Science of Energy Unit for Fourth Grade
Energy is a fun, rich topic to explore in Science with fourth graders. We did a lot of hands on explorations, read some books and even went on a field trip to learn more about energy.
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Energy Unit
1. Light & Heat
- Read Eyewitness section on Light.
- Read Usborne: Energy, Forces and Motion Chapter on Heat.
- Did Energy Labs and Physic experiments on light and heat.
3. Objects / Friction / Gravity
- Read The Marvelous Thing That Came From a Spring
- Did Energy labs on Gravity and Objects.
- Played with this Gravity Maze game
- Created marble mazes with the Gravitrax set. This is a new favorite toy of ours. It is like the old school marble ramps but so much better!
- Did the Minecraft STEM Lab 2
FIELD TRIP BREAK! Playground Trip
We spent an early morning at the park playing and exploring slides, gravity friction and different kinds of force.
FIELD TRIP TIP: If your kids need something to write on or work from to stay focused, brainstorm a list of kinds of energy and make a simple scavenger hunt to check off as you race around the playground.
4. Sound Waves
- Did Energy Labs on Sound Waves
- Watched Magic School Bus: Haunted House and did this experiment from Scholastic.
5. Potential vs. Kinetic Energy
- Did Energy Lab on Potential vs Kinetic Energy
- Watched this video on YouTube that demonstrated the difference as well. It includes the formulas which was too advanced for us but the rest of the information was helpful.
- Planned our own Rollercoasters, built them with loose parts, and took aquiz to review what we learned with this printable from Teachers Pay Teachers.
6. Circuits
- Did Energy Labs on Circuits
- Played with Snap Circuits kits
- Did Minecraft STEM Lab 18
Review
Energy Robot Project from The Knitted Apple
We used this Energy Robot Project to review the different kinds of energy that we had learned about. It was a fun chance for the kids to show what they had learned.
