Science review and check-in

This lesson is a review and check-in for the whole year of Grade 5 Science. You will look back at four big strands: how scientists ask questions (Inquiry), how matter and energy behave (Physical Science), how living things work (Life Science), and how our planet fits into space (Earth and Space). The goal is not to learn something brand-new — it is to notice what you remember well and what still needs practice.

Strand 1 — Scientific Inquiry

Inquiry is the way scientists turn curiosity into evidence. You learned the steps of the scientific method, what makes an experiment a fair test, and how to tell a hypothesis from a theory. A hypothesis is a testable prediction with a reason behind it. A theory is a well-supported explanation that has been tested many times by many people.

• The first step of the scientific method is asking a clear, testable question.
• A fair test changes only one variable at a time.
• Independent variable changes, dependent variable is measured, controlled variables stay the same.
• Conclusions must be supported by data, not just by what you hoped would happen.

Strand 2 — Physical Science (Matter and Energy)

Matter is anything that has mass and takes up space. Matter changes state — solid, liquid, gas — when energy is added or taken away. Heating a solid gives its particles enough energy to move freely as a liquid; heating again gives them enough energy to escape as a gas. Forces like gravity, friction, and magnetism push or pull on objects and change how they move.

• Matter changes state because heat (energy) is added or removed.
• Gravity is the force that pulls objects toward the center of Earth.
• Energy can be transferred but not created or destroyed.
• Renewable energy sources include solar, wind, and hydro power.

Strand 3 — Life Science

Living things depend on each other in food webs. Producers, like plants, make their own food using sunlight. Consumers eat producers or other consumers. Decomposers break down dead matter and return nutrients to the soil. You also learned that traits can be inherited from parents (like eye color) or learned from the environment (like riding a bike).

• A producer is an organism that makes its own food, usually a plant.
• A consumer eats other living things to get energy.
• A decomposer breaks down dead matter and recycles nutrients.
• Inherited traits, such as eye color, come from parents.

Strand 4 — Earth and Space

Earth has many systems that interact: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere. Our planet rotates once every 24 hours (day and night) and orbits the Sun once every 365 days (a year). The Moon orbits Earth and goes through phases as we see different lit parts. The solar system has eight planets, and the Sun is a medium-sized star.

• Earth rotates on its axis to make day and night.
• Earth orbits the Sun once a year.
• Moon phases happen because we see different lit halves of the Moon.
• The Sun is a star, much bigger than Earth, but small compared to other stars.