Due to yet another snow day, I was only at my field placement once this week, and no science lesson was taught during this time. However, during story time, my teacher read a story called “What Makes a Rainbow”, in which a color of the rainbow was introduced progressively as the pages turned. While it wasn’t exactly “scientifically-oriented”, this would have been a good opportunity to share with the classroom how rainbows are formed, and why. Because this is a first-grade classroom, it wouldn’t need to be an in-depth or detailed discussion, but the kids could have raised their hands to share a color in the rainbow prior to reading the story, as well as given thoughts as to when or how rainbows form. After reading the story, the teacher (or I) could talk about how rainbows are actually light reflections (and can be seen through glass and other things, not just in the sky) and that is why the colors are always in the same order. We could explain that light travels in waves, and when the sun comes out after a rainfall and the sunlight hits the rainwater, these waves bend the light, which allows us to see all the colors and for rainbows to form. The kids probably won’t understand a much more detailed explanation than this, but they would at least know that rainbows are formed from light (or more correctly, rainbows are light), which is something I assume nearly all of my students are currently unaware of.