Suggested Blocks of
Instruction
GTPS Curriculum – Science - Grade 5
6
weeks
Grade 5 Science
Big Idea: Some of the most important scientific concepts students learn are the result of
their ability to see relationships between objects and events. Relationships always involve
interactions, dependencies, and cause and effect. The investigations help students discover
relationships through controlled experimentation
Topic: Variables
Objectives/CPI’s/Standards Essential Questions/Enduring
Understandings
Learning
activities/Materials/Assessment
5.2.6.E.1 Model and
explain how the description
of an object’s motion from
one observer’s view may be
different from a different
observer’s view.
Learning Activities:
Hands on explorations
Inquiry–based lessons
Labs
Reading FOSS science stories
5.2.6.E.4 Predict if an
object will sink or float using
evidence and reasoning.
Essential Questions
How do we build and refine models that describe
and explain the natural and designed world?
How can energy be transferred from one
material to another?
What happens to a material when energy is
transferred to it?
Enduring Understandings
Measurement and observation tools are used to
categorize, represent and interpret the natural
world.
Changes take place because of the transfer of
energy.
Energy is transferred to matter through the
action of forces.
Different forces are responsible for the transfer
of the different forms of energy.
Materials:
FOSS
Investigation 1: Swingers
Investigation 2: Life Boats
Investigation 3: Plane Sense
Investigation 4: Flippers
Web Site Resources:
http://www.fossweb.com/modules36/Variables/index.html
Assessments:
Formative
Teacher observation
Student sheets
Summative
End of module performance assessment
Portfolio assessment
GTPS Curriculum – Science - Grade 5
Suggested
Blocks of
Instruction
Grade 5 Science
7
weeks
Big Ideas: Cycles of Matter & Energy/Earth’s Resources
Topic: Earth’s Waters
Objectives/CPI’s/Standards Essential Questions/Enduring
Understandings
Learning Activities
Materials/Assessment
5.4.8.E.1 Explain how energy from
the Sun is transformed or transferred
in global wind circulation, ocean
circulation, and the water cycle.
Learning Activities:
Hands on explorations
Inquiry–based lessons
Labs
Reading Pearson’s text
5.4.8.G.1 Represent and explain, using
sea surface temperature maps, how
ocean currents impact the climate of
coastal communities.
Essential Questions
What is the role of the sun in energy transfer in the
atmosphere and in the oceans?
How do changes in one part of the Earth system affect
other parts of the system and in what ways can Earth
processes be explained as interactions among
spheres?
Enduring Understandings
The energy from the sun is transferred throughout the
oceans and atmosphere.
Earth’s components form systems that have cycles
and patterns that allow us to make predictions. These
systems continually interact at different rates of time,
affecting the Earth locally and globally.
Materials:
Pearson Earth’s Water’s Text
Chapter 1: The Water Plant
Chapter 2: Freshwater Supplies
Web Site Resources:
http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?f
useaction=home.gotoWebCode&wcprefix=cfk&wcsu
ffix=3000
Assessments:
Formative
Teacher observation
Quizzes
Projects
Summative
Labs
Tests
GTPS Curriculum – Science - Grade 5
Suggested Blocks of
Instruction
Grade 5 Science
6
weeks
Big Idea: Chemistry is the study of the structure of matter and the changes or transformations
that take place in it. Learning about the makeup of substances gives us knowledge about how things
go together and how they can be taken apart. Learning about changes in substances is important for
several reasons: changes can be controlled to produce new materials; changes can be used to give
off energy to run machines.
Topic: Mixtures & Solutions
Objectives/CPI’s/Standards Essential Questions/Enduring
Understandings
Learning Activities
Materials/Assessment
5.2.6.A.3 Determine the identity of an
unknown substance using data about
intrinsic properties.
Learning Activities:
Hands on explorations
Inquiry–based lessons
Labs
Reading FOSS science stories
5.2.6.B.1 Compare the properties of
reactants with the properties of the
products when two or more
substances are combined and react
chemically.
Essential Questions
How do the properties of materials determine their
use?
How does conservation of mass apply to the
interaction of materials in a closed system?
Materials:
Pearson
Enduring Understandings
The structures of materials determine their
properties.
When materials interact within a closed system, the
total mass of the system remains the same.
Investigation 1: Separating Mixtures
Investigation 2: Reaching Saturation
Investigation 3: Concentration
Investigation 4: Fizz Kids
Web Site Resources:
http://www.fossweb.com/modules36/MixturesandSolutions/index.html
Assessments:
Formative
Teacher observation
Student sheets
Summative
End of module performance assessment
Portfolio assessment
GTPS Curriculum – Science - Grade 5
Suggested
Blocks of
Instruction
Grade 5 Science
5
weeks
Big Idea: Processes on the Earth’s Surface/Earth’s History
Topic: Earth’s Changing Surface
Objectives/CPI’s/Standards Essential Questions/Enduring
Understandings
Learning Activities
Materials/Assessment
5.4.6.B.1 Interpret a representation of
a rock layer sequence to establish
oldest and youngest layers, geologic
events, and changing life forms.
Essential Questions
5.4.6.B.2 Examine Earth’s surface
features and identify those created on
a scale of human life or on a geologic
time scale.
How do changes in one part of an Earth system affect
other parts of the system?
Learning Activities:
Hands on explorations
Inquiry–based lessons
Labs
Reading Pearson’s text
5.4.6.C.1 Predict the types of
ecosystems that unknown soil samples
could support based on soil
properties.
How do geologic events occurring today provide
insight Earth’s past?
Materials:
Pearson
Enduring Understandings
Earth’s components form systems? These systems
continually interact at different rates of time,
affecting the shape of the Earth’s surface regionally
and globally.
How do changes in one part of an Earth system affect
other parts of the system?
Chapter 2: Weathering & Soil Formation
Chapter 4: Trip Through Geologic Time
Web Site Resources:
http://www.phschool.com/webcodes10/index.cfm?fu
seaction=home.gotoWebCode&wcprefix=cfk&wcsuffi
x=2000
Assessments:
Formative
Teacher observation
Quizzes
Projects
Summative
Labs
Tests
Suggested Blocks
of Instruction
GTPS Curriculum – Science - Grade 5
6
weeks
Grade 5 Science
Big Idea: Change takes place when things interact; all things change over time; patterns of
interaction and change are useful in explaining landforms. Students also learn about some
of the tools and techniques used by cartographers and use them to depict landforms.
Topic: Landforms
Objectives/CPI’s/Standards Essential Questions/Enduring
Understandings
Learning Activities
Materials/Assessment
5.4.6.B.3 Determine if landforms
were created by processes of erosion
(e.g., wind, water, and/or ice) based
on evidence in pictures, video, and/or
maps.
Learning Activities:
Hands on explorations
Inquiry–based lessons
Labs
Reading FOSS science stories
5.4.6.B.4 Describe methods people
use to reduce soil erosion.
5.4.8.C.2 Explain how chemical and
physical mechanisms (changes) are
responsible for creating a variety of
landforms.
5.4.6.D.2 Locate areas that are being
created (deposition) and destroyed
(erosion) using maps and satellite
images.
Essential Questions
How do geologic events occurring today provide
insight Earth’s past?
How do changes in one part of an Earth system affect
other parts of the system?
To what extent does the exchange of energy within
the Earth drive geologic events on the surface?
Enduring Understandings
Materials:
Pearson
Investigation 1: School Yard Models
Investigation 2: Stream Tables
Investigation 3: Go with the Flow
Investigation 4: Build a Mountain
Web Site Resources:
Earth’s components form systems? These systems
continually interact at different rates of time,
affecting the shape of the Earth’s surface regionally
and globally.
http://www.fossweb.com/modules36/Landforms/index.html
How do changes in one part of an Earth system affect
other parts of the system?
Assessments:
Formative
Teacher observation
Student sheets
Energy flow and movement of material from the
Earth’s interior causes geologic events on the Earth’s
surface.
Summative
End of module performance assessment
Portfolio assessment