Teachers: Content & Title: Grade Level:

Maddison Hurrle New Energy 4th Grade

Standard:
Grade 4 Concept 3: Organisms and Environments PO1. Describe ways
various resources are utilized to meet the needs of a population.
PO2. Differentiate renewable resources from nonrenewable resources
PO3. Analyze the effect that limited resources (e.g., natural gas,
minerals) may have on an environment.
PO4. Describe ways in which resources can be conserved (e.g., by
reducing, reusing, recycling, finding substitutes).
Objective (Explicit & Measurable):
Students will be able to differntiate between renewable and
nonrenewable resources (primarily hydropower, solar power and wind)
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable Assessment: formative and summative):
(formative) The class will have a discussion regarding renewable and
nonrenewable resources.
(summative) Students will use a graphic organizer to display their
knowledge of renewable vs nonrewable resources. Students will draw
images of examples of each.

Sub-objectives, SWBAT (steps that lead to completion of objective; sequence from

simple to more complex):
Students will understand what energy is and its importance
Students will identify objects in their environment and everyday life
that use energy
Students will be able to differentiate between renewable and
nonrenewable resources
Students will be able to identify and categorize objects as solar power,
wind power and hydropower
Lesson Summary and Justification: (summary gives detailed information about what
students are doing. Justification why is this lesson being taught)
Students must understand the world that we have created is so reliant on
the use of energy. Nonrenewable resources are overtaking our lives, if we
do not start taking a different approach on how we use and create energy
there may be a day where we dont have any. Or there may come a day that
the Earth will be so chemically imbalanced that it will not be safe to breathe
in the natural air. . New energy comes in many forms, whether it's wind,
fossil fuels, solar, hydro-power, geothermal etc. Through this investigation
can we look into the pros and cons of each type of energy, I think this topic
matters for my students because it is something that will affect them every
single day. Renewable and nonrenewable energy is surrounding us and
impacts our lives whether we know it or not. Our future is going to be
determined by our youth and how they decide to use this energy and how
they create it.
This idea of sustainability focuses on the way we will have to depend on our
earth in the future, while acknowledging that what we have done in the past
and the consequences that we must now live with. This is a topic that will
never lose its relevance because whether we acknowledge it or not, energy
impacts our day to day life, and what we decide to do with it determines the
outcome of our future.
Students will be exploring the topics of renewable and nonrenewable energy
as well as researching various aspects of renewable energy such as
hydropower, solar power and wind power. Students will be researching what
resources they have available to them, and the idea that eventually we
many run out of resources like water or fossil fuels if we are not caring for
the resources that produce our enegry for us. Students need to think about
what life would look like with out energy and create ideas on how to better
use these resources. This lesson will inspire students to take personal
responsibilty for the earth we live on. By the end of this lesson students will
be expected to understand why energy and conseravtion is important and
what our world will look like when we run out of nonrenewable resources.
Background Knowledge: (What do students need to know prior to completing this
lesson)
Students must understand basic researching skills. Students are expected to come into this
lesson with little tp no understanding of renewable and nonrenewable energy.
Misconception: (what possible misleading thoughts might students have?)
Students may not understand our current usage of nonrenewable resources and the rate at
which we are using them.
Process Skills: (what skills are you introducing or reinforcing)
Understanding your surroundings and the effects certain things have on the environment.
Four Ways of Thinking connection: (Provide a complete explanation of how
your lesson plan connects to futures, system, strategic, or values thinking.
Define the way of thinking you selected and used in this lesson plan.
Remember, this should be included meaningfully in the lesson plan.)
Values thinking is the idea that we look at how our values effect has on our own decisions. This lesson
focuses on how our usage of nonrenewable energies/resources can affect our everyday life. Students
are to look into and discover how many times and how often they use nonrenewable energies on a daily
basis. This lesson will also use futures thinking if we continue this pattern, how will it affect our
everyday lives?
Safety: (what safety rules and items need to be addressed?)
Practicing acceptable classroom behaviors.
Inquiry Questions: (testable in the here and now.)
1. (to explore) What will our earth look like if we run out of energy resources?
2. (to elaborate) How can we use technology to create energy? (Focusing on solar power,
wind power and hydropower)
Key vocabulary: (list and define) Materials: (list item and possible
1. Energy - power derived from the utilization quantity)
of physical or chemical resources, especially to 1. Science Notebook
provide light and heat or to work machines. 2. Pencil/Eraser
2. Nonrenewable energy - Non-renewable 3. Colored Pencils
energy comes from sources that will run out or 4. Renewable vs. Nonrenewable worksheet
will not be replenished in our lifetimesor
even in many, many lifetimes. Most non-
renewable energy sources are fossil fuels:
coal, petroleum, and natural gas. Carbon is the
main element in fossil fuels.
3. Renewable energy Renewable energy is
energy that is collected from renewable
resources, which are naturally replenished on
a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind,
rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat.
4. Hydropower - This is called hydroelectric
power or hydropower. The most common type
of hydroelectric power plant uses a dam on a
river to store water in a reservoir. Water
released from the reservoir flows through a
turbine, spinning it, which in turn activates a
generator to produce electricity.
5. Solar Power - Solar power is the conversion
of energy from sunlight into electricity, either
directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly
using concentrated solar power.
6. Wind Power - Solar power is the conversion
of energy from sunlight into electricity, either
directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly
using concentrated solar power.

Engage - In this section you should activate prior knowledge, hook student
attention, pose a question (IQ#1) based on your lesson objective that students
will seek to answer in Explore.
Teacher Will: (hook) Students Will:
Teacher flip off the lights, then explain Participate in class discussion
that in a world without energy this is
what our world will look like
Teacher will ask for someone to explain
what the word energy means.
The teacher will then explain that
energy is power derived from the
utilization of physical or chemical
resources, especially to provide light
and heat or to work machines.
Ask the class to guess what renewable
means and explain what it is
Ask for someone to guess what
nonrenewable is and then explain to the
class what it is.
Teacher will ask students to brainstorm
various energies

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

This part of the lesson uses the best teaching pratice of a a discussion. This
allows for everyone to have some input.

For ELLs the teacher can have diagrams to help them make better sense of
the topic.

Explore - In this section students should take the lead and actively use materials
to discover information that will help them answer the question posed in
Engage. Teachers may choose to give steps to follow, especially for younger students,
but the goal is for students to discover some or all of the sub-objectives of the lesson.
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #1) Students Will: (list all steps)
Teacher will have students fill out a Work with a partner to complete the
worksheet identifying natural resources worksheet
and identify whether energies are Participate in discussion
renewable or nonrenewable

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

To differentiate for students, the teacher could have a higher level students
and a lower level student working together so that the higher level student
can explain it to the lower level student
Explain In this section students share what they discovered, teacher connects
student discoveries to correct content terms/explanations, students
articulate/demonstrate a clear and correct understanding of the lesson sub-objectives
by answering the question from Engage before moving on.
Teacher Will: Students Will:
Lead a class discussion once Participate in class discussion
everyone has finished Go over worksheet
Ask students if they can think of Correct any errors
any other resources

Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes

This part of the lesson could use the best teaching pratice of a a discussion.
Elaborate In this section students take the basic learning gained from Explore and
clarified in Explain and apply it to a new circumstance or explore a particular aspect of
this learning at a deeper level. Students should be using higher order thinking in this
stage. A common practice in this section is to ask a What If? question. IQ #2
Teacher Will: (pose IQ #2) Students Will:
Teacher will walk around and Go over worksheet
answer questons that the students
may have.
The teacher will lead the class to
go over the worksheet that they
completeld.
Best Teaching Practice Strategy/Differentiation/ELL and Teacher Notes
The teacher should describe some other examples of renewable and non-
renewable resources. While also allowing for more time on the assingment.
Evaluate In this section every student demonstrates mastery of the lesson
objective (though perhaps not mastery of the elaborate content). Because this also
serves as a closing, students should also have a chance to summarize the big
concepts they learned outside of the assessment.
Teacher Will: Students Will:
Pose the question How can we Write down thoughts on a sheet
use technology to create of scratch paper
energy? Discuss as a class
What do you think our world
would look like without our
resources?
Lead a class discussion
Closure: (revisit objective, IQs and make real world connections)
The teacher will host a class discussion. The teacher will ask the students to share ways
they use renewable energy every day and then ask them to share ways they use non-
renewable energy each day. The teacher will ask the students what our world will look like if
we run out of non-renewable resources. The teacher will ask students to become more
aware of the energy/resources they use in their daily lives and invite them to share these
the next few days in class.
**Best Practices List the Best Teaching Practices you will use to enhance
the learning outcomes. In each section where prompted, list the best
practice, how the practices will be used and the purpose.