Grade 5 Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 5 science in the New Brunswick Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Grade focus: Living and Technological Systems.
- Scientific Literacy: Investigation. Plan investigations to solve problems relating to simple machines or human systems: digestive, respiratory, circulatory, nervous, and musculoskeletal.
- Scientific Literacy: Sensemaking. Analyze data to construct explanations and conclusions based on evidence from scientific inquiry.
- Scientific Literacy: Communication. Communicate procedure, result, and conclusion of scientific inquiry using a variety of media.
- Learning & Living Sustainably: Responsible and Sustainable Application. Apply scientific and technological knowledge and an understanding of sustainable practices responsibly with respect to simple machines and human systems.
Easy ways to practise 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
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.
Forces, Friction and Machines
Forces as pushes, pulls and twists, how friction affects motion, and how friction makes simple machines less efficient.
Simple Machines
The six simple machines, how machines trade force for distance, compound machines, and reading data from a ramp experiment.
Digestion & Breathing
How food travels through the digestive system and air through the respiratory system, plus reading a breathing-rate table.
Heart, Bones & Muscles
The heart and blood vessels, bones, joints, muscles and tendons, how body systems work together, and heart-rate data.
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.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Working below
- 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 practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Excelling
- 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 New Brunswick 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 New Brunswick Curriculum Grade 5 science units include weather and the water cycle, forces, friction and machines, simple machines, digestion & breathing, heart, bones & muscles, changes of state.
Free printable Grade 5 science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.