Hi Friends… Thanks so much for stopping by today 🙂  I wanted to share with you how I go about teaching Forms of Energy.  As part of our science curriculum we are expected to teach different forms of energy through the use of experiments.  It always seemed that this unit took SOOOO MUCH TIME to complete, so my teammates and I decided to have an Energy Fair instead!

Forms of Energy in the Classroom

This was a FABO idea because we each took a form of energy to teach and we taught it to five different classess.  We only had to prep one lesson, one experiment, and my kiddos will have learned all different forms of energy by time our fair was over! Brilliant..I tell ya!  🙂

Light Energy

My Energy experiment was about Light Energy.  The lesson began with a discussion on different types of things that had/made Light Energy.  As the children told me their ideas about light energy, I would write them on the Smartboard, but in two different columns.  In one column we had sun, lightning, fire, lightning bugs, etc. In the other column we had lightbulb, flashlight, glowstick, lantern, match, etc. I then asked them the difference between the two lists and they were able to classify the different forms of Light Energy with Manmade Light and Natural Light.

Energy Fair Activity

We then discussed what light could pass through, which was the beginning part of our experiment.  We talked about objects that were transparent, translucent, and opaque.  After they understood the difference between these words, we began our experiment.  They had to use a flashlight, a hollow tube {for more direct light}, a black piece of construction paper for a background, and different objects to test.  I set up 6 stations around the room with 4 children in each station.  They had a baggie with 6 different objects to experiment with, a flashlight, and their recording sheet to record their results.  Here is the booklet that they wrote their answers in and the briefcase that they traveled around with during our Energy Fair.

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After our students learned about all of the different forms of energy, we had them complete a flip flap book as an authentic assessment. On the last page of the flip flap book they had to write an opinion writing piece on the Form of Energy that they believed to be the most important.  They had to support their opinion with three reasons and then write a paragraph that included a topic sentence, supporting details, and a conclusion.  It was AWESOME!!!!  The kids had a ball as well!

My Energy Flip Flap Book®

Here are some images of the flip flap book…

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Here is our bulletin board display with all of our Energy Flip Flap Books….

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If you are interested in getting your hands on this Energy Flip Flap Book, click the picture below to head on over to my Blog shop to pick it up..

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Here is a copy of the mini-book that I did with my kiddos for my Light Energy experiment.  I hope you can use it… Click HERE or the image below to get your Light Energy Experiment FREEBIE!!!

So in a nutshell this is what we did this year to teach Forms of Energy.

Do you teach a unit on Energy in your classroom?  I would love to hear what you do!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs,