By watching and performing several simple experiments, students develop an understanding of the properties of air: it has mass, it takes up space, it can move, it exerts pressure, it can do work.

Student groups compete to design a process that removes the most iron from fortified cereal. Students experiment with different materials using what they know about iron, magnets and forces to design the best process for removing iron from the cereal samples.

CSDE Model Curricula Quick Start GuideEquitable and Inclusive Curriculum  The CSDE believes in providing a set of conditions where learners are repositioned at the center of curricula planning and design. Curricula, from a culturally responsive perspective, require intentional planning for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the development of units and implementation of lessons. It is critical to develop a learning environment that is relevant to and reflective of students’ social, cultural, and linguistic experiences to effectively connect their culturally and community-based knowledge to the class. Begin by connecting what is known about students’ cognitive and interdisciplinary diversity to the learning of the unit. Opposed to starting instructional planning with gaps in students’ knowledge, plan from an asset-based perspective by starting from students’ strengths. In doing so, curricula’s implementation will be grounded in instruction that engages, motivates, and supports the intellectual capacity of all students. Course Description: Three-Dimensional Learning shifts the focus of the science classroom to environments where students use disciplinary core ideas, crosscutting concepts with scientific practices to explore, examine, and explain how and why phenomena occur and to design solutions to problems. Three-dimensional learning helps students build their research, communication, and analytical thinking skills.More informational regarding Three-Dimensional learning can be accessed at the following address:What exactly IS three-dimensional learning? | Teaching ChannelEach year, students in Connecticut should be able to demonstrate greater capacity for connecting knowledge across, and between, the physical sciences, life sciences, earth and space sciences, and engineering design. During Grade 5, students will begin to form deeper connections between concepts previously learned in grades K–4, such as collecting evidence and drawing conclusions, understanding relationships between objects, and critical thinking that leads to designing effective solutions for problems. Upon completion of Grade 5, students should have a deeper understanding of: Understanding of Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems Identification of Earth's Systems Familiarization of Structure and Properties of Matter Realization of Space Systems: Stars and the Solar System Optimize design solutions. Aligned Core Resources:Core resources is a local control decision.  Ensuring alignment of resources to the standards is critical for success. Alignment of all content materials across the grades and vertically in the grade band must be communicated to all staff. Additional Course Information: NGSS has unique features. To better understand the make-up of NGSS visit the following website for a more detailed break-down of the CT Science standards from which this curriculum was based.  Nextgenscience  Assessment Information:There are many ways to assess student learning. Besides annual statewide summative testing, the Connecticut State Department of Education has developed NGSS Interim Assessment blocks specific to the grade 3 – 5 grade band. These can be accessed through the CSDE Website in the Performance Office tab. Many websites also offer assessment materials aligned to the NGSS, specifically through the NSTA, and Defined Learning. ELA/Math Transferable Skills Addressed in the Course: The following Practices Venn Diagram illustrates the connections and commonalities in the major content areas. This diagram attempts to cluster practices and capacities that have similar tenets and/or significant overlaps in the student expectations. Likewise, we have placed practices and capacities within the disciplinary domains if there was not a significant overlap or relationship to another discipline. One could argue certain practices/capacities could be placed in other positions within the Venn diagram. These placements are not definitive and the intention of the standards documents may not have conceptualized the three disciplinary areas In this manner.  ​

To better understand electricity, students investigate the properties of materials based on their ability to dispel static electricity. They complete a lab worksheet, collect experimental data, and draw conclusions based on their observations and understanding of electricity. The activity provides hands-on learning experience to safely explore the concept of static electricity, learning what static electricity is and which materials best hold static charge. Students learn to identify materials that hold static charge as insulators and materials that dispel charge as conductors. The class applies the results from their material tests to real-world engineering by identifying the best of the given materials for moving current in a solar panel.

Students are introduced to the concept of electricity by identifying it as an unseen, but pervasive and important presence in their lives. They are also introduced to the idea of engineers making, controlling and distributing electricity. The main concepts presented are the science of electricity and the careers that involve an understanding of electricity. Students first review the structure of atoms and then learn that electrons are the particles behind electrical current and the motivation for electron movement. They compare conductors and insulators based on their capabilities for electron flow. Then water and electrical systems are compared as an analogy to electrical current. They learn the differences between static and dynamic forms of electricity. A PowerPoint(TM) presentation is included, with review question/answer slides, as well as assessment handouts to practice using electricity-related terms through storytelling and to research electricity-related and electrical engineering careers.