Our 5th Grade Science Program features instruction and investigations dedicated to building scientific literacy, created by the FOSS Elementary Science program.
5th grade scientists will participate in hands-on investigations, class discussions and readings, and individual recording and note-taking. Using consistent classroom practices and procedures, our objective is to build:
- Familiarity with the natural world, its diversity, and its interdependence.
- Understanding the disciplinary core ideas and the cross-cutting concepts of science, such as patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; systems and system models; energy and matter—flows, cycles, and conservation; structure and function; and stability and change.
- Knowledge that science and engineering, technology, and mathematics are interdependent human enterprises and, as such, have implied strengths and limitations.
- Ability to reason scientifically.
- Awareness of how to use scientific knowledge and scientific and engineering practices for personal and social purposes.
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Earth and Sun
This is our first unit!
We begin by talking about shadows, and how and why they change during the day. There are hands-on activities that are completed by the students, and then discussed as a class. We trace shadows outside with chalk, and then we observe those shadows during different times of day to note their changes.
Our discussions of shadows lead into discussions about day/night, the Earth's rotation, and the moon's presence in our night sky.
The Solar System and the Planets
- We sort and compare planets according to several characteristics: distance from the sun; surface temperature; composition; diameter
Planetary Systems
- Moon's Phases (night sky observations and monthly moon calendar)
- How Big and How Far? We discuss the sizes of the Earth and the moon, and make hands on models of the distance between the two, using the Earth's diameter as a measurement guide.
- Apollo 11 - We read about and discuss the famous mission to the moon!