5th Grade NGSS Units Of Study
Unit 1: Matter and Energy in Ecosystems
This unit provides a variety of concrete experiences that allow students to explore how matter and energy are used and recycled throughout the environment.
NGSS Unit Standards
5-LS1-1: Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
5-LS2-1: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
5-PS3-1: Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
5-ESS2-1: Develop a model using an example to describe the ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
Student Resources
Unit 2: Structure and Properties of Matter
This unit provides a variety of concrete experiences that allow students to discover both physical and chemical properties of matter.
NGSS Unit Standards
5PS1-1: Develop a model to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen.
5PS1-2: Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs the total weight of matter is conserved.
5PS1-3: Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
5PS1-4: Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances too small to be seen.
Student Resources
Unit 3: Earth and Space Systems
This unit provides a variety of concrete experiences that allow students to explore how Earth is both a part of a larger system and is itself composed of interconnected systems.
NGSS Unit Standards
ESS1.1: Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth.
ESS1.2: Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky.
ESS2.1 Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and/or atmosphere interact.
ESS2.2 Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.
Student Resources
| Interactive Sites: Constellations | Interactive Sites: Earth, Moon, and Sun |
| Interactive Sites: Earth’s Structure | Interactive Sites: Seasons and Weather |
| Interactive Sites: Solar System |
NGSS Parent Resources
