STEMkits Catalog

'Beans in a Jar'

Plants Webquest

Vocabulary Sheet

Decomposers Activity

Weather

Weather is one of the most difficult topics for fifth-grade students, and it takes up a large portion of the Fifth Grade Science End of Year Exam. In this unit, children are able to watch as water vapor cools and condenses as it hits a cold air mass (representing a cold front). Children will also learn about warm fronts, stationary fronts, occluded fronts, air masses, and high and low-pressure systems.

'Watch a Cold Front'

Vocabulary Sheet

Introductory Web Activity

Review Web Activity

Building Blocks of Life

Children will learn about the building blocks of life by building a model of a cell. In this unit, they will learn about the characteristics of life, unicellular and multicellular organisms, major organelles, and structural systems ranging from organelles to organ systems. Students will also be able to differentiate between living and non-living.

'Build a Cell'

Introductory Activity

Organelles Lesson

Booklet

Earth's Layers

Children will learn about the layers of the Earth by identifying each layer, along with its characteristics, on a model. They will learn terms like "lithosphere" and "asthenosphere." Children will also be introduced to the theory of plate tectonics.

'My First Experiment'

Reading Passage

Vocabulary Sheet

Check for Understanding

Genetics

Children will learn about DNA and Mendelian Genetics by building a double helix. Working together with three other students, each child will create a Punnett Square and analyze it to calculate the probability that the child produced with their four DNA sequences will have freckles. Through this activity, they will learn about DNA, chromosomes, Mendelian genetics, and more!

'Model DNA'

Reading Passage

Vocabulary Sheet

Check for Understanding

Scientific Method

Children will learn about the scientific by answering a scientific question through an experiment. The children will explore the relationship between the number of drops of a liquid a penny can hold and the penny's composition. Through this activity, they will learn about hypotheses, materials and methods, independent variables, and more!

'My First Experiment'

Reading Passage

Vocabulary Sheet

Check for Understanding

Ecology

Children will learn about the foundations of ecology. They will learn about symbiotic relationships, carrying capacity, biotic and abiotic factors, and more. They will learn words like "heterotroph," "ecological niche," and "parasitism" by using probability and chance events to model changes to an ecosystem.

'My Ecosystem'

Reading Passage

Vocabulary Sheet

Check for Understanding

Miniature Units

Water Cycle

Learning objectives

I can explain the water cycle
I can explain how animals and plants contribute to the water cycle
I can explain how the water cycle contributes to the delicate balance of ecosystems
I can identify steps in the water cycle from a diagram

Heat Transfer

Learning objectives

I can explain convection, radiation, and conduction in my own words.
I can identify examples of convection, radiation, and conduction in real-world situations.
I can model convection, radiation, and convection.

Earth's Atmosphere

Learning objectives

I can explain key ideas about each layer of the atmosphere
I know the order of the layers of the atmosphere
I understand how each layer maintains balance on Earth

Earth's Layers

Learning objectives

I can explain the key features of the crust, mantle, core, inner core, and outer core
I understand the order of the layers of the Earth

Earth's Tectonic Activity

Learning Objectives

I can describe what occurs at convergent, divergent, and transform plate boundaries.
I can differentiate oceanic-continental convergence, oceanic-oceanic convergence, and continental-continental convergence.
I can explain which geographic phenomena are common at each type of plate boundary.