Welcome to 5th Grade Science!

 We will begin our journey through this year’s science class by covering procedures and information that we will be using throughout the year. This will include our science journals, the Scientific Method, and general lab and safety procedures. These lessons will lay the foundation for all of our labs, experiments, activities, and observations; so be sure to familiarize yourself with all of the material. 

 In this unit, we will learn about matter – the atoms and molecules that make up everything around us. We will see how matter can be described, identified, and classified based on both its physical and chemical properties. Through experiments and demonstrations, we will be able to observe and describe many of these properties, as well as how properties can be changed through physical and chemical processes.

In this unit, we will learn about heat – a form of energy that is generated by the movement of molecules in a substance. We will also observe the three methods by which heat can be transferred – conduction, convection, and radiation. Through research and experimentation, we will compare these methods and see their effect on different types of materials.

In this unit, we will learn about forces – a push or a pull on an object – and how forces can cause an object to move, change direction or speed, or stop. We will be exploring the scientific laws that describe the motion of objects and conducting experiments to predict and demonstrate the motion of objects. 

In this unit, we will studying the global patterns that create and move air masses around the Earth and how characteristics of these air masses such as temperature, pressure, and humidity affect global weather. By observing these patterns, scientists are able to forecast and describe weather events. 

 In this unit, we will be learning about ecosystems – communities of organisms interacting with their environments. We will see how all ecosystems on earth can be grouped into seven different biomes, or large regions with similar characteristics. We will have the opportunity to study how energy from the sun transfers through ecosystems through producers, consumers, and decomposers.

We will begin this unit by learning about cells – the building blocks of living organisms. We will see how some organisms are able to live as a single cell, while others are composed of billions and trillions of cells. In multicellular organisms, cells connect together to make up tissues, which make up organs, which work together to make entire organ systems. We will learn about the major systems of the human body and see the important roles that each of these systems play in our body's functions.

 In this unit we will learn about heredity, or the passing on of genetic traits from parents to offspring. These traits give each of us our individual physical characteristics. We will see how in both the animal and plant kingdoms, offspring will have inherited traits – characteristics passed down genetically – and learned traits – characteristics developed due to environmental factors and individual choices.