Powering Our Future: Energy

Students explore how energy is transferred and how it can be converted into different forms, and learn about renewable and nonrenewable energy while looking towards the world’s energy future.

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ELA

Unit 4

4th Grade

Unit Summary


In this science-based unit, students explore the world of energy. In the first half of the unit, students learn what energy is, the different ways that energy is transferred from place to place, and the ways energy can be converted from one type to another. In the second half of the unit students explore the pros and cons of different types of renewable and nonrenewable energy. After learning about the different types of energy, students will grapple with what the world’s energy future will look like if more renewable solutions aren’t found, particularly in their communities. Through a combination of reading and research, it is our hope that students begin to build a deeper understanding of energy and its influence on our lives.

This unit builds on to the informational reading skills and strategies developed in previous units. The focus of this unit is on refining students’ ability to use different strategies to comprehend denser scientific texts. In particular, students will continue working on identifying and explaining cause and effect and sequential relationships in texts.  Students will also notice how authors use a variety of evidence and reasons to support particular points and ideas in a text. When discussing the text, students continue to work on engaging with the thinking of others by building on, paraphrasing ideas in order to understand, and questioning and clarifying. At this point in the sequence, students should be able to write fluently in response to the daily Target Tasks to show understanding of the text. In this unit students return to working on writing strong opinion paragraphs, building on work done in previous units on topic sentences, supporting details, and strategies for elaboration. The unit ends by having students write an opinion piece trying to convince community leaders to use a particular source of energy. 

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Texts and Materials


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Core Materials

  • Book: Forms of Energy by Anna Claybourne (Raintree, 2016)   —  900L

Assessment


These assessments accompany this unit to help gauge student understanding of key unit content and skills.

Additional progress monitoring suggestions are included throughout the unit. Essential Tasks can be found in the following lessons:

Unit Prep


Intellectual Prep

Unit Launch

Prepare to teach this unit by immersing yourself in the texts, themes, and core standards. Unit Launches include a series of short videos, targeted readings, and opportunities for action planning.

Essential Questions

  • What is energy? What are the different forms of energy? 
  • What are nonrenewable energy resources? What are the pros and cons of using nonrenewable energy? 
  • What are renewable energy sources? What are the pros and cons of using renewable energy? 

Reading Focus Areas

  • To describe scientific concepts and ideas, readers need to be able to identify and describe sequential and cause-and-effect relationships.

  • Authors use a variety of evidence and reasons to support particular points and ideas in a text.

Writing Focus Areas

Opinion Writing

  • Write strong topic sentences that clearly state an opinion.

  • Provide reasons and evidence to support a particular opinion.

  • Elaborate on the reasons to show understanding of the text and topic.

  • Link opinions and reasons using words and phrases.

Speaking and Listening Focus Areas

  • Build on to partner’s ideas. Seek to genuinely understand what peers are saying, and then build on.

  • Paraphrase to make meaning. Paraphrase what others are saying in order to keep track of key ideas in a discussion.

  • Question and clarify. Seek to clarify a particular point a peer makes by asking follow-up questions.

Vocabulary

Text-based

advantage battery calorie charge chemical energy conduct dam electricity energy fossil fuels global warming greenhouse effect heat radiation kinetic energy matter nonrenewable photosynthesis pollutants potential energy recommend solar energy thermal energy

Root/Affix

non-

To see all the vocabulary for Unit 4, view our 4th Grade Vocabulary Glossary.

Supporting All Students

In order to ensure that all students are able to access the texts and tasks in this unit, it is incredibly important to intellectually prepare to teach the unit prior to launching the unit. Use the intellectual preparation protocol and the Unit Launch to determine which support students will need. To learn more, visit the Supporting all Students teacher tool.

Lesson Map


Common Core Standards


Core Standards

4-PS3-1
4-PS3-2
4-PS3-3
4-PS3-4
4-PS4-1
RI.4.2
RI.4.3
RI.4.7
RI.4.8
SL.4.1
SL.4.3
SL.4.4
W.4.1
W.4.1.a
W.4.1.b
W.4.1.c
W.4.2
W.4.8
W.4.9

Supporting Standards

L.4.1
L.4.1.c
L.4.2
L.4.4
L.4.4.b
L.4.6
RF.4.3
RF.4.4
RI.4.1
RI.4.4
RI.4.5
RI.4.6
RI.4.9
RI.4.10
SL.4.5
SL.4.6
SL.4.6
W.4.4
W.4.5
W.4.6
W.4.10
W.4.10
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Unit 3

Preparing for the Worst: Natural Disasters

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Unit 5

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans

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