Please introduce yourself and your school.
Name: Shunetta Daugherty
City: University City/St. Louis, Missouri
Grades taught: 2nd-5th grade Talented Gifted Development
School type: Urban public school
Student demographics: 270 students, K-5th; 94% African American
Which activities did you teach?
- Pre-Unit Values Activity
- Lesson 1– Activity 1 & 2 (Introduction, Energy observation of school grounds, Food Chain and Energy Transfer game)
- Lesson 2–Activity 1 & 2 (Trusted Adult Interview, Community Map)
My journey with the Experience Energy curriculum was very informative and exciting. The curriculum was implemented with my gifted students in 3rd-5th grades. I began the curriculum with the pre-unit values activity. I learned that there were similarities and differences amongst the grade levels. For example, 3rd to 5th grade always or often valued family, friendship, creativity, and community. The differences were in the areas of what each grade level deemed as “seldom valued.”
Which activities went well? What made them successful?
Lesson #1 Intro: What is energy, and why does it matter to me and my community?
Students wrote in their journals the word “energy” using a concept-meaning map and wrote words surrounding the word “energy” of what they thought energy means. From that, we created a definition. The definition varied a little from 3rd to 5th grade. Students in 5th grade defined energy as “the ability to give power to an object or living things”. From that activity, we created a list in our journal of everything we had done today, beginning with the time we woke up. I modeled the beginning of the activity. Students had fun listing everything that they did from the morning and then circling/highlighting what they thought used energy. The million-dollar question was “Don’t all the items listed use energy?” The answer is yes! We have to determine later if it was potential, kinetic, or stored energy.
Activity #1: Energy observations of school grounds
Our class took a tour of the school grounds and completed an energy observation. Students went outside and took notes of our school building, human infrastructure, transportation, nature’s energy, and living beings. Students really enjoyed going outside and observing the school grounds and taking notice of examples of energy from things in nature, how our school building was built, and how it may be using energy.
Activity #2: Food Chain and Energy Transfer
I did not have a chance to do the carbon cycle game. However, I used graphic organizer pictures of a food chain/web, and asked students the question “where does the hawk get its energy from?” and “where do you think the source of most energy comes from?” I also gave students an additional visual aid of a food web. This visual has a more realistic picture that has more organisms and students were able to understand that the first visual aid of a food chain was not a complete picture. Specifically, because the hawk is not at the top of the food chain; there are predators that will eat the hawk and there are more organisms that exist in a food web. Students were able to grasp that the sun is the main source of energy for all organisms in an ecosystem.
Which activities were challenging? What was difficult about them?
Lesson #2: What does energy use look like in our community?
The beginning of the lesson delivery was a little tough. I wanted to give them some background information to connect the lesson about how energy has changed beginning with the Industrial Revolution and how deforestation and burning fossil fuels were harmful to the community in which we lived. I created a slide deck in Canva to help briefly give them some background and connection to the next activities. I tried connecting students and activating the mindset of environmental change agents/justice.
Please tell one or two stories that are relevant to your situation and experience teaching the resource.
The FLOWER model activity was interesting. Each student received a blank copy of the FLOWER model and I had them write short descriptions under each petal to reference the meaning. For example petals: Students (safe playground equipment, blacktop play area), Staff (area for staff inside and outside), Plants (flowers, greenhouse), Animals (habitats), Trees (for animals, birdfeeders, houses, nests), center of flower climate protection (reuse, recycle, and/or waste reduction), garden (access to fresh veggies). From there, we took a tour outside on the school grounds and students shaded in or colored in what they saw was present.
“We need a safer playground, the one we have is somewhat unsafe.”
“The paint is chipping off the play area.”
“There are some plants, but not enough flowers.”
“How come there aren’t flowers present?”
“We have a garden, but not any fresh veggies.”
Trusted Adult Interview
Students were given pre-written interview questions to ask an adult at home or here at school. This assignment took a week, to give students time to interview their person. “This assignment was fun. My grandma didn’t have a computer growing up,” said one third grade student. “Everyone went to the neighborhood school,” said one interviewer.
Students discussed their interview answers as a whole class, and from there, instructions were given to create a picture of their responses from the interview. I modeled an example of my picture from my interview that I completed on myself. Once completed, a gallery walk of pictures was presented. From that information, we created a Venn diagram of “energy use then & now” to compare and contrast how energy use has changed or remained the same.
All of the activities went great and student participation was phenomenal. Due to my mother’s unexpected illness on March 18, 2024, I was unable to complete additional lessons. My students came up with the idea during the school grounds observation to create a prototype of a greenhouse to add to our outdoor learning space. We observed that there weren’t any flowers present on the school grounds, and asked how we could plant and keep flowers. The research question created is “How will a greenhouse impact the school’s energy use and living things?” Students were set to research all about greenhouses and how to add one to our school community. My mom never got any better and this led to me being absent from work for several weeks with my mom passing away on April 27, 2024. I plan on continuing next school year with where we left off with 4th and 5th graders. I would recommend this experience to other teachers. The curriculum is well written and you can plan your lessons ahead of time and fit within your schedule.
My name is Shunetta Daugherty and I am a talented gifted development teacher in The School District of University City located in University City, MO. I have been teaching for 11 complete years and I love teaching STEM, project-based learning, and any gifted education curriculum materials. When I am not teaching, I enjoy spending time with family, my new grandson Kyren, working on my business of 360 photo booth rentals, cooking meals, and entertaining family and friends.
Want more inspirational ideas on how to use Experience Energy? Read the other case studies and download the resource on Climate Generation’s Resource Library.
