Below are the Disciplinary Core Idea (DCI) Aligned Instructional Focus Statements (IFSs) published by the SC Department of Education in the appendix of the Performance Target Document for 5th Grade.
Key Notes:
5th-Grade Scope: While the original appendix includes prior and future learning, only 5th-grade IFSs are listed below. Teachers are encouraged to view the IFSs in the doc to see the progression of a DCI across grade levels.
Repetitions: IFSs that apply to multiple Performance Expectations (PEs) will appear under each relevant section. (The related PE will be noted in parentheses.)
Instructional context: Use these statements alongside the associated Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs) and Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs) to guide your instruction.
Select a Performance Expectation below to read the statements.
PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter
Explain that matter continues to exist when divided into pieces too small to be visible, supported by observable evidence.
Explain how collisions of moving gas particles with surfaces produce observable effects such as pressure or expansion, providing evidence that gases are matter.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that matter persists when it is no longer visible by analyzing observable effects. (5-PS1-2)
PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter
Explain that the total amount of matter remains the same when matter is heated, cooled, mixed, or changes form.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that matter persists when it is no longer visible by analyzing observable effects. (5-PS1-1)
PS1.B: Chemical Reactions
Recognize that matter is conserved during changes or reactions, including reactions, even when materials change form or seem to “disappear.”
Extended Knowledge
Explain that matter is conserved across heating, cooling, dissolving, and reactions by comparing total amounts of materials before and after changes. (5-PS1-4) .
ETS2.A: Interdependence of Science, Engineering, and Technology
Select the measurement instrument that matches the question about properties of matter (mass, volume, or temperature). (5-PS1-3)
Organize measurements by property to contrast before-and-after changes in states of matter. (5-PS1-3)
Evaluate how better precision or a better fit tool would strengthen the conclusion. (5-PS1-3)
Extended Knowledge
Identify a situation where using a more precise tool would likely change the answer and explain how the conclusion would be more confident. (5-PS1-3)
Recognize one everyday constraint (time, cost, availability) that affects tool choice and note the likely impact on the quality of the data. (5-PS1-3)
PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter
Classify materials by comparing measured properties such as hardness, solubility, or conductivity.
Analyze multiple measurable properties to distinguish among solids, liquids, and gases at the observable scale, without explaining particle mechanisms.
ETS2.A: Interdependence of Science, Engineering, and Technology
Select the measurement instrument that matches the question about properties of matter (mass, volume, or temperature). (5-PS1-2)
Organize measurements by property to contrast before-and-after changes in states of matter. (5-PS1-2)
Evaluate how better precision or a better fit tool would strengthen the conclusion. (5-PS1-2)
Extended Knowledge
Identify a situation where using a more precise tool would likely change the answer and explain how the conclusion would be more confident. (5-PS1-2)
Recognize one everyday constraint (time, cost, availability) that affects tool choice and note the likely impact on the quality of the data. (5-PS1-2)
PS1.B: Chemical Reactions
Explain that mixing two or more substances may result in a new substance with different properties, but that not all mixtures result in new substances.
Compare the properties of starting materials and resulting materials to determine whether a new substance has formed.
Extended Knowledge
Explain that matter is conserved across heating, cooling, dissolving, and reactions by comparing total amounts of materials before and after changes. (5-PS1-2)
PS2.B: Types of Interactions
Describe that Earth’s gravity is a force that pulls objects near Earth’s surface toward Earth’s center without requiring contact.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that all unsupported objects near Earth’s surface fall toward Earth due to gravity, regardless of their mass (ignoring air resistance).
PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life
Identify that plants capture sunlight and store that energy in food.
Explain that animals obtain energy by eating plants or other animals.
Demonstrate that energy flows qualitatively from the Sun to plants and then to animals.
Extended Knowledge
Differentiate energy flow from matter cycling using simple diagrams or labels only.
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
Explain that food provides animals with materials for repair and growth and with energy for body warmth and motion.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that different food types can supply different amounts of matter and energy, without explaining internal processes.
LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms
Distinguish materials essential for plant growth from those that provide support, emphasizing that most plant mass comes from air and water rather than soil.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that some plants can grow without soil when air, water, and light are available (for example, hydroponics).
Understand that different environmental conditions can influence how quickly a plant grows.
LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems
Distinguish producers, consumers, and decomposers by how each obtains matter.
Explain that the food of almost any animal can be traced back to plants, either directly or through other animals using food chains.
Describe a healthy ecosystem as one in which multiple species are able to meet their needs through stable patterns of interactions.
Explain that newly introduced species can alter existing interactions and disrupt ecosystem balance.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that changes to one group of organisms can affect other organisms’ ability to meet their needs within a food chain.
LS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems
Describe that matter cycles among plants, animals, decomposers (microbes and fungi), and the environment as organisms obtain materials and release waste.
Explain that decomposers break down dead organisms and recycle matter to the environment.
Recognize that plants transform matter from air and water into plant matter that can become food for animals.
Describe that consumption moves matter from one part of the system to another.
ESS1.A: The Universe and Its Stars
Identify the Sun as a star observed from Earth.
Compare the apparent brightness and apparent size of the Sun and other stars as observed from Earth.
Explain that differences in how stars appear are due to their relative distances from Earth.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that stars vary greatly in their distances from Earth.
Distinguish between a star’s apparent brightness or size and its actual size.
ESS1.B: Earth and the Solar System
Explain patterns of day and night as a result of Earth’s rotation relative to the Sun.
Explain how the position of the Sun in the sky changes throughout the day due to Earth’s rotation.
Analyze daily changes in the length and direction of shadows based on the position of the Sun in the sky.
Explain how the positions of Earth, the Moon, and the Sun change over time due to their motions in space.
Compare seasonal patterns in the visibility of stars based on Earth’s position in its orbit around the Sun.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that different locations on Earth experience different patterns of day and night due to Earth’s shape and rotation.
Recognize that different locations on Earth experience different seasonal patterns of star visibility due to Earth’s position in its orbit.
ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems
Identify Earth’s major systems as the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere.
Describe examples of interactions among Earth’s systems.
Relate interactions among Earth’s systems to changes in landforms, movement of water, and living things.
Describe how interactions between the ocean, atmosphere, and land influence weather patterns and surface conditions.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that interactions among Earth’s systems can affect areas beyond a single location.
Describe that changes in one Earth system can lead to changes in other systems over time.
Recognize that humans are part of the biosphere and interact with other Earth systems.
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth’s Surface Processes
Describe how Earth’s water is distributed among oceans, glaciers, groundwater, surface water, and the atmosphere.
Describe that nearly all of Earth’s water is found in the oceans.
Compare the relative amounts of freshwater found in glaciers, underground, on Earth’s surface, and in the atmosphere.
Extended Knowledge
Compare surface freshwater sources to frozen freshwater sources in terms of accessibility.
Identify that freshwater availability varies by location based on where water is stored on Earth.
ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems
Describe how human activities in agriculture, industry, and daily life can affect land, vegetation, water, air, and living things.
Identify patterns linking human activities to observable changes in Earth’s surface, water systems, and air quality.
Describe that human impacts on Earth systems can be beneficial or harmful.
Describe examples of ways individuals and communities use science ideas to protect Earth’s resources and environments.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize that some human impacts on Earth systems occur locally, while others affect larger regions.
Identify that actions taken to protect the environment can influence future conditions.
ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions
Create a design solution that can be used to gather evidence about how well it solves a problem.
Identify important information about the stated problem from provided sources and name the specific need the solution must address.
Compare proposed solutions by aligning how each meets the given criteria and constraints across the likely conditions.
Identify which criterion (effectiveness, cost, environmental impact) should take top priority for this problem and explain why.
Explain which solution best fits the high‑priority criteria qualitatively.
Evaluate one targeted revision that would improve performance in more than one condition while staying within the constraints.
Extended Knowledge
Recognize when two options could be combined and name the single feature from each that should be kept to better fit the criteria.
ETS2.B: Influence of Engineering, Technology, and Science on Society and the Natural World
Identify the environmental problem and the need the technology should meet.
Compare two technologies by aligning expected effectiveness, cost, and environmental effects for the same problem.
Explain which option best fits the need qualitatively.
Appraise one revision to the preferred option that would improve fit while noting a simple trade‑off.
Extended Knowledge
Identify which criterion (effectiveness, cost, impact) should take top priority for this community and explain why.