5th grade Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in 5th grade science in the California Content Standards, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- Matter and its changes
- Food webs and ecosystems
- Earth's systems, the sun and the stars
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.
Weather and the Water Cycle
How the Sun, air, water and land interact to cause daily weather, the water cycle, tools for measuring weather, and why long-term forecasting is hard.
Energy from the Sun
Practices how plants get the materials they need for growth mostly from air and water, and how the energy in animals' food was once energy from the sun.
Matter Moves in Ecosystems
Practices how matter moves among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment, with Pacific Northwest examples like salmon feeding forests after they spawn.
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.
Sun, Stars & Shadows
Practices why the sun looks brighter than other stars, and patterns of shadows, day length and the stars we see in different seasons.
Earth's Systems & Water
Practices how Earth's geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere interact, how much of Earth's water is salty or frozen, and how communities protect water, from Sierra Nevada snow to San Francisco Bay.
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 California 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 California Content Standards 5th grade science units include Solutions & Mixtures, Solid, Liquid, Gas, Changes of State, Physical or Chemical?, Measuring Matter, Weather and the Water Cycle.
Free printable 5th grade science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.