S.5.11: Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are…

Earth Day Investigations: Make Your School Better Grades 4–6 · partly supports this outcome

Four hands-on investigations into the school's own garbage, shade, water and electricity. Each one ends with students taking a real, evidence-based recommendation to the principal or caretaker.

• Is our classroom wasting electricity? 45–60 min

  Students audit their classroom's lights and devices, check which are left on when nobody needs them, and read wattage labels to estimate the energy wasted in a school year. They finish with a poster or letter recommending one easy change.

Our Changing Planet: Resources and Human Impact Grades 5–8

Where the copper, cobalt, lithium, oil and sand in a phone come from and why, which energy sources refill and which do not, what real population and energy data say about people and resources, and how real towns cut their waste. Four no-materials lessons built on printed data cards, with a hopeful, evidence-first tone for Earth Day or any time.

• Will our energy ever run out? 50–60 min

  Teams line up nine energy sources on a human timeline of how long nature takes to replace them, from eight minutes for sunlight to millions of years for oil, then use real 2025 data on how the world makes its electricity. They explain what renewable and non-renewable really mean.

Power Up: Where Electricity Comes From Grade 6

Where does the electricity in our classroom come from, and why is it made differently in different places? Students trace the wires, build a wind machine that does real work, and weigh up solar power like an energy planner.

• Where does our classroom's electricity come from? 50–60 min

  Students trace the classroom light switch back to a power plant, then look up the real mix of energy sources for their own province or state and turn it into a 100-square chart. They explain why different places make electricity in different ways.

• Why don't we use solar power everywhere? 50–60 min

  Students shine a flashlight onto grid paper at different angles and through 'clouds' to see why sunlight is weaker in winter, then compare day lengths for their own town. They weigh solar power's strengths and limits like an energy planner.

Printable practice for S.5.11

• Earth Day Investigations: Make Your School Better workbook included with the unit

  2 readings, 1 word wall, 1 English-support page, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Our Changing Planet: Resources and Human Impact workbook included with the unit

  1 word wall, 1 English-support page, 1 practice page, 1 reading, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

• Power Up: Where Electricity Comes From workbook included with the unit

  3 practice pages, 3 readings, 2 English-support pages, 1 word wall, 1 unit review, 1 unit test, with answer keys.

Need just this outcome? Build a custom pack from these pages, with its answer key, in about a minute. Custom packs come with All-access and school licences.