Worksheet

Holding On to Heat: Words for a Warm Home

Read an article about keeping a home warm in winter and use context clues to work out words like insulation, conductor and thermostat.

Grade 4ELAInteractive · Printable

Aligned toRI.4.4

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1 Common Core standard
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10 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 4
Subject: ELA
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use context clues to work out the meaning of science words in an informational text.
Students use new science words correctly in sentences about a home.

How to use

Read the article aloud, pausing at each science word so students can point to the clue that explains it, then let them answer on their own.

Curriculum

Common Core standard covered

RI.4.4

Work out the meaning of general academic and subject-specific words and phrases in a text on a grade 4 topic.

Preview

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Holding On to Heat: Words for a Warm Home

Work out science words about how a home stays warm.

Read the article

How a Home Holds On to Heat

1On a cold winter night, a family turns on the heat and gathers in the living room. Yet someone sitting near the back door may feel a chilly breeze on their ankles. Where is the cold air coming from, and where is the warm air going? The answers come from a few useful science words.

2Heat always moves from warmer places to cooler places. Scientists call this movement heat transfer. In winter, the air inside a home is warmer than the air outside, so heat keeps escaping through the walls, windows and roof. A home cannot stop heat transfer completely, but it can slow it down.

3The main way to slow it is with insulation. Insulation is material that is put inside walls, floors and attics to keep heat from passing through easily. Much of it is fluffy, like a thick blanket. The fluff traps tiny pockets of air, and air that stays still does not carry heat well.

4Materials that let heat pass through them quickly are called conductors. Most metals, such as iron and copper, are good conductors. That is why a metal spoon left in hot soup soon feels hot. Materials that slow heat down are called insulators. Wood, wool, plastic and still air are all insulators. A wooden spoon in the same soup stays much cooler.

5Even a well-insulated home can lose heat through small gaps around doors and windows. A draft is a stream of cold air that slips in through a gap like this. To stop drafts, families can add weatherstripping. Weatherstripping is a strip of foam or rubber that seals a gap, closing it up tightly so air cannot pass. Many homes also have double-pane windows, which have two layers of glass with a thin layer of air or another gas between them.

6Finally, many homes have a thermostat on the wall. A thermostat senses the temperature of the air in the home. When the room gets cooler than the setting, it switches the heater on. When the room warms up to the setting, it switches the heater off. The same insulation that keeps heat inside in winter also helps keep heat outside in summer.

Work out the words

Use clues in the article to answer each question.

In paragraph 2, what does heat transfer mean?

A. a machine that makes a room warmer
B. heat moving from one place to another
C. a tool that measures how cold air is
D. the way a heater turns off at night

In paragraph 2, heat keeps escaping through the walls, windows and roof. What does escaping mean here?

A. getting trapped inside
B. warming up the house
C. leaking out of the house
D. turning into cold air

Based on paragraph 3, what is insulation?

A. material in walls and attics that slows heat
B. a machine that blows warm air into rooms
C. a gap that lets cold air into the house
D. a coat of paint that keeps the walls dry

Read paragraph 3 again. Underline the sentence that explains how the fluff in insulation slows heat.

The main way to slow it is with insulation.Insulation is material that is put inside walls, floors and attics to keep heat from passing through easily.Much of it is fluffy, like a thick blanket.The fluff traps tiny pockets of air, and air that stays still does not carry heat well.

Match each word from the article to its meaning.

conductor
insulator
draft
thermostat

A. a stream of cold air that slips in through a gap
B. a device that senses the temperature of the air
C. a material that slows heat down
D. a material that lets heat pass through quickly

In paragraph 5, weatherstripping seals a gap. What does it do to the gap?

A. opens it wider so air can flow
B. covers it with a coat of paint
C. makes it easier to find and fix
D. closes it up so air cannot pass

Based on paragraph 5, what is a double-pane window?

A. a window that opens in two directions
B. a window with two layers of glass
C. a window with two locks on the frame
D. a window that is twice as tall

Use the words

Use the science words from the article.

Complete the sentences about the Lopez family's home. Use each word from the word bank once. One word will not be used.

Word bank: thermostat · double-pane · conductor · draft · insulation

A cold slipped in under the front door and chilled Ana's feet.
When the house got cooler than the setting, the switched the heater on.
Grandma's iron pan heated up fast because iron is a good .
Thick, fluffy in the attic slowed the heat from escaping through the roof.