Free Physical Science Teacher Lessons

The Physical Science Book includes all the resources and materials teachers need to lead exemplary science lessons. The Lesson Plan places all the important information for the module on one screen. Teacher Guides and Teacher Explains are available in both written and video formats so you can prepare at school or on the go. Click on the excerpts from the Video Teacher Explains to see how they support your teaching as well as your students’ learning.

Free Energy Sources Teacher Lessons

Energy is available for plants and animals from many different sources. Even people need energy to live, work, grow, and play. This module guides students as they begin to identify energy. It also introduces three familiar sources of energy used every day: electricity, food, and sunlight.

Core Concept

Energy, from a variety of sources, is used every day in many different ways.

Essential Vocabulary

energy, battery, electricity, generate, manmade, natural, rechargeable, renewable, source, sun

Free Light Energy Teacher Lessons

Light energy is energy that can be seen and used to see the matter around us. It can be manmade or natural, like the light from the sun. In this module students are introduced to the characteristics and properties of light energy, its uses, and various sources of manmade and natural light.

Core Concept

Light energy is energy that can be seen and is generated by natural and manmade sources.

Essential Vocabulary

light energy, generate, manmade, natural, opaque, reflect, reflection, shadow, surface, transparent, wave

Free Heat Energy Teacher Lessons

Heat energy is energy that can be felt. Heat energy can be natural, like the heat we get from the sun, or manmade. In this module students explore the properties and characteristics of heat energy, its uses, and various sources of manmade and natural heat.

Core Concept

Heat energy is energy that can be felt and moves from hot to cold by conduction and radiation.

Essential Vocabulary

heat energy, conduction, conductor, contact, degree, insulator, radiate, radiation, temperature, thermometer, transfer, wave

Free Sound Energy Teacher Lessons

Sound energy is energy that can be heard, but only when matter is present to carry the vibration. This module introduces students to the properties and characteristics of sound energy, how it is generated, and why sounds are different.

Core Concept

Sound energy travels in waves and can be described by volume and pitch.

Essential Vocabulary

sound energy, generate, matter, particles, pitch, require, vibrate, volume, wave

Free Electrical Energy Teacher Lessons

Electrical energy is energy that is used to run appliances and tools. Electricity is generated at power plants from renewable and nonrenewable energy sources before it travels through power lines to all of the necessary locations. In this module students explore the various uses of electricity and the energy sources used to generate electricity.

Core Concept

Electrical energy is made by humans at power plants by converting renewable and nonrenewable sources into electricity.

Essential Vocabulary

electrical energy, electricity, convert, fossil fuels, generate, nonrenewable, power lines, power plant, renewable, transport

Free Energy Transformations Teacher Lessons

Energy is everywhere, and it is used to accomplish many different things, while transforming from sunlight to food and from electricity to heat, light and sound. This module guides students through an exploration of energy transformations in living and nonliving systems.

Core Concept

Energy can be transformed from one form to another as it is used by living and nonliving things.

Essential Vocabulary

transformation, transform, convert, electrical energy, energy flow, generate, heat energy, light energy, nonrenewable, renewable, sound energy

Free Materials and Mixtures Teacher Lessons

Everything around us is made up of something, often a collection of different things. This module guides students as they begin to identify the different materials everyday objects are made of–specifically wood, plastic, metal and cloth–and how mixtures can be made by combining different objects and materials.

Core Concept

Everything around us is made up of different materials and can be combined to make mixtures.

Essential Vocabulary

mixture, substance, texture, unchanged, combine, sorting, separate, characteristics, material, composition

Free Observing Matter Teacher Lessons

Describing matter correctly and accurately is an important skill for communicating scientific information. In this module, students are introduced to qualitative observations (those made using their senses) and quantitative observations (those made using tools to measure a numerical value).

Core Concept

Matter has properties that are described using qualitative and quantitative observations.

Essential Vocabulary

properties, senses, qualitative, quantitative, observe, describe, measure, tools

Free States of Matter Teacher Lessons

Anything on Earth that has mass and takes up space is matter. This module introduces students to solids, liquids and gases, the three most common states of matter on earth, and the unique properties used to characterize each phase.

Core Concept

On Earth matter is found most commonly in three different phases: solid, liquid and gas.

Essential Vocabulary

solid, liquid, gas, definite, container, vibrate, particles, unique, phase, volume

Free Changes in Matter Teacher Lessons

Matter can change in many ways; some changes alter the appearance, while others create new and different matter. In this module, students explore chemical changes and physical changes, including phase changes, of matter.

Core Concept

Solids, liquids and gases can undergo changes based on the physical and chemical properties of the matter.

Essential Vocabulary

physical change, chemical change, freeze, melt, evaporation, condensation, alter, reversible, properties

Free Location and Perspective Teacher Lessons

Describing the location of an object accurately is an important skill for effective communication. In this module students explore spatial relationships and the vocabulary used to describe the location of items from multiple perspectives.

Core Concept

The location of an object can be identified from multiple perspectives to determine motion.

Essential Vocabulary

location, perspective, around, left, middle, over, right, under

Free Motion Teacher Lessons

Fast or slow, objects, people, animals, liquids, and even gases move. In this module students begin to describe and learn to measure motion, a change in position.

Core Concept

Motion is a change in position and can be measured by distance and time.

Essential Vocabulary

motion, circular, distance, friction, measure, position, surface, time, zigzag

Free Force Teacher Lessons

Opening a door, closing a lid, or skipping to school – each action requires just the right push or pull. This module guides students as they explore force, a push or a pull. It includes gravity and how much of a push or a pull is needed to move various objects over a distance.

Core Concept

Force, a push or a pull, is needed to change the position of an object.

Essential Vocabulary

force, attract, friction, gravity, mass, pull, push, surface, work

Free Magnets Teacher Lessons

Magnets of all shapes, sizes and strength are used every day – holding up art projects on the fridge, sorting debris in landfills, and keeping high fashion jewelry fastened. In this module students explore the characteristics of magnets and the different materials they attract.

Core Concept

Magnets come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be used to move objects made of iron.

Essential Vocabulary

magnet, magnetic, attract, bar magnet, ring magnet, horseshoe magnet, force, iron, poles, repel

Free Simple Machines Teacher Lessons

Work is made easy with simple machines; they reduce the force needed to move an object over a distance. This module introduces the six types of simple machines — lever, pulley, wheel and axle, wedge, screw, and inclined plane — as students explore what a simple machine is and how simple machines work.

Core Concept

Simple machines are used every day to make work easier by reducing the force needed to move an object over a distance.

Essential Vocabulary

simple machine, work, force, motion, reduce, inclined plane, lever, pulley, screw, wedge, wheel and axle

At this early level, students can learn to put a name and a reason behind concepts such as gravity, energy, friction, and perspective. In fact, physical science taught in a developmentally appropriate way is perfect for the youngest students. That’s because children naturally learn by experiencing the world around them.