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5th grade · Science · Unit 7 of 12

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.

New York State Learning 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 New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 7 of 12 in 5th grade Science, after Weather and the Water Cycle and before Engineering Challenges.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    Green plants are green because of…

    • water
    • soil
    • sugar
    • chlorophyll

  2. Question 2

    What do plants mainly take from the soil?

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

  3. Question 3

    Which gas do plants give off?

    • Carbon dioxide only
    • Oxygen
    • Steam only
    • Helium

  4. Question 4

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

    • sunlight
    • the soil
    • the rain
    • the rabbit

  5. Question 5

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

    • Helium
    • Smoke
    • Oxygen
    • Carbon dioxide

  6. Question 6

    Bears eat salmon and berries. Both foods got their energy first from…

    • the sun
    • the bears
    • the river
    • the soil

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