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Texas Science Teacher Resource Hub

Free scope and sequences, TEKS breakdowns, phenomenon ideas, and engagement activities for the 2024 Texas science standards.

Chris Kesler
I'm Chris Kesler, a former award-winning Texas middle school science teacher. This is the site I wish I'd had in the classroom. One hub with TEKS breakdowns, scope and sequences, phenomenon starters, engagement ideas, and resources, all aligned to the standards you actually teach.
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Pick your grade level and go straight to your TEKS standards, aligned resources, and teaching tools.

  • 4th
    4th Grade Science
    14 standards • Earth, Energy, Organisms & more
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  • 5th
    5th Grade Science
    16 standards • Matter, Ecosystems, Space & more
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    6th Grade Science
    18 standards • Forces, Energy, Matter & more
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    7th Grade Science
    17 standards • Cells, Chemistry, Earth & more
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    8th Grade Science
    19 standards • Newton's Laws, Space, Genetics & more
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All standards updated for the 2024 TEKS revision
TEKS Details | Texas Hub Module

6th Grade TEKS Standards

Click any standard to see what it means, how to teach it, where students get stuck, and aligned resources.

Matter & Properties (6.6)
6.6A Matter & Kinetic Energy 6.6B Pure Substances & Mixtures 6.6C Classify Elements 6.6D Comparing Density 6.6E Evidence of Chemical Changes
Force, Motion & Energy (6.7)
6.7A Forces in the Real-World 6.7B Calculating Net Force 6.7C Newton's Third Law of Motion
Energy (6.8)
6.8A Compare & Contrast Energies 6.8B Energy Transformations in Systems 6.8C Energy of Waves
Earth & Space (6.9)
6.9A Model Earth's Tilt & Seasons 6.9B Predicting Tides
Earth's Structure (6.10)
6.10A Differentiate Between Earth's Spheres 6.10B Modeling Layers of Earth 6.10C Processes in the Rock Cycle
Resources (6.11)
6.11A Resource Management 6.11B Managing Energy Resources
Ecosystems (6.12)
6.12A Biotic & Abiotic Competition 6.12B Ecological Relationships 6.12C Hierarchy of Ecosystems
Organisms (6.13)
6.13A Development of Cell Theory 6.13B Comparing Organisms 6.13C Variations & Survival
TEKS S.6.11A • Resources

Resource Management

The Standard

"Research and describe the types and uses of Earth's natural resources, including renewable and nonrenewable resources, and explain how resource management practices affect these resources."

💡 What This Standard Actually Means

The Key Verb

"Research and describe" and "explain". Students are gathering information about Earth's natural resources and describing how we use them. They are also explaining how the way we manage those resources can change how long they last. The standard uses the word "including", which signals where to focus your students: renewable resources and nonrenewable resources. Students should be able to identify examples of each, describe how humans use them, and explain how management practices affect availability. Instruction can take many forms, such as sorting activities, T-charts, research projects, case studies, and short written explanations.

Renewable resources are materials that can be replenished on a human timescale. Sunlight, wind, flowing water, trees, and geothermal heat are the common examples. Just because a resource is renewable doesn't mean it's unlimited. Forests can be cut down faster than they regrow. Groundwater can be pumped out faster than rain refills the aquifer. The word "renewable" describes how the resource is replenished, not how carefully humans use it.

Nonrenewable resources form so slowly that once we use them, they are effectively gone for human lifetimes. Coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear fuel (uranium) are the main examples. These resources took millions of years to form, so the rate we pull them out of the ground far exceeds the rate they are created.

Resource management is the part of this standard students often skip past. Management includes practices like replanting trees after logging, setting fishing limits, recycling metals, protecting groundwater, and using less fuel. Good management can stretch a resource further. Poor management can turn a renewable resource into something that functions like a nonrenewable one. Students should be able to identify a specific practice, connect it to a specific resource, and explain the effect.

💬 From Chris's Classroom

The fastest way I found to make this real for kids was a sorting activity with actual objects. I'd dump a bag on the table: a small piece of coal, a pine cone, a jar of tap water, a chunk of aluminum foil, a battery, a leaf, a small solar-powered calculator. No definitions on the board yet. Just "sort these into two piles: ones we can get more of pretty quickly, and ones we basically can't." They'd argue with each other. They'd flip some cards back and forth. That argument is the lesson. Once the piles settled, I'd drop the vocabulary: renewable, nonrenewable. Then we'd talk about the edge cases. Trees are renewable, but what happens if we cut them faster than they grow? That's where the management piece clicks into place.

⚠️ Misconceptions Your Students May Have

These are some of the most common misconceptions. Knowing what to look for can help you get ahead of them.

×

"Renewable resources are unlimited"

✓

Renewable doesn't mean infinite. It means the resource is replenished on a human timescale. Trees are renewable because new ones grow, but a forest clear-cut faster than it regrows can still disappear. Freshwater aquifers can be pumped out faster than rain refills them. The label "renewable" describes how the resource replenishes, not how much we can take.

×

"Natural resources and energy resources are the same thing"

✓

Energy resources are one type of natural resource. Natural resources also include materials humans use for things other than energy: drinking water, soil for crops, metals and minerals for building, wood for lumber, and land itself. Coal and oil are both natural resources and energy resources. A freshwater lake is a natural resource but isn't really an energy resource unless it's behind a dam.

×

"Recycling is only about keeping trash out of landfills"

✓

Recycling is a resource management practice. When we recycle aluminum cans, we reduce the amount of new aluminum ore (bauxite) that has to be mined. Recycling paper reduces the number of trees that have to be cut. The point is conserving the natural resource on the front end, not just dealing with garbage on the back end.

×

"Nuclear energy is renewable because it's clean"

✓

Nuclear energy uses uranium, which is mined from the ground and is nonrenewable. Nuclear plants don't release carbon dioxide during operation, which is a separate issue from whether the fuel itself is renewable. Students often conflate "clean" and "renewable". They are different ideas.

📓 Teaching Resources for 6.11A

These resources are aligned to this standard.

Complete 5E Lesson
Resource Management Complete Science Lesson
The full unit for 6.11A: differentiated station labs, editable presentations, interactive notebooks (English + Spanish), student-choice projects, and assessments. Built on the 5E model.
⏱ Best for: Full unit coverage • Multiple class periods
Preview → Buy →
Station Lab
Resource Management Station Lab
9-station hands-on lab covering renewable and nonrenewable resources with input stations (Explore It!, Watch It!, Read It!, Research It!) and output stations (Organize It!, Illustrate It!, Write It!, Assess It!). Print and digital. English and Spanish.
🔬 Best for: Core instruction • 1-2 class periods
Preview → Buy →
Student Choice Projects
Resource Management Student Choice Projects
Choice board with nine project options plus a "design your own" pathway. Students demonstrate their understanding of natural resources and management through writing, building, illustrating, presenting, or digital formats.
🎓 Best for: Project-based assessment • 2-3 class periods
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🌎 Phenomenon Ideas for 6.11A

Use these real-world phenomena to anchor your lesson. Show students the phenomenon first, let them wonder, then build toward Resource Management as the explanation.

🔎
Phenomenon 1

The Ogallala Aquifer Is Dropping

The Ogallala Aquifer sits underneath much of the Texas Panhandle and seven other states. It supplies water for farms and towns across the region. In many parts of the aquifer, the water level has dropped substantially since farmers began heavy irrigation in the mid-1900s. Rain still falls on the plains, but in many areas water is being pumped out much faster than it is being recharged.

💬 Discussion Prompt

"Water is usually called a renewable resource. So why is the Ogallala dropping? What does this tell us about how 'renewable' works in the real world?"

🔎
Phenomenon 2

Replanted Forests in East Texas

In East Texas and across the Southeast, commercial timber companies harvest pine trees for lumber and paper. After harvest, many of these companies replant seedlings, and the next generation of trees grows back over the following decades. Some stands are on their third or fourth cycle of being cut and replanted. The same patch of land has produced wood over and over.

💬 Discussion Prompt

"What makes trees a renewable resource, and what resource management practice is happening here? What would happen to these forests if companies only cut and never replanted?"

🔎
Phenomenon 3

The Coal That Was Once a Swamp

Most of the coal burned in power plants today formed roughly 300 million years ago, when huge swampy forests covered parts of Earth. Dead plants were buried, compressed, and slowly transformed into coal over millions of years. We burn that coal in minutes. Right now, new coal is forming, but on a timescale humans can't wait for.

💬 Discussion Prompt

"If coal is still forming today, why do we call it nonrenewable? What does the word 'nonrenewable' actually measure?"

💡 Free Engagement Ideas for 6.11A

01

The Cookie Mining Challenge

Give each student a chocolate chip cookie, a toothpick, and a paper clip. The chocolate chips are "ore". The cookie is the "land". Students mine out all the chips without breaking the cookie, then try to "reclaim" the land by putting it back together. Kids quickly see how hard it is to undo extraction. Tie it to nonrenewable resource use and the impact of management choices.

Materials: Chocolate chip cookies, toothpicks, paper clips, paper plates
02

Renewable vs. Nonrenewable Sort

Print index cards with a mix of resources: sunlight, coal, wind, natural gas, trees, oil, flowing water, uranium, geothermal heat, soil, aluminum ore, and so on. Groups sort cards into two piles and justify their choices. Include at least three edge cases (trees, groundwater, soil) so students can wrestle with the nuance.

Materials: Index cards, markers, optional envelope or sorting mat
03

The Fishing Game

Fill a bowl with dry beans (fish). Each student is a fishing boat. Each round, students scoop a handful and the teacher adds a few beans back (the fish population reproducing). Run it for several rounds. Then add a rule: "only take 3 per round". The first version collapses fast. The second version lasts. Connect it to resource management and fishing limits.

Materials: A bowl, dry beans, plastic spoons or small cups
04

Classroom Recycling Audit

Students look at what ends up in the classroom trash in a single class period. Have them categorize: could this be recycled? Could it be reused? What natural resource did it originally come from (tree, aluminum ore, petroleum)? Students then write three specific management changes the classroom could try for a week.

Materials: Clean gloves, trash bag from the day, paper plates or sorting sheets
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Practical, week-by-week scope and sequences for grades 4-8. These tell you what to teach and when to teach it. Updated for the 2024 TEKS.

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