a flashlight shining out of the eyes. It works the other way: the eyes only catch light that arrives. That is why a flashlight helps and staring harder does not. Follow the path with your finger: lamp, then thing, then eye.
Where light comes from — A few things make light of their own: the Sun, a lamp, a flashlight, a fire. Everything else only passes light on. The Moon makes none at all; sunlight lands on it and bounces off to us, which is exactly what Teddy does.