Science, Technology & Engineering (Grade 5)

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Science instruction in Norfolk Public Schools helps students integrate ideas across science domains, use evidence to support claims, and communicate their reasoning clearly. Students engage in labs, investigations, and engineering challenges that encourage them to think like scientists and engineers.

In Fifth Grade, students study matter and its interactions, ecosystems and energy flow, Earth’s water cycle, and the patterns of Earth in the solar system. They also participate in engineering design challenges, applying what they know about science to create and test solutions.

Core Resources

Foss Science:

The founding principle of the FOSS program was to enlist students not as passive recipients of information but as active investigators of phenomena. This approach engages and advances learners of all languages and cultures, taking advantage of prior experiences so all students can reason scientifically—a goal that has only gained relevance with time.

Mystery Science:

Children are naturally curious. Elementary school years are the time to nurture that curiosity. These are the years when children form habits of thinking that will live with them for the rest of their lives. This is when they form their view of the world. This is the time to teach children how to think critically, how to solve problems. This is the opportunity to nurture each child’s burning curiosity, guide them as they explore their world, and ensure that they develop the most important skill of all: the ability to figure things out for themselves

Units by Term

To enable the sharing of resources, all classes do not do the same units at the same time. The following units are taught throughout the year.

Life Science:

Living Systems

Food Chains
Plants
Decomposers and Matter
Ecosystems/Matter Cycling
Food Webs/Energy

Earth and Space Science and Technology & Engineering:

Earth and Sun

Shadow Shifting
Sun Tracking
Night Sky Observations
Phases of the Moon
The Solar System
Stars
The Air Around Us
Heating Earth Materials
Conduction
Energy Transfer
Watery Planet
Groundwater as a Natural Resource
Water Cycle
Natural Disasters and Engineering

Physical Science:

Mixtures and Solutions

Separating Mixtures
Engineering Design
Concentration
Mixtures and Solutions

Report Card Standards

Competency in these report card standards are the end-of-year goals.

Scientific Skills and Practices

Generates questions that can be tested in a classroom investigation; designs and carries out a controlled experiment
Uses scientific tools and models to collect and interpret data
Uses evidence to draw conclusions and support scientific claims
Communicates observations and ideas through writing, visual displays, multimedia presentations, and discussion

Earth and Space Sciences

Understands that the solar system consists of planets and other bodies that orbit the Sun and understands energy from the Sun heats Earth unevenly, causing changing weather patterns

Life Science

Understands the transfer of the Sun’s energy within a food chain and the interconnectedness of living systems

Physical Science

Understands the states of matter, conservation of matter, and phase changes and recognizes the difference between a chemical change and physical change

Technology & Engineering

Applies the principles of engineering/design process (ask, imagine, plan, create, improve) to solve a problem