Energy | Mini Lesson
In this 20-minute mini lesson, students learn that living things need energy to grow, move, and stay alive. They will compare how plants get energy from sunlight and how animals get energy from food, then explain the path energy takes in simple examples.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| energy | the ability to do work or cause change |
| source | where something comes from |
| plant | a living thing that makes its own food using sunlight |
| animal | a living thing that gets energy by eating other living things |
| sunlight | light from the Sun that helps plants make food |
Show a picture of a child running and ask, “What is the child using to run?” Record responses and guide students to the idea of energy.
Think aloud, share ideas, and identify examples of energy from movement.
Explain that all living things need energy. Plants get energy from sunlight to make food. Animals get energy from eating plants or other animals. Use the Sun → plant → animal example on the board.
Listen, repeat key vocabulary, and answer quick questions about each source of energy.
Display pictures of the Sun, a plant, and an animal. Ask students to place them in order and explain the energy flow using sentence frames: “Energy comes from ___ to ___.”
Work with a partner to arrange the pictures and explain the sequence orally or in writing.
Ask students to draw a simple energy chain in notebooks and write one sentence explaining how energy moves from the Sun to a plant or from food to an animal.
Draw and write independently, then hold up work for a quick check.
Review the big idea: living things need energy, and plants and animals get energy in different ways. Invite one or two students to restate the idea in their own words.
Share a final response and listen for the main concept.
End with the statement: “Energy helps living things live and grow. Plants get energy from the Sun, and animals get energy from food.” Have students repeat or restate the idea in one sentence.
Collect the notebook drawing and sentence as a quick formative assessment to check whether students can identify energy sources for plants and animals and trace a simple energy path.