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5th grade · Science · Unit 7 of 9

Energy from the Sun

Plants grow from air and water, and food energy starts with the sun.

What your child practices

Practices how plants get the materials they need for growth mostly from air and water, and how the energy in animals' food was once energy from the sun.

Alaska content standards learning standard: 5-PS3-1; 5-LS1-1 · food energy comes from the sun, and plants grow mainly from air and water

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Plants make their own food from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide from the air.
  2. Most food-making happens in the leaves, and plants give off oxygen.
  3. Plants get mostly water from the soil, not their food.
  4. The energy in all food first comes from the sun.

Example: You eat an apple. Where did its energy first come from? The apple tree made food using sunlight. So the energy started with the sun. Answer: the sun

Energy from the Sun in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 7 of 9 in 5th grade Science, after Weather and the Water Cycle and before Matter Moves in Ecosystems.

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: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

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

    Most of a plant's mass comes from…

    • rocks
    • air and water
    • soil
    • sunlight itself

  2. Question 2

    Which gas do plants give off?

    • Carbon dioxide only
    • Oxygen
    • Steam only
    • Helium

  3. Question 3

    A rabbit eats grass. The energy in the grass came from…

    • sunlight
    • the rain
    • the soil
    • the rabbit

  4. Question 4

    Which is a producer?

    • Mushroom
    • Wolf
    • Deer
    • Grass

  5. Question 5

    Green plants are green because of…

    • water
    • chlorophyll
    • sugar
    • soil

  6. Question 6

    Why do animals eat more in cold weather?

    • They photosynthesize
    • They need energy to stay warm
    • Food is colder
    • They grow leaves

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