Year 6 · Autumn 1.2 · Step 1

Earth & Space

What is renewable energy?

The difference between energy sources that keep going and fossil fuels that will one day run out.

Arrival Starter I do We do Independent Exit ticket

🌱 Seedling · Working towards 🌿 Sapling · Expected 🌳 Oak · Greater depth

⏱ Whole lesson ≈ 44 min · pick a tier in the bar, or leave on "All"

Arrival 4 min

New topic. Recap Year 5 work on global warming and Year 6 electricity.

Recap: where does electricity come from?

🌱 Seedling

Working towards

Name two things at home that use electricity.

🌿 Sapling

Expected

How do we usually make electricity?
What did we learn about global warming in Year 5?

🌳 Oak

Greater depth

Some ways of making electricity harm the planet. Can you think of a cleaner way?

Bridge into todayWe use electricity all the time. Today we meet two kinds of energy source — ones that run out and ones that don't.

Starter 5 min

"Will it last?" Show sources; thumbs for "runs out" or "keeps going".

Will it run out?

Renewable energy sources do not run out (sun, wind, water). Non-renewable sources will eventually run out — the fossil fuels coal, oil and natural gas.

🌱 Seedling

Working towards

Which runs out?

sunshine · coal

🌿 Sapling

Expected

Name a renewable and a non-renewable source.

🌳 Oak

Greater depth

Why will fossil fuels run out but sunshine won't?

I do · 1 6 min

Teacher models. Watch, then pull out the key difference.

Renewable and non-renewable

▶ Can't see it? Watch "Renewable energy: solar, wind & hydro for kids" on YouTube

Swap the clip: change the ID after /embed/ (now VqVhL3PDUng).

Say thisRenewable sources — sun (solar), wind, water (hydro) — keep being replaced, so they never run out. Non-renewable fossil fuels — coal, oil, gas — took millions of years to form and will run out.

☀️

Solarrenewable

💨

Windrenewable

🛢️

Fossil fuelsrun out

We do · 1 6 min

Sort sources together: will it run out or not?

Runs out, or keeps going?

☀️ sunlight 💨 wind 💧 flowing water ⚫ coal 🛢️ oil 🔥 natural gas

Two columns

Sun, wind, water → renewable (keep going). Coal, oil, gas → non-renewable (run out).

Fossil fuels are the ones we have to be careful with.

I do · 2 4 min

Play the animation. Contrast a source that refills with one that runs down.

One keeps going, one runs out

The sun keeps shining; the pile of coal shrinks away until it's gone.

Model the ideaThe sun will shine for billions of years, so solar power is renewable. A coal seam is used up as we burn it — once it's gone, it's gone. That's what non-renewable means.

Watch for: thinking fossil fuels will "always be there", and thinking renewables have no downsides at all.

We do · 2 5 min

Quick true/false to check the definition has stuck.

True or false?

Decide together

"Fossil fuels will last forever." "The sun is a renewable source." "Renewable sources never have any downsides."

Say which are true and which are myths, using renewable and non-renewable.

Independent 10 min

On your own. Sort each source, then write at your tier.

Energy source sorter

♻️ Renewable

⛽ Non-renewable

🚫 Myth to bust

Tap a card to sort it…

🌱 Seedling

Working towards

Sort the cards. Then finish: Renewable sources do not ____.

🌿 Sapling

Expected

Sort them, then write the difference between renewable and non-renewable sources.

🌳 Oak

Greater depth

Explain why fossil fuels are non-renewable, and why we can't just make more of them.

Exit ticket 4 min

Answer at your tier, then hand it in.

Show what you know

🌱 Seedling

Working towards

Name a renewable source.
Name a non-renewable source.

🌿 Sapling

Expected

What does "non-renewable" mean?
Name the three fossil fuels.

🌳 Oak

Greater depth

Why is it a problem that fossil fuels are non-renewable?