Grade Level: 1st – 2nd Grade | Duration: 50 minutes
This English Language Arts lesson integrates science content by having students create their own illustrated booklet about renewable energy sources. The lesson focuses on grammar conventions, writing production and distribution, and presentation skills while building understanding of sustainable energy. It aligns with multiple Alabama College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards covering writing process skills (focusing on topics, responding to feedback, revising/editing), presentation abilities (adding visual displays to clarify ideas), and grammar conventions including proper use of singular/plural nouns with matching verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and complete sentences.
Learning Objectives
Students will apply appropriate grammar and writing skills to produce an original book about renewable energy sources, incorporating descriptive language and proper sentence structure. They’ll create visual displays and written descriptions matched to their chosen topics, illustrating each page of their booklet with drawings that clarify their written content.
Background & Context
The lesson provides foundational definitions of renewable energy (naturally replenished resources including wind, solar, geothermal, biofuel, and hydro) and sustainability (the concept that renewable resources never deplete). Students learn to distinguish between non-renewable resources like coal and natural gas—which will eventually run out and require continuous mining/drilling—and renewable resources that can be perpetually remade or restored.
The material explains factors affecting solar energy use, including the sun’s daily and seasonal position, weather conditions (clouds, smoke, smog), physical obstructions (trees, buildings), and land surfaces. Students learn that while sunlight keeps us healthy and happy, too much can cause sunburn. The lesson emphasizes the sun as abundant, convenient, nonpolluting, affordable, and the ultimate energy source.
Activities & StructureEngage Phase (10 minutes)
The lesson begins with teacher-led discussion of renewable energy resource types and sustainability concepts, optionally accompanied by visual images of each resource. Students then participate in kinesthetic learning through “Make it active!” exercises where they stand and stretch in place before performing creative body language movements representing each energy type:
- Wind: Wave arms around as if wind is blowing
- Water: Create cooperative wave patterns with neighboring students
- Sun: Hold up fingers and wiggle them like rays of sunlight
The optional “Extend” section provides additional energy-themed chants and hand motions from the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED.org), covering both renewable sources (biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) and non-renewable sources (coal, natural gas, petroleum, propane, uranium) with specific choreographed movements for each.
Explore Phase (35 minutes) – “Write about it!”
Students receive printed copies of the pre-formatted “Renewable Energy Booklet” with fill-in-the-blank sentence starters and drawing boxes. The booklet creation follows this structured process:
- Students write their name on the cover page, identifying themselves as the book’s author (with option to decorate now or later)
- Page 1: Wind – Students participate in partner/group/class discussions brainstorming adjectives and verbs associated with wind. First graders complete three sentences using one-word descriptors (“Wind is _____. Wind can _____. Wind will _____.”) while second graders use multiple-word phrases. Students then draw a picture visualizing their wind descriptions in the provided box (which includes a small wind turbine illustration as reference).
- Page 2: Water – Following the same collaborative discussion format, students brainstorm water-related descriptive language and complete parallel sentence structures about water. First graders use single words; second graders use expanded phrases. Students illustrate their water descriptions (page includes a water wheel reference image).
- Page 3: The Sun – The pattern repeats with solar energy, with students discussing, writing, and illustrating descriptions of the sun using grade-appropriate sentence complexity. The page includes a solar panel reference illustration.
Once complete, students assemble their booklets using either a 3-hole punch with string ties or staples to bind the pages together.
Evaluate Phase (5 minutes) – “Share it!”
Students actively share their completed work by reading their booklets aloud to a partner. The lesson incorporates movement by having students stand and find a different partner across the room, promoting both physical activity and collaborative engagement while practicing oral reading skills.
Materials Included
Engage Phase (10 minutes)
The lesson begins with teacher-led discussion of renewable energy resource types and sustainability concepts, optionally accompanied by visual images of each resource. Students then participate in kinesthetic learning through “Make it active!” exercises where they stand and stretch in place before performing creative body language movements representing each energy type:
- Wind: Wave arms around as if wind is blowing
- Water: Create cooperative wave patterns with neighboring students
- Sun: Hold up fingers and wiggle them like rays of sunlight
The optional “Extend” section provides additional energy-themed chants and hand motions from the National Energy Education Development Project (NEED.org), covering both renewable sources (biomass, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) and non-renewable sources (coal, natural gas, petroleum, propane, uranium) with specific choreographed movements for each.
Explore Phase (35 minutes) – “Write about it!”
Students receive printed copies of the pre-formatted “Renewable Energy Booklet” with fill-in-the-blank sentence starters and drawing boxes. The booklet creation follows this structured process:
- Students write their name on the cover page, identifying themselves as the book’s author (with option to decorate now or later)
- Page 1: Wind – Students participate in partner/group/class discussions brainstorming adjectives and verbs associated with wind. First graders complete three sentences using one-word descriptors (“Wind is _____. Wind can _____. Wind will _____.”) while second graders use multiple-word phrases. Students then draw a picture visualizing their wind descriptions in the provided box (which includes a small wind turbine illustration as reference).
- Page 2: Water – Following the same collaborative discussion format, students brainstorm water-related descriptive language and complete parallel sentence structures about water. First graders use single words; second graders use expanded phrases. Students illustrate their water descriptions (page includes a water wheel reference image).
- Page 3: The Sun – The pattern repeats with solar energy, with students discussing, writing, and illustrating descriptions of the sun using grade-appropriate sentence complexity. The page includes a solar panel reference illustration.
Once complete, students assemble their booklets using either a 3-hole punch with string ties or staples to bind the pages together.
Evaluate Phase (5 minutes) – “Share it!”
Students actively share their completed work by reading their booklets aloud to a partner. The lesson incorporates movement by having students stand and find a different partner across the room, promoting both physical activity and collaborative engagement while practicing oral reading skills.
For each student:
- Printed pages from “Writing and Reading About Renewable Energy Booklet” file (can be printed as 4 single pages or as a 2-page fold-in-half booklet)
- Cover page with title “Read about Types of Renewable Energy with Me!” featuring a recycling symbol with lightning bolt and author name line
- Page 1: Wind (three fill-in sentences and illustration box with wind turbine reference)
- Page 2: Water (three fill-in sentences and illustration box with water wheel reference)
- Page 3: The Sun (three fill-in sentences and illustration box with solar panel reference)
- Markers and/or crayons for coloring
- 3-hole puncher or stapler for binding
- 3 pieces of string for tying booklet (if not using staples)
Optional Extension Materials:
- Chants and Hand Motions guide from NEED.org covering 10 different energy sources (5 renewable, 5 non-renewable) with specific choreography for each
This lesson successfully combines literacy skill development with science content, allowing young students to practice essential writing mechanics and grammar conventions while learning about environmental sustainability and energy sources. The kinesthetic activities and peer sharing components address multiple learning styles and keep students engaged throughout the 50-minute session.
Resources & Downloads
Writing and Reading About Renewable Energy
A PDF file containing everything you need for this lesson.
PDF DocumentEnergy Games and Icebreakers - Energy Chants
This guide offers entertaining activities to introduce energy, efficiency, and conservation to students, as well as reinforce the information that has already been presented.
External Link