Engage: Students identify energy around them.

Kindergarten students may have varied experiences with and knowledge of energy. Many may have been told they have energy but will have no understanding of what energy means scientifically. This portion of the lesson will be a discussion to help students understand that energy is all around them and exists in many forms.

For purposes of this lesson, the following definitions for heat, light, and sound energy will be used.

• Heat energy: An object that gets warmer or colder has heat energy. Some examples of objects with heat energy include the Sun, people, and an oven that is baking cookies.
• Light energy: An object that lights up or shows light has light energy. Some examples of objects with light energy include the Sun, a flashlight, and a lamp.
• Sound energy: An object that makes a noise has sound energy because it is vibrating. Some examples of objects with sound energy include musical instruments, timing devices, and a basketball bouncing on a court.

Directions:

Ask students the following questions:

• Do you have energy?
• Is energy around you?
• How do you know?

Ask students to complete the sentence: Energy helps me ______.

Create an organizational chart like the one shown below.

• Ask the following: What other things have energy?
• Write “Heat” under the first line.
• Say the following: Heat is a form of energy.
• Ask the following: What things have heat energy?
• Record student responses.
• Write “Light” under the middle line.
• Say the following: Light is a form of energy.
• Ask the following: What things have light energy?
• Record student responses.
• Write “Sound” under the last line.
• Say the following: Sound is a form of energy.
• Ask the following: What are some things that have sound energy?
• Record student responses.

Facilitation Questions:

How do you know something has heat energy?

How do you know something has light energy?

How do you know something has sound energy?

Watch the video below for an overview of the activity.

Explore: Students use their senses to explore heat, light, and sound energy.

Activity 1: Sound Energy

Follow the Teacher Instructions to facilitate Activity 1. Watch the video below for an overview of this activity.

Facilitation Questions:

Which sense(s) did you use to match the materials in the eggs to the materials in the ice cube tray?

How did you decide what was in each egg?

What did you hear?

What form of energy did you observe?

How were the sounds different?

How many of the sounds did you guess correctly?

Which eggs did you match incorrectly? Why do you think that happened?

Activity 2: Light Energy

Follow the Teacher Instructions to facilitate Activity 2. Watch the video below for an overview of this activity.

Facilitation Questions:

What do you observe when the flashlight is held above the figure? Below? Behind? In front of? Beside?

What do you observe when you shine the flashlight through a color paddle?

What colors did you create by overlapping the paddles?

What do you observe when a color paddle is placed between the flashlight and the figure?

What sense did you use to make observations?

What form of energy did you observe?

Activity 3: Heat Energy

Follow the Teacher Instructions to facilitate Activity 3. Watch the video below for an overview of this activity.

Instruct students to use the animation to show the sequence of the crayons melting.

Facilitation Questions:

What caused the crayons to change?

Did the colors mix as the crayons melted? If so, what new colors could you make?

What sense(s) did you use to make observations?

What form of energy did you observe?

What other ways could we melt the crayons?

Explain: Students explain the different forms of energy.

Activity:

Read and discuss Energy Mysteries.

Facilitation Questions:

Where is energy?

What melted the ice cream?

What melted the candles?

Which sense is used to observe heat energy?

What lit the dark room?

What other forms of light energy could light a dark room?

Which sense is used to observe light energy?

What changed the popcorn kernels into popcorn?

What helped me hear the popcorn popping?

Which sense is used to observe sound energy?

What are three forms of energy?

Where else have you found or felt heat energy?

Where else have you found or seen light energy?

Where else have you found or heard sound energy?

What examples of different forms of energy could we add to the anchor chart from Engage?

Which form of energy do you think is most important?

Is there a form of energy you could live without?

Elaborate: Students use their senses to identify different forms of energy.

Activity:

Instruct students to use the animation to identify the form(s) of energy represented in each picture.

Facilitation Questions:

Which senses do you use to make observations of the ________?

What form of energy do you observe?

What clues and observations help you identify the energy in the picture of the ________?

What other heat energy examples can you identify?

What other light energy examples can you identify?

What other sound energy examples can you identify?

Evaluate: Students illustrate different forms of energy.

Students will be asked to draw a picture of heat, light, and sound energy. Some students may draw three separate pictures such as the Sun (heat), a lamp (light), and a drum (sound). Other students may draw one picture, such as an oven, that includes all three energy sources.

Directions:

• Instruct each student to draw a picture or pictures of heat, light, and sound energy.
• Ask each student to help you identify and label their pictures.
• Ask each student the following: Which senses would you use to make the observations of the energy source(s)?

The activities in this resource are also featured in the full-length professional development course, Science Academies for Grades K-4. This course is designed to demonstrate the application of the 5E instructional model in a K-4 classroom. Throughout the course, connections will be made to the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS), the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS), and Response to Intervention (RtI) in order to strengthen participants’ knowledge of these frameworks within the discipline of science. This course is managed by Region 4 (101-950): Texas Education Service Center. CPE credit is 18.

To join the Science Academies for Grades K-4 course, click on the button below.