Name: ______________________

Date: _______________________

The Silly Beaver and His Dam

Hi everyone! says Mr. Beaver. He is the daddy
beaver. Today Mr. Beaver is going to explain what he
does with the logs he gets every day.
Beavers collect about 5 to 10 pounds of wood.
Thats about the weight of a bag of rice! Mr. Beaver
takes the wood and creates a dam in a river or pond
to make his home for his family.
These dams that he creates do not only make a home for him and his family but
they also block the water from flowing. The water that is blocked by Mr.
Beavers dam creates a flood on one side of the dam and shallow end on the
other side of the dam. In science, the side with the flood is a type of energy. IT
is known as Potential energy. Potential energy is the energy that is stored and
kept under stress; the energy might be used for other things at another time.
Scientists told Mr. Beaver that they use potential energy to create power for our
light bulbs and refrigerators!
Sometimes, Mr. Beavers dam breaks. That means the water the dam was
holding back is released, this is another example of a type of energy! This is
called kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is energy that is taken and stored from
Home breaks, he has to work
something that is in motion. When Mr. Beavers
really hard to make another home
for his family. Or theyll be sad
when night time comes. And that
is the end to Mr. Beavers wood
story!

Created by Tiffany Huang

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Mr. Beavers Questions

1. How much Wood does Mr. Beaver collect in a day? What does he do with it?
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2. Where does Mr. Beaver build his dams?

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3. What is potential energy? What can it be used for?

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4. How might kinetic energy be created? What is kinetic enegy?

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Created by Tiffany Huang

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