5th Grade Science Grade Level Expectations
Unit: Nature of Science
Understand:
1. Science attempts to explain how and why things happen in the natural world by collecting
evidence and developing theories that explain natural phenomena.
2. The Scientific Method is a systematic problems solving approach to collect data and evidence
3. Scientist use the scientific method and experiments to collect the data / evidence that might
help them answer a question or solve a problem.
Know:
1. The steps of the scientific method
 State the problem or question
 Form a testable hypothesis
 Design an experiment
 Collect and analyze data
 Draw conclusions
 Communicate results
2. The skill scientist use when conducting experiments
 Observe
 Predict
 Classify
 Model
 Compare and contrast
3. Key scientific definitions
 Law
 Theory
 Hypothesis
 System
4. How to design an experiment
5. What tools scientist use to collect data
6. Lab safety procedures
Be able to:
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Write and analyze questions that can be answered by conducting scientific experiments
Design and conduct an experiment using the scientific process and scientific skills
Select and use appropriate tools and techniques to gather and display data
Measure in both U.S. Customary and International Systems of measurement
Explain the difference between observation and inference
Demonstrate proper lab safety procedures
Compare and contrast a law, theory and hypothesis
Identify systems
Read and follow technical instructions
Unit: Earth’s Systems
Understand:
1. The earth is a dynamic system undergoing constant change.
2. We develop theories to explain how the earth system works based on
evidence.
3. Rocks and minerals are nonrenewable resources that move through a cycle.
4. Nonliving things can be classified based on their defining characteristics
Know:
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The layers of the earth
The Theory of Plate Tectonics
How the ocean floors are effected by plate tectonics
The causes of earthquakes
How volcanoes and islands are formed
The stages of the Rock Cycle
The classification of rocks
The properties of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks
Be able to:
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Classify and sort rocks
Compare/contrast and define types of rocks
Record characteristics to determine types of rocks
Diagram rock cycle
Interpret information from tables, graphs, maps, and charts
Observe, illustrate, discuss, describe, and interpret changes in earth’s
systems
7. Create models and maps to study changes in earth’s systems
8. Read and follow technical directions
9. Identify the differences between renewable and non-renewable resources
Unit: Biology of Living Systems
Understand:
1. Cells are the basic units of all living organisms. Some organisms are made of
one cell while others are made up of systems of cells.
2. Cell characteristics are one of the ways we use to classify things as plants or
animals.
3. Plants manufacture their own food through the process of photosynthesis
which also cycles carbon and oxygen into and out of the atmosphere.
4. All living things inherit traits from their parents in a molecule called DNA.
Some of those traits are very common while others are rare.
5. Species evolve traits to help them survive
Know:
1. The cell is the basic living unit of all organisms.
2. The parts and function of an animal cell.
3. The parts and function of a plant cell.
4. The structural differences between plants and animal cells
5. That plant convert energy from the sun through photosynthesis.
6. Photosynthesis recycles oxygen and carbon
7. Cells organized into systems
8. The plant systems required to accomplish photosynthesis
9. The definition of an inherited trait.
10. Common traits
11. How traits are passed
12. How traits can enhance an organisms survival
Be able to:
1. Use microscopes to observe cells
2. Compare and contrast the structural differences between plant and animal
cells
3. Model plant and animal cells.
4. Explain how plants convert energy from the sun through photosynthesis
5. Diagram the process of photosynthesis.
6. Explain the concept that traits are passed from parents to offspring
7. List several inherited traits.
8. Describe how traits can help an organism survive
Unit: The Structure of Matter
Understand:
1. The Atom is the basic unit of matter and can be classified on the periodic
table according to its properties.
2. Two or more atoms can chemically combine to make compounds.
3. A chemical change results in a change in the characteristics of the matter.
Physical change causes only a change in the appearance of the matter.
4. Matter changes state when the energy is added or removed.
Know:
1. Atoms are the basic unit of matter
2. What elements are
3. What system we use to classify elements (periodic table)
4. What a molecule and compound are
5. The difference between a mixture and solution
6. The physical and chemical properties of matter
7. The difference between a physical and chemical change
8. That matter is conserved during any change
9. The states of matter
10. The relative position of the atoms in any state
11. That energy is required to change the state of matter
Be able to:
1. Create a model of an atom identifying components and charge
2. Explain how we classify atoms
3. Compare and contrast mixtures and solutions
4. Differentiate between physical and chemical changes
5. Diagram the relative position of atoms / molecules in the 3 states of matter
6. Observe and record changes in matter
7. Create and interpret tables and charts
8. Describe the difference among elements, compounds, and mixtures
9. Create a model or diagram of an element, a compound, and a mixture
10. Describe the form of a matter in its solid, liquid, and gaseous state