Bonus: Family Resource Sheet
Printable Take-Home Activity
Encourage families to get involved in their children’s learning with these family materials for “The United States of Energy.”
Download this printable Family Resource Sheet (PDF), which includes “The Energy Challenge” below, as well as household energy-savings tips.
Family Activity: The Energy Challenge
We all know that it’s good to turn off the lights and appliances when they’re not needed, but now we can illustrate the importance of conservation! Using less energy saves money.
As a family, visit the Energy Cost Calculator at www.csgnetwork.com/elecenergycalcs.html.
1. Fill in the blanks while discussing your normal household behavior. You can calculate by the hour, the day, or even the month.
2. Then hit “Calculate.”
3. See how your everyday activities translate into money spent on electricity.
Were the costs higher or lower than you expected? The watts and dollars really add up, don’t they?
TAKE THE CHALLENGE: Take turns using the online calculator to see how low each family member can reduce his or her costs. Perhaps someone can go without using the television or a few light bulbs for a while. Perhaps someone else can forego the hair dryer or leaving the laptop on. The family member with the lowest electricity usage wins the challenge.
Once you’ve crowned a champion, sit down and make a list of the things you can do as a family to reduce your energy use. You might arrange the list by room of the house—“Bathroom: shorter showers, turn off lights.” Or you might arrange the list by family member—“Thomas: turn off TV before falling asleep, close refrigerator door!” Keep the final list in a visible spot, like on that closed fridge!
What’s powering the cost of electricity in your state?
To learn more, please go to www.neo.ne.gov/statshtml/115.htm and find your state’s cost for electricity. Then, compare that cost with your state’s top resource for producing electricity found on the mini map "The United States of Energy" (PDF) at www.scholastic.com/energy. Which states have the lowest costs for electricity at www.neo.ne.gov/statshtml/115.htm? What is the top resource for producing electricity for those states as found on the map?
LESSON PLAN
UNIT PLAN
ONLINE ACTIVITY
