Fifth Grade Science Field Trips at School

In fifth grade, students in many school districts learn about earth systems: the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere of their regions. They learn about the sun's energy and the movement of matter and energy.

Fifth grade students are also challenged to study their school's movement of matter and energy in terms of trash and waste diversion.

Understanding Earth and Space Systems: Conservation of Energy and Resources

Curriculum expectations are always based on the Ontario Ministry of Expectations. Many of the activities will reinforce, rather than teach, those expectations. As such, no assessment ideas or rubrics are included.

Overall Expectations:

• analyze the immediate and long-term effects of energy and resource use on society and the environment, and evaluate options for conserving energy and resources;
• investigate energy transformation and conservation; 
• demonstrate an understanding of the various forms and sources of energy and the ways in which energy can be transformed and conserved.

Reimagine Trash
If you're in Canada, this unit can be taught in September/October in order to be able to participate in Canada's Waste Reduction Week in October.

Fifth grade students will demonstrate that they understand that people have an effect on their environment and that their environment will have an effect on them. Students can be introduced to the scientific method of random sampling with a waste audit: picking random garbage cans on different random days from random classrooms, take them outside to empty them onto a tarp in order to identify the trash in them. The point is to record what trash is necessary to throw into a landfill and which can be diverted.

“In Ontario, households are doing a great job practicing the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle)....  Here in Ontario the average residential waste diversion rate is 46%.

 But what about the business or commercial sector? ...Unfortunately, in the Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional (ICI) sector [including schools], waste diversion rates have plateaued at 13%. This means that out of the 12 million tonnes of waste produced last year, 8.125 million tonnes headed to landfill just from the IC&I sector.” (Halton Recycles)

In West Michigan, where I now live, this is what is typically thrown away, and our county encourages us to think of almost all of it (except the 10% labeled as other) as renewable resources.  

Get your fifth graders to take the lead in making the case for waste diversion.

reimaginetrash.org

Solar Ovens

All energy comes from the sun.  Students can work together in groups to build a solar oven. 

I have done this project with my fifth graders. The build took so long that I wondered some days whether it was really worth spending that kind of time on just this curriculum expectation.  It was!   I saw it bring out the best in my more reluctant students.  They emerged as leaders in their groups as they built confidence as well as solar ovens. And then there was the "wow" factor, of course, when they watched the sun heat up their hot dogs on a cold winter's day in those solar ovens that they had built themselves! 

 

The solar ovens can be kept to aid in the water purification activity in the unit Understanding Matter and Energy: Properties of and Changes in Matter, the lesson plan for which will be posted during the winter.

 

Fifth graders can also present them to first graders as part of that grade's learning about the sun and the seasons. 

 

For more ready-made science lessons for outside, with worksheets, click here.