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4th grade · Science · Unit 10 of 17

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 4.12(A) · producers making food from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide

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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 10 of 17 in 4th grade Science, after Water World and before Traits & Variation.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    • the rabbit
    • sunlight
    • the rain
    • the soil

  2. Question 2

    Green plants are green because of…

    • soil
    • water
    • sugar
    • chlorophyll

  3. Question 3

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

    • Carbon dioxide
    • Helium
    • Smoke
    • Oxygen

  4. Question 4

    Your body uses food energy to…

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

  5. Question 5

    Animals use energy from food to…

    • make soil
    • photosynthesize
    • move, grow and stay warm
    • make sunlight

  6. Question 6

    Sugar made by plants stores energy that came from…

    • sunlight
    • the soil
    • the roots
    • water

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