Grade 5 Science: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 5 science in the Saskatchewan Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Life Science: Human Body Systems (HB5.1–HB5.3): Analyze personal and societal requirements for, and the impact of, maintaining a healthy human body. Investigate the structure, function, and major organs of one or more human body systems such as the digestive… Assess how multiple human body systems function together to enable people to move, grow, and react to stimuli.
- Physical Science: Properties and Changes of Materials (MC5.1–MC5.3): Investigate the characteristics and physical properties of materials in solid, liquid, and gaseous states of… Investigate how reversible and non-reversible changes, including changes of state, alter materials. Assess how the production, use, and disposal of raw materials and manufactured products affects self, society, and…
- Physical Science: Forces and Simple Machines (FM5.1–FM5.3): Analyze the effects of gravitational, magnetic, and mechanical forces, including friction, on the movement of… Investigate characteristics of simple machines, including levers, wheels and axles, pulleys, inclined planes… Assess how natural and man-made forces and simple machines affect individuals, society, and the environment.
- Earth and Space Science: Weather (WE5.1–WE5.3): Measure and represent local weather, including temperature, wind speed and direction, amount of sunlight… Investigate local, national, and global weather conditions, including the role of air movement and solar energy… Analyze the impact of weather on society and the environment, including technologies that help humans address…
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
Healthy Choices
How sleep, activity, air quality, sun, sound and food choices affect health, how technologies help or harm, and reading labels.
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.
Body Teamwork
The nervous and excretory systems, how body systems depend on each other, and which organs some common diseases and disorders affect.
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.
Simple Machines
The six simple machines, how machines trade force for distance, compound machines, and reading data from a ramp experiment.
Measuring Weather
The tools that measure weather (thermometer, anemometer, wind vane, rain gauge, barometer), cloud types, fair measuring, and reading graphs of weather data.
Weather Patterns & Impacts
How the Sun's heat moves air and water, high and low pressure, fronts, the water cycle, severe prairie weather (blizzards, hail, tornadoes, drought, floods), and how forecasts and technology help people stay safe.
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 practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Meeting is the goal for every outcome. Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exemplary
- 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 Saskatchewan report card guide.
Common questions
How can I help my Grade 5 child with science?
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.
What does my child learn in Grade 5 science in Saskatchewan?
The Saskatchewan Curriculum Grade 5 science units include healthy choices, digestion & breathing, heart, bones & muscles, body teamwork, solid, liquid, gas, changes of state.
Free printable Grade 5 science practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.