Prepared hands-on materials, full year grade-specific curriculum, and personalized live professional development designed to support mastery of current state science standards.
Capturing the Sun’s Energy
All living things need water. An organism is a complete living thing. Organisms in the Sahara have different ways of finding water. Date palms are plants that have long roots to survive in a dry climate. Their roots reach water deep underground. Date palms then store the water in their roots.
Organisms also need energy. Energy is the ability to do work. Moving an object is work. Heating up an object and charging an object are also work. Organisms need energy to survive, grow, and reproduce. All energy on Earth begins with the sun. As the sun shines, it produces light energy. When the light energy reaches the date palms in the Sahara, the trees capture the energy and turn it into food.
Trees capture sunlight because they are producers. Producers are organisms that capture energy from sunlight. They do this through a process called photosynthesis [foh- toh-sin-thuh-sis]. All plants are producers.
Producing Energy
Date palms and other plants have leaves. These leaves have internal structures that collect the sun’s energy. These internal structures are called chloroplasts [klawr-uh-plasts].
Chloroplasts use the sun’s energy, along with water and carbon dioxide, to create a sugar called glucose. Glucose is food for the plant. It gives the plant energy to grow. Plants store extra glucose in their leaves and other parts. Chloroplasts also make oxygen. Oxygen is a gas. A plant that receives no light cannot make food. Plants also get nutrients from the soil. A plant will not grow if there are not enough nutrients in the soil or a regular supply of water.
Consuming Energy
The Sahara is also home to the jerboa. The jerboa is a tiny rodent. It has its own ways of dealing with the heat and dryness of the desert. It has short forearms and powerful back legs. It uses its arms and legs to dig into the sand. It digs until it reaches the underground roots of plants. These roots store water. Jerboas eat the roots. The roots give them energy as well as water. Some jerboas also eat insects for energy.
Jerboas and foxes are consumers. Consumers are organisms that eat other organisms. All animals are consumers. Consumers eat other living things for energy and nutrients. Just like fennec foxes, jerboas are most active at night. Fennec foxes often hunt jerboas for food. When a fennec fox eats a jerboa, it gets some of the jerboa’s energy. The fennec fox is a carnivore because it only eats other animals. The jerboa is an omnivore because it eats both plants and animals. Camels are herbivores because they only eat plants.
KnowAtom incorporates formative and summative assessments designed to make students thinking visible for deeper student-centered learning.
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Discover hands-on screens-off core science curriculum for student centered K-8 classrooms. KnowAtom supports classrooms with all hands-on materials, curriculum, and professional development to support mastery of the standards.
