Energy Detectives Lesson Plans (K-5)
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Provided by: Energy Detectives|Published on: December 18, 2024
Lesson PlansScientist Reviewed
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Synopsis
- This collection of lessons is a companion for the book Energy Detectives, where students will explore how energy is wasted around the home, why this is a problem, and what can be done to solve it.
- This resource includes 3-8 lessons for each grade, in which students will have an interactive reading with the book, explore the warming effects of the sun, make observations about light, write opinion letters, host an eco-friendly science fair, create climate change art, explore thermal energy transfer, design energy-efficient homes, and plan a conservation project.
Subjects: Science, English Language Arts
Authors: Energy Detectives
Region: United States, Global
Languages: English
Teaching Materials
Positives
- The first and second grade lessons include an inspirational video featuring a young boy talking about how and why he created an eco group for his school, showing students they are not too young to make a difference.
- Each lesson is tailored to the grade level, without any repeating activities throughout the six grades, aside from reading the book.
- The second-grade lesson includes an activity that has students contribute to the word wall by each drawing a picture to go with a vocabulary word. This is a great way to give students ownership of the word wall and can be replicated with other vocabulary throughout the year.
Prerequisites
- To get free books for their students, teachers will have to fill out a brief form. Teachers can also use the e-book instead.
- The books are available in English and Spanish.
- The resource recommends teachers create a Canva account to edit the Canva templates included, but there are no Canva templates for grades K and 1.
- Some of the videos won't play in the slide presentations but can be played on YouTube.
- In Lesson 2 for 4th grade, the pdf for the Newsela article includes the answer key. Teachers should remove this before giving it to students.
- In Lesson 6 for 4th grade, the think-pair-share link is broken.
- Lessons 1-4 are the same in the 4th and 5th grade units.
- In the Sustainable Fashion research links in Lesson 6 for 5th grade, the Fact Sheet link is broken.
Differentiation & Implementation
- After reading the story, kindergarten students can create posters with drawings that show them saving energy around the house and school.
- Using parent chaperones for the Energy Detectives Scavenger Hunt is a great way to involve parents in understanding energy as well.
- Kindergarten and first grade students can practice with the sentence stem "I save energy by ____." Alternatively, third, fourth, and fifth grade students can write a sentence or paragraph to detail their observations and how they will save more energy.
- In Lesson 2 for 4th grade, students may benefit from a document with the links for their independent learning options.
This resource is a series of lessons and activities based on the Energy Detectives picture book. The book itself focuses on identifying energy waste, while the lessons clearly show the link between energy use and climate change. The lessons are thoughtfully organized, with all key terms clearly defined and numerous external sources. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
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