Students discover the properties of light (radiant) energy from the sun by experimenting with solar collectors, cookers, and calculators. After a lecture/demo, students create their own solar collectors and test their efficiency.

How does additional daylight hours affect people and nature? With the help from the legend Maui and the Sun and a grand conversation, scholars complete a graphic organizer to distinguish between the positive and...

Using a Maori legend, How Maui Tamed the Sun, youngsters are introduced to the importance of sunlight to civilization. Teach them about nuclear fusion that occurs to produce the solar energy we later receive on Earth as...

Why do shadows look different in the summer than in the winter? What causes day and night? How can a sundial be used to tell time? Answer these questions and more through two engaging lessons about light and shadows. Fourth and fifth...

In this sunlight instructional activity, 2nd graders focus on things that need energy from the sun in order to grow. Students color the 5 pictures that require the sun for survival.

Students engage in three short, hands-on, in-class demos which expand students' understand of energy. First, using peanuts and heat, students see how the human body burns food to make energy. Then, they create paper snake mobiles to...

In this sunlight worksheet, 2nd graders focus on things that need energy from the sun in order to grow. Students color the 5 pictures that require the sun for survival.

Renewable and non-renewable energy sources are the focus of a series of activities that prepare learners for a performance task assessment on energy. Groups identify the various sources of energy and classify these sources as either...

Students explore U.S. history by reading a Native American tale in class. In this cultural storytelling lesson, students read the story How Grandmother Spider Stole the Sun and discuss the characters and themes of the Native American...

Students access prior knowledge of solar energy and understand that solar energy produces heat. In this solar cooker instructional activity, students complete grade appropriate experiments using the heat of the sun. Students complete a...

Learners study the sun. In this heat energy lesson, students use the sun's warmth to make tea. They place a few jars with tea bags and water in the sun and discuss what the sun is doing to the water while they wait for the tea to brew....

Third graders read, write, and listen to information about the sun and its effects on the Earth.as it relates to its axis, orbit, rotate, and revolution.  In this solar system lesson, 3rd graders examine how the sun...

Learners discover the relationship between the sun and Earth.  In this weather instructional activity, students examine the effect of the sun on the Earth's seasons.  Learners complete a weather activity using props to simulate...

In this energy crossword worksheet, students read 36 clues pertaining to energy conservation. Students fit their answers in a crossword puzzle. There is no word bank.

How do you make raisins? Do a simple experiment with your class that prompts them to set a bunch of grapes in the sun for a few days, and see what they find!

Learners explore Earth science by creating a scale model in class. In this shadow instructional activity, students research the impact the sun has on Earth shadows and complete a space science worksheet. Learners create models of the Sun...

Students describe and compare the layers of the atmosphere. They explain how to measure the temperature of the atmosphere and discover what causes the atmosphere to heat up in some places more than in others.

Students investigate solar energy by making sun tea.  In this ecology and solar energy lesson, students prepare traditional tea and "sun" tea, then record and graph data comparing color, clarity, smell and taste.

Fourth graders view a video and create a KWL to identify energy sources. In this energy sources lesson, 4th graders explore the meaning of energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, thermal energy, radiant energy, and electrical energy....

First graders discuss the book The Lorax and research what living things need. In this environmental lesson, 1st graders investigate how humans affect the growth of plants. Students conduct an experiment with sunflowers.

Students pretend they are water droplets traveling through the water cycle. Using their text, they discover the steps in the cycle and the different paths water can take. They write a report about their journey through the water cycle...

Students read an article about alternative energy and complete the associated worksheets. In this ESL/ELL alternative energy lesson, students read or listen an article about research at MIT in which scientists designed a energy-making...

High schoolers explore physics by completing measurement problems in class. In this speed of light lesson, students discuss the importance of knowing the speed of light and how it affects many aspects of human life on Earth. High...

In these critical reading worksheets, students read the short story about the sun. Students then answer 3 critical reading questions about the passage.