This 4th grade science sheet covers the parts of a simple circuit in the Electricity and Circuits unit. Page 1 shows a closed circuit with a battery marked with plus and minus signs, a switch, a bulb and a loop of wire, with four numbered pointer lines and a four-word bank. Page 2 asks students to match each part to its job and to say what happens when a wire comes loose. Page 3 is the answer key.
“Name the battery, wire, switch and bulb in a simple circuit and say what each one does.”
Label the Circuit covers the names and What Does Each Part Do? covers the four jobs.
“Explain that a gap in the path stops the electric current.”
Question 5 on page 2 asks what happens when the wire comes loose.
Students write battery, wire, switch or bulb beside four numbered lines on a drawn circuit. The word bank holds exactly those four words, and the bulb in the drawing is lit.
A table lists four jobs: gives the energy, carries the electricity, opens and closes the path, and changes electricity into light. Students write the matching part name beside each job.
One written question asks what would happen if the wire came loose. Four lines leave room for a reason.
Names for all four pointers, the finished job table, and a model answer saying the bulb would stop shining because a gap opens in the loop.
Before real batteries
Do this sheet before students handle batteries and bulbs. The four part names are then familiar when the equipment comes out.
Switch talk
Point at the switch on page 1 and ask students when the bulb would go out. Question 5 on page 2 comes much more easily after that.
Exit slip
Use page 2 alone as an exit slip. The job table shows in a couple of minutes who still mixes up the wire and the switch.
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