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Module 4: We Love Our Energy

Module 4: Learn

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We Love
Our Energy

LEARN

Objective: to learn what energy is and the different ways Earth gives us energy to use

Vocabulary: energy

Reading: Earth Hour

Movement Activity: Make It Fly

Earth Friends Lesson

Module 4: Lesson 1

Begin Lesson

move: 7 minutes

Make It Fly

We are going to learn about what energy does. Some energy is stored. Some energy is working. We use working energy to makes things move and change and grow. Some people call it power. Do you remember our plants that need sunlight? The light from the sun is a form of energy. So is lightning and thunder.

Materials Needed: rubber band

Preparation: Position the children so that everyone is standing at least 4 feet from a wall.

First demonstrate how you can make a rubber band fly* toward the wall by pulling it back and letting it go. Then, taking turns, give each child a chance to pull back a rubber band and watch it fly.

What happens? If you stretch it far, does it fly far? I wonder what happens if you don't stretch it at all.

*This activity may turn rubber bands into weapons, so make sure to explain the purpose and that each child gets 1 turn. This gives the children a chance to respect taking turns and using objects safely and making good choices.

Curious Question

What is energy?

Allow each child to think about what energy is or share where they have heard the word.

Main Lesson

Energy makes things move and makes things change. You give the rubber band energy to fly. The food we eat gives us energy to move and grow and play. Earth gives us energy through the land, water, and air, and we use that energy in all kinds of ways in our lives.

sit & learn: 5 minutes

Earth’s Energies

This is a repeated activity that the children can do at the beginning of the lesson each week. This will help familiarize them with the different energy sources that Earth provides for us.

We get energy to make and move and change things from Earth through our land, water, air, and sun.

  • LAND: Stomp your feet. Feel the land. We can dig up or drill for fossil fuels, like coal and oil, that we find buried deep down underground and burn them to make energy from fossil fuels. We can also pump up very hot water or steam that we find deep underground to make what is called geothermal energy.

  • WATER: Can you move your body like a wave? Throw your hands up in the air like a big, tall wave. Now let your hands come down like a wave crashing. That's called hydropower energy and that comes from moving water. Water moves from up to down, like waves on the ocean or falling down a waterfall. There is a lot of water all over Earth that can give us energy.

  • AIR: Can you blow on your hand in front of you? Can you feel the air move on your fingers? The air is full of wind, and wind makes energy that we call wind power. Changes in Earth’s air temperature make wind.

  • SUN: Close your eyes. Can you see? The sun gives Earth a lot of light. We need light to see, and light also gives us energy. The sun is such a bright light that we can't look right at it, but it can light up our world and we can make that light into energy through solar power.

Closing Sentiment

Earth gives us energy, and we use Earth's energy to move things, make things, and power our things.

move & discover: 8 minutes

Use the photo book to show the children the different kinds of energy we get from land, water, air, and sunlight.

End Lesson

Teachers in the Classroom

Teacher Activity

Bending Water

Materials Needed: a plastic comb; flowing stream of water

FIRST: Turn on the tap or create the stream of water by pouring. Place the comb near the flowing water and watch the water. What is the water doing? Is it flowing in a straight or curved line?

NEXT: Rub the comb against your hair or have a child volunteer to rub the comb on their head.

NOW: Hold the comb in the same spot by the flowing water. Do you see the water bending? That is energy from the comb that turned into electricity.

Throughout the Week

Create: Using plain paper and crayons, have the children draw pictures of energy. This can be anything they consider energy, from lightning bolts to our bodies.

Explore: the ways Earth gives us energy. Go outside for an energy scavenger hunt to look for: sunlight, heat, water, and wind.

Reading: Earth Hour

Vocabulary: energy

Good Choices

  • I can learn what we use energy for.

  • I can eat healthy foods so my body has energy to move and grow and play.

  • I can look for different kinds of energy in nature, like lightning or thunder, sunlight, or waves.

Vocabulary:

energy: Energy makes things move, change, and grow.

Families at Home

Bonus: you can run up the hill and then run down the hill. What does the difference feel like? What happens if you roll?

Discuss: where the energy you use comes from. Plants get their energy from the sun. Humans and animals get our energy for our bodies from what we eat. What did you eat today? Humans get our energy for our things in different ways from Earth.

The land gives us fossil fuels, like coal and oil, for fossil fuel energy and hot water or steam for geothermal energy.

The sun gives us light for solar energy.

The air gives us wind for wind power energy.

The water gives us water for hydropower energy.

Visit: a big hill. Sometimes we need more energy, and sometimes we need less energy to make something move. Find a hill in your neighborhood and bring a ball. First, ask your child to roll the ball up the hill. What happens? Can you get it to the top? Then ask your child to roll the ball down the hill. What is the difference?