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5th grade · Science · Unit 7 of 10

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.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 5L.1.2.1.3; 5P.3.1.1.2 · plants get what they need to grow from air and water, and the energy in food once came from the sun

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 Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 7 of 10 in 5th grade Science, after Ecosystems & Food Chains and before Energy on the Move.

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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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

    Your body uses food energy to…

    • keep you warm
    • grow leaves
    • make sunlight
    • make rain

  2. Question 2

    What do plants mainly take from the soil?

    • Sunlight
    • Sugar
    • Most of their mass
    • Water and small amounts of nutrients

  3. Question 3

    Which gas do plants take in from the air to make food?

    • Oxygen
    • Carbon dioxide
    • Helium
    • Smoke

  4. Question 4

    Most of a plant's mass comes from…

    • sunlight itself
    • soil
    • air and water
    • rocks

  5. Question 5

    Plants make their own food using sunlight, water and…

    • salt
    • soil only
    • sugar from animals
    • carbon dioxide from the air

  6. Question 6

    Which diagram shows the flow of energy?

    • Grass → sun → person
    • Sun → grass → cow → person
    • Cow → sun → grass
    • Person → cow → grass → sun

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