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4th grade · Science · Unit 5 of 8

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.

Maine Learning Results learning standard: 4-PS3-2 · energy moving from place to place by sound, light, heat and electric currents

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 Maine

In the Maine Learning Results, this is unit 5 of 8 in 4th grade Science, after Adaptations & Habitats and before Energy, Speed & Collisions.

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: Maine Department of Education

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

    A smoke alarm uses which energy to alert you?

    • touch only
    • taste
    • sound

  2. Question 2

    A flashlight shows light energy from…

    • the soil
    • the battery
    • the Moon

  3. Question 3

    A solar panel collects energy from…

    • wind only
    • sound only
    • sunlight

  4. Question 4

    What is energy?

    • something that can make things move or change
    • a kind of animal
    • a kind of rock

  5. Question 5

    A car moves when its engine uses…

    • grass
    • fuel
    • paper

  6. Question 6

    Wind turbines use energy of the…

    • soil
    • moving air
    • Moon

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