4-PS3-4 Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another

As we create informational texts for each of the Next Generation Science Standards, there are tons of amazing, interesting, and just plain weird facts we are learning. I thought it would be fun to share some of them with you, so I hope you enjoy these facts about wind turbines…. and sheep!

Wind turbines are usually very large machines: Sometimes as tall as the Statue of Liberty! The larger the turbine blades, the more wind it picks up. This means more energy can be generated.  To generate a lot of energy, huge groups of turbines are bunched together.  These groups are called wind farms.  We usually think of farms that produce food for people to eat.  Wind farms produce energy for people to use.  Wind turbines need a lot of space, but that doesn’t mean the land around them is useless.  It can also serve another purpose as is shown in the photo above.  This land is used for two purposes:  grazing sheep and producing energy!

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This fun fact and more are found in the text: Harnessing the Wind by Sarah Wassner Flynn.  Harnessing the Wind is found in, StarrMatica Texts:  Science Your Way, a collection of informational texts written specifically to address every K-5 NGSS Performance Expectation.  All texts in the collection are written at six different Lexile levels, so all students can read the same content at their reading level.  You can find out more about StarrMatica Texts:  Science Your Way here: http://www.starrmatica.com