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4th grade · Science · Unit 2 of 14

Energy on the Move

How energy moves and how we sense it

What your child practices

Practices energy sources, how energy moves from a source to an object or living thing to cause action, and how people use their senses to detect heat, light and sound.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 4.3 · energy moving from place to place by sound, light, heat and electric current

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Energy moves from place to place, like from food to you, or from an outlet to a battery.
  2. We sense energy: eyes see light, ears hear sound and skin feels heat.
  3. Some devices change energy to help us, like a smoke alarm making sound.

Example: Which sense notices the bright light of a lamp? Light energy is sensed by your eyes. Answer: sight

Energy on the Move in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 2 of 14 in 4th grade Science, after Energy, Speed & Collisions and before Forms of Energy.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    What is the main source of energy for Earth's living things?

    • the Sun
    • the Moon
    • the wind

  2. Question 2

    Which sense helps you notice smoke from a fire?

    • hearing only
    • smell
    • taste only

  3. Question 3

    A rolling ball hits a pin and moves it. Energy goes from…

    • the pin to the ball
    • nowhere
    • the ball to the pin

  4. Question 4

    When the Sun warms a puddle, energy goes from…

    • the Sun to the water
    • the water to the Sun
    • the puddle to the sky only

  5. Question 5

    When you eat a meal, you get energy from…

    • food
    • water only
    • air only

  6. Question 6

    A campfire gives off which two kinds of energy you can sense?

    • wind and ice
    • heat and light
    • sound and soil

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