Sunshine and Melting

Start with something students can look at or think about: a photo, a short video, a jar on the windowsill, or a question like "what do you already know about heat energy?" Then let them work through the first item together as a class, then finish the rest independently or with a partner, keeping a word bank or anchor chart in view so the vocabulary stays available. When you review, ask students how they knew, and let them point to the part of the diagram or reading that told them. These heat energy worksheets work well as a lead in before an investigation, as a way to capture what students noticed afterward, or as review before an assessment.

These heat energy worksheets for 1st grade give students a clear, visual way to work through one of the big ideas in energy sound and light. Students label diagrams, sort and classify examples, read short explanations, and answer questions that ask them to say why, not just what. Each page keeps the science vocabulary front and center so students leave with the words they need to talk about heat energy accurately. Working through heat energy on paper gives 1st grade students something concrete to hold onto before, during, or after the hands on part of a lesson.

Yes, both. We made it for 1st Grade energy, sound and light, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with heat energy. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

The ones made of ice, chocolate or wax: a popsicle, an ice cream, a chocolate bar and a candle. A basketball, a watch and a crayon left in the shade do not, which is what makes the sorting a decision.

Water. The page asks it directly, because naming the result is what turns melting from a word into a change of state the child can describe.

Hot or Cold?, which covers why melting happens at all: heat moving from a hot thing to a cold one. This sheet observes the effect, that one explains it.

First graders learn that heat is a type of energy that can move from warmer to cooler objects and that it comes from sources like the sun, fire, and electrical appliances. They explore simple examples of heat causing changes, such as melting ice or cooking food, and practice identifying safe and unsafe heat sources.

Heat energy is typically introduced in Grade 1 during a physical science unit on energy, often alongside light and sound. Teachers connect it to weather science, cooking, and seasonal temperature changes to make the concept feel immediate and relevant.

On a sunny day, place a dark object and a light object in the sun and ask your child to predict and observe which gets hotter. Complete the worksheet together and connect your experiment to the heat energy concept.

13 printable worksheets, all free to preview. Downloads are included with a ClassWeekly free trial, and every page prints on standard 8.5 x 11 paper.

These are written for 1st Grade students, roughly ages 6-7. Many teachers also use them a grade up for review or a grade down as an extension, so use the preview to judge the fit for a particular child.

Yes. Each one shows the NGSS code it covers on its own page, so you can check the alignment yourself rather than taking our word for it.

Yes. Nothing here assumes a classroom of 25, so they work the same one-to-one at the kitchen table as they do in a 1st Grade classroom, a literacy centre, or a tutoring session.