Fifth
Science
Course Curriculum Overview
Start Date
End Date
Unit Name
Essential Questions
1st 6-week
8/22/2016
8/26/2016
Safety and Notebooking
• Why is it important to conduct investigations in a safe manner?
*What are tools that we use to explore science?
• Why do scientists keep a detailed record of their research?
• Why is it important to record and reflect on inquiry-based observations,
investigations, and experiments?
• What are some ways we can conserve natural resources?
8/29/2016
9/30/2016
Properties of Matter
• What is matter?
• What are some physical properties of matter that we can observe?
• How is matter Classified?
• What tools or tests can you use to measure or observe matter?
• How does matter behave when placed in water?
• What if it is stirred into water?
• How does matter react to a magnet?
• What are some properties of water?
• How can these properties change?
• At what temperatures on the Celsius scale will wter freeze or boil?
• At what temperature will ice melt?
• Which tool can we use to measure different temperatures?
• What is a mixture?
• Are all mixtures the same? Why?
• How could you demonstrate that a mixture's ingredients retain their
physical properties?
Waco ISD Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment
Revised5/11/2016
2nd 6-week
10/3/2016
10/12/2016 Forces
10/13/2016 11/4/2016
11/7/2016
Light and Electrical Energy
11/17/2016 Energy Resources
• What is a force?
• What are some examples of forces?
• How can forces change an object's movement, shape, or position?
• *How could you create an investigation to test the effect of a force on
matter?
• What is energy? What are some different forms of energy?
• How can we use these different energy forms?
• What are some objects you use everyday that require energy?
• How does electricity travel?
• Electricity can be transformed into which other forms of energy?
• What is necessary to have energy flow through a circuit?
• What happens if some parts of the circuit are missing?
• How does light energy travel?
• How can the path of light be changed?
• What do you observe when the path of light changes?
• What are some examples of wind and hydroelectric energy sources?
• How are they used?
• What are some examples of solar and geothermal energy sources?
• How are they used?
• Compare and Contrast Nonrenewable vs. Renewable Resources.
• What is pollution and how does affect the environment?
• Why are certain energy resources called "alternative" resources?
• What are some of the advantages of these resources? Are there any
disadvantages?
3rd 6-week
11/28/2016 12/9/2016
Earths Changes
Waco ISD Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment
• What are some observable properties of soil?
• How are soils classified?
• How did we "test" soil?
• What conclusions can be made from our "tests?"
• What are some different forces that can change the Earth’s surface?
• How can you describe and identify landforms like deltas, canyons, and
sand dunes?
• How is wind, water, or ice involved in the formation of these landforms?
• How can fossils tell us which organisms lived millions of years ago?
• How can fossils tell us what environments were like millions of years ago?
• How can we represent fossils and past environments using models?
Revised5/11/2016
4th 6-week
2/6/2017
2/17/2017
Patterns in the Natural World
• What are the different components of the water cycle?
• How does the Sun move water in the water cycle from the oceans?
• How does the Sun affect weather patterns that move water and form
precipitation?
• What is weather? What are some characteristics of weather?
• What is climate? What are some characteristics of climate?
• What is the difference between weather and climate?
2/6/2017
2/17/2017
Patterns in the Natural World
• What are the different components of the water cycle?
• How does the Sun move water in the water cycle from the oceans?
• How does the Sun affect weather patterns that move water and form
precipitation?
• What is weather? What are some characteristics of weather?
• What is climate? What are some characteristics of climate?
• What is the difference between weather and climate?
2/20/2017
3/2/2017
Ecosystem Interactions
• What is an ecosystem? What are the different parts of an ecosystem?
• How do the living components in an ecosystem support the other
components?
• How do the nonliving components in an ecosystem support the other
components?
• From what source do all food chains and food webs get their energy?
• What are the different parts of a food web?
• How does the energy flow from one organism to the next in a food
chain or web?
• How can living organisms, such as humans, change their environment?
• What happens to organisms if their environment changes? Can you
think of good and bad changes?
• How might highways or bridges affect an environment and the
organisms that live there?
• How are plants and animals involved in the cycling of carbon dioxide
and oxygen?
• What is the relationship between plants and animals? Where is oxygen
produced? Where is carbon dioxide produced?
• What is the significance of this cycle to the survival of plants and
animals?
Waco ISD Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment
Revised5/11/2016
5th 6-week
3/13/2017
3/17/2017
Life Cycles
• *What is metamorphosis?
• *What are the different stages of complete metamorphosis?
• *What are the different stages of incomplete metamorphosis?
• *What are examples of animals that undergo Incomplete and complete
metamorphosis?
3/20/2017
4/14/2017
Inherited Traits and Learned
Behavior
• What are adaptations? How do they help organisms survive?
• What are some examples of plant and animal adaptations?
• How are some animals better suited to live on land than others? How
are some organisms better adapted to live in the water?
• What is the difference between an inherited trait and a learned
behavior?
*What happens to organisms that inherit favorable traits and learn useful
behaviors and those that do not?
• What are some examples of inherited traits in plants and animals?
• How are inherited traits passed on?
• Why are inherited traits passed on?
• What are some examples of learned behaviors in plants and animals?
• How is behavior "learned?"
• Can plants aquire traits? How?
• STEMscope Explore Activity
4/18/2017
5/10/2017
STEMscopes Re-TEKS/STAAR
Review
• Reporting Category 1 - Matter and Energy
• Reporting Category 2 - Force, Motion, and Energy
• Reporting Category 3 - Earth and Space
• Reporting Category 4 - Organisms and Environments
5/11/2017
6/1/2017
Campus Focus Standards
6th 6-week
Waco ISD Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment
Revised5/11/2016