In fifth-grade science, students focus on using evidence and reasoning to form scientific explanations. The big topic in most textbooks this year is the study of
ecosystems (communities of organisms and their environment). Students study the functions of living things in ecosystems and how they are classified; they also analyze the way humans affect ecosystems. Another major topic is how natural processes affect landforms, such as the creation of canyons and valleys by gravity, water, ice, and wind. Teachers will discuss how humans influence erosion by clearing land, building dams, and planting vegetation. Among other topics, fifth-graders also learn about how plants and animals have structures for digestion, waste disposal, respiration, and the internal transport of materials. This typically leads into the ever-popular study of the human digestive system. In some states, fifth-graders learn about the properties of metals, too; in others, kids get an introduction to forces and motion, including friction, inertia, and momentum.
All Science Is Local. Fifth-grade textbooks offer generic examples of how humans sometimes overwork the land and its resources, and the effects of those actions on the environment. But the best teachers (and parents and grandparents) find a way to bring the discussion down to earth by finding concrete examples of those processes in their own communities. And the best students find those examples on their own, so encourage your grandchildren to keep up with their local newspaper and spot articles about environmental problems or debates in their area that they can bring to the classroom for discussion.
• Visit
the Franklin Institute website with your grandchildren for an engaging introduction to ecosystems, biomes, and habitats, and suggestions for how kids can observe them in their own backyard.
• There’s no better way to learn about ecosystems than to observe them up close — even if the images are on a DVD.
The Great Barrier Reef (Vista Point, 2006) was made for IMAX theaters but offers home viewers a close-up look at the amazing underwater world of this Australian landmark.
• Grandchildren can learn about how natural wonders are formed in Spencer Christian and Antonia Felix's
What Makes the Grand Canyon so Grand?: The World’s Most Awe-Inspiring Natural Wonders (Wiley, 1998).
Backyard Basics. Create a critter-friendly ecosystem in your backyard, or your grandchildren's, with their help. First, buy or build a simple bird-feeder and place seeds inside. Below it, plant flowering plants or leave cut-up fruit. You are likely to attract not just birds, but also squirrels and other guests, so encourage the kids to keep a watchful eye and track what they see each day in a nature diary.
Walk This Way. Take a walk around your neighborhood with your grandchildren, looking together for bumpy sidewalks, cracked roads, broken trees, flattened plants, and other signs of how natural phenomena have changed the surroundings.
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