5th grade Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in 5th grade science in the Arizona Academic Standards, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- Matter, particles and new substances
- Forces, motion and gravity
- Earth and the Sun, and inherited traits
Easy ways to practice science at home
- Turn everyday questions into investigations: “Which paper towel holds the most water?”
- Read a science news story together and ask what evidence it gives.
- Look up how a household machine works, such as a bike gear, a lamp or a fridge.
- Have your child draw and label a diagram of something they just learned.
What each unit covers
Solutions & Mixtures
Solutions versus mechanical mixtures, solutes and solvents, what affects dissolving, and ways to separate mixtures (filtering, evaporation, magnets, chromatography).
Solid, Liquid, Gas
Matter as anything with mass and volume, how particles are arranged in solids, liquids and gases, and why materials are chosen for their properties.
Changes of State
Melting, freezing, evaporation and condensation at home and outdoors, and how matter absorbs or releases thermal energy when it changes state.
Physical or Chemical?
Telling a physical change from a chemical change, spotting the signs of a new substance, and how making and throwing away everyday products affects the environment.
Measuring Matter
Measuring mass (grams, kilograms) and volume (milliliters, liters), comparing density, why gases compress and solids do not, and how the particle model explains it.
Speed & Motion
Practices speed as the distance an object travels in a certain time, inertia (objects keep doing what they are doing until a force acts), and how mass and force affect how quickly motion changes.
Gravity Pulls Down
Practices explaining that Earth's gravitational force on objects is directed down, toward Earth's center, wherever you are on the planet.
Spinning Earth, Moving Shadows
Practices that Earth rotates on its axis about once every 24 hours, which causes day and night and makes the Sun appear to move across the sky, so shadows change length and direction during the day.
Traits & Variation
Practices how plants and animals inherit traits from their parents, how traits vary within a family, and how the environment can change traits like size or health.
Engineering Challenges
Practices the engineering design process: defining a problem with criteria and constraints, comparing possible solutions, and planning fair tests that control variables and find failure points.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practicing the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Arizona report card guide.
Common questions
Turn everyday questions into investigations: “Which paper towel holds the most water?” Read a science news story together and ask what evidence it gives. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Arizona Academic Standards 5th grade science units include Solutions & Mixtures, Solid, Liquid, Gas, Changes of State, Physical or Chemical?, Measuring Matter, Speed & Motion.
Free printable 5th grade science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.