Unit Plan 10 (Grade 5 Science): Energy from the Sun

Focus: Use models to show that energy in animals’ food (for growth, repair, motion, and warmth) originally came from the sun through plants and food chains.

Grade Level: 5

Subject Area: Science (Life Science • Physical Science Connections)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session

I. Introduction

In this unit, students connect energy and food by modeling how sunlight powers life on Earth. They learn that plants capture energy from the sun and store it in food molecules, and that when animals eat plants or other animals, this stored energy is passed along. Students analyze how this energy supports body repair, growth, motion, and maintaining body warmth. By the end of the week, they build and explain food chain/food web models that trace energy from the sun → plants → animals.

Essential Questions

• How does energy from the sun get into the food that animals eat?
• What roles do plants and animals play in energy flow through an ecosystem?
• How does the energy in animals’ food help with body repair, growth, movement, and staying warm?
• How can models (diagrams, arrows, and objects) help us explain and show how energy moves from the sun to animals?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Use diagrams and physical models to show that plants capture energy from the sun and store it in food.
2. Construct simple food chain models (sun → plant → herbivore → carnivore/omnivore) to trace how energy flows from one organism to another.
3. Explain, using words and pictures, that the energy in animals’ food was once energy from the sun, transferred through plants.
4. Describe how animals use energy from food for body repair, growth, motion, and maintaining body warmth, using concrete examples.
5. Create and present a Food Energy Model Poster or mini-book that clearly traces energy from the sun to at least one animal and explains how that animal uses the energy.

Standards Alignment — 5th Grade (NGSS-Aligned)

• 5-PS3-1 — Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can draw or build a model that shows the sun, a plant, and animals, with arrows to show where the energy moves.
• I can explain that plants get their energy from the sun, and animals get energy by eating plants or other animals.
• I can describe at least two ways animals use food energy (for growth, body repair, movement, or staying warm).
• I can present a Food Energy Model and explain, in my own words, how the energy in animals’ food started as sunlight.