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Energy and Habitat Loss — Reading Comprehension

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NGSS 4-ESS3-1

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This engaging 250-word reading passage introduces fourth-grade students to the relationship between energy production and habitat loss, aligned with NGSS standard 4-ESS3-1. Students explore how humans obtain energy from coal, oil, and natural gas, and learn how building mines, drilling sites, and power plants can destroy places where animals and plants live. The passage uses age-appropriate language and real-world examples to help students understand the connection between energy use and ecosystem impacts. Key vocabulary terms including habitat, ecosystem, mining, drilling, and power plant are clearly defined within the context. The passage is audio-integrated to support diverse learners and includes a simplified differentiated version for students reading below grade level. Supplementary activities include comprehension questions, writing prompts, and graphic organizers that reinforce understanding of cause-and-effect relationships between human energy needs and environmental consequences. Spanish translations are provided for both passage versions to support English language learners. This resource builds foundational understanding of how human activities affect natural systems, preparing students for hands-on investigations and deeper discussions about energy resources and environmental stewardship.

CONTENT PREVIEW

Simple diagram showing mining, power plants, and resulting habitat and ecosystem damage. — Energy extraction leads to habitat destruction, harming plants, animals, and ecosystems.

Humans need energy to power homes, schools, and cars. Energy is the ability to do work or cause change. We get most of our energy from natural resources like coal, oil, and natural gas that are buried deep underground.

To reach these energy resources, people must build mines, which are large holes dug into the earth to remove coal and other materials. They also create drilling sites, which are places where machines drill deep into the ground to pump out oil or natural gas. Once these resources are collected, they are often taken to power plants, which are buildings with large machines that burn fuel to make electricity.

Building these structures causes serious problems for nature. When companies clear land to build a mine, drilling site, or power plant, they remove trees, dig up soil, and change the landscape. This destroys the habitat, or natural home, where animals and plants live. A habitat provides food, water, and shelter that living things need to survive.

When habitats are destroyed, animals must find new places to live or they may die. Plants cannot move, so they are removed or buried. This harms the entire ecosystem, which is all the living and nonliving things in an area that interact with each other. For example, cutting down a forest for a coal mine removes homes for birds, squirrels, and insects, and destroys the plants they depend on for food.

Our energy use is connected to these impacts. The more energy we use, the more resources we need, and the more habitats may be destroyed.

What is energy?

The ability to do workA type of animalA kind of treeA building for machines

Where do we get most energy?

From trees and flowersFrom coal, oil, and gasFrom the sun onlyFrom animals

What is a habitat?

A type of energyA machine that drillsA natural home for animalsA kind of fuel

Why does building mines harm ecosystems?

It makes electricityIt destroys animal and plant habitatsIt creates new homesIt helps animals find food

What happens when habitats are destroyed?

Animals grow biggerPlants move to new placesAnimals must find new homesMore trees grow

How is energy use connected to habitats?