This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 5th grade Science content.

This resource accompanies our Rethink 5th Grade Science course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning. 

This learning plan gives students choice in selecting activitites to learn, practice, and show evidence of learning about the water cycle based upon NC 5th Grade Science Standards. This resource was developed as part of a professional learning opportunity funded by the NCDPI Digital Learning Initiative Planning Grant.

In this lesson, students will be able to describe the various processes of the water cycle in the Amazon. By performing a skit, they will understand the changes water goes through throughout the water cycle and that this cycle runs continuously with different processes happening at the same time.

This resource includes a page of images for each cloud type and four simple hands-on activities. In "Heat Up, Rise Up," students will create a basic thermometer from a straw and investigate the temperature differences as air expands and contracts. In "Rise Above It All," students will model cloud formation by observing how hot water/air rises through cold water/air. In "How Wet is the Air?" students will explore relative humidity. In "How Cold is Enough?" students will continue to investigate cloud formation by inducing condensation on a container of water.

Students observe the processes of evaporation and precipitation by creating a model that simulates the water cycle.

Students will use the engineering design process to design their own cloud catchers based on the "harp collector" created by biologist Greg Goldsmith to study the low-lying clouds in the Monteverde Cloud Forest in Costa Rica.

In this lesson, students will explore convection using a classroom experiment and then compare the results with the results of the same experiment in space.

You are preparing your family’s emergency kits in case there is a need to leave your home quickly, or stay in your home without electricity or water. You need to be able to create an emergency supply kit that includes a lightweight water filtration device that is low cost. This will provide you with clean water regardless of your water source.

In this project, you will gain knowledge of natural disaster preparedness through the Red Cross Pillowcase project. You will research and experiment with the water cycle to learn how water is naturally filtered. You will then design and build a water filtration device that could filter water in an emergency situation.

Students are provided with the vocabulary, concepts, and context to understand the impact of climate change on the hydrological cycle. Students make observations throughout a series of demonstrations and activities regarding how temperature affects the phases of water and connect these ideas to the physical environment.

Students discuss and illustrate the water cycle, including evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Students then use language arts skills to create stories about the journey of one drop of water through the water cycle. A MapMaker Interactive site is linked for use and a graphic illustrating the water cycle is included. Key terms are highlighted and linked to definitions.

Students investigate conditions that affect extreme weather on Earth. They will use brainstorming, discussion, and resources such as images and video to gather information about weather, and then record their information on a provided worksheet.

In this lesson, students will learn the importance of water and how people in other countries do not have clean water to drink. First, students will research water conservation within their own communities. They will discover how water is purified and the steps necessary to keep our water sources clean. The students will then conduct research on the people of Sudan and how difficult obtaining clean drinking water can be. Students will conclude this lesson by building their own homemade water filters. This lesson was developed by Christina Hartzell as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this science activity, students investigate the water cycle by testing the water evaporated from leaves (transpiration). They investigate concepts of evaporation and the movement of water through the different states of the water cycle by various guided inquiry experiments. Students compare evaporation of trees in the shade and in the sun. Students are asked to diagram their results for the experiment in their lab notebooks. Students are also asked to develop a testable question related to and formulate a method to evaluate their results. During another investigation, with a spin of the spinner, students simulate the movement of water within the water cycle and track their results.

ELL students will learn the vocabulary needed to explain the water cycle. They can turn on audio and the descriptions button for additional help.

This resource supports the English language development of English language learners.This animation from NASA illustrates the steps of the water cycle. Through the processes of condensation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff, transpiration, and evaporation, water continuously travels from the atmosphere to the ground and back again. The animation is available with an audio description- click on the right.

Looking for lichens is an activity that can be done almost anywhere. Students get to search for them in the playgrounds and schoolyards, and they can be used as an indicator of air quality.

In this short video, accompanying activity, and readings, students learn about the wildflowers at Medoc Mountain State Park. These resources examine how wildflowers survive and their role in their ecosystem.

This 10-minute readers' theater play traces water in its never-ending cycle. Students read the script as they perform the play. Neither props nor scenery is necessary. There are 19 characters, but in a small class, students can easily play more than one part. The students could even write their own water cycle adventure.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 5th Grade Science.