5th grade Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in 5th grade science in the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- Matter and its changes, energy transfer, food webs, and the sun and stars
- Science and engineering practices: measuring, graphing and designing devices
- How science connects to people and communities in Minnesota and beyond
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.
Ecosystems & Food Chains
How energy from the sun moves through food chains (producers, consumers and decomposers), how living things in an ecosystem depend on each other, and how First Peoples' knowledge of local ecosystems is passed down.
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.
Energy on the Move
Practices energy sources, how energy moves from a source to an object or living thing to cause action, and how people use their senses to detect heat, light and sound.
Energy, Speed & Collisions
Practices how an object's speed relates to its energy, what happens to energy when objects collide, and devices that change energy from one form to another.
Sun, Stars & Shadows
Practices why the sun looks brighter than other stars (it is much closer), and the daily and seasonal patterns of shadows, day length and the stars we see, using Minnesota's long summer days and short winter days.
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 Minnesota 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 Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards 5th grade science units include Solutions & Mixtures, Solid, Liquid, Gas, Changes of State, Physical or Chemical?, Measuring Matter, Ecosystems & Food Chains.
Free printable 5th grade science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.