5-ESS2-1 lessons
Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.
The Next Generation Science Standards code 5-ESS2-1 asks students to: “Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact.” These Fieldbook lessons teach it hands-on, with everyday materials, a printable teacher guide and a student sheet.
Our Living Planet Grade 4
- Can a jar keep itself alive? 50–60 min to build, then 5 min check-ins twice a week for 4 weeks, and a 30 min Reveal and Act
Each team builds a small world of soil, water, air and plants inside a clear jar, seals it, and keeps an observation log for four weeks beside an open jar built the same way. Students explain how water and air are used again and again inside the sealed jar, and why it still needs light from outside.
- Where does rain come from? 45–60 min, plus a 5 min look later the same day or the next morning
Students tape a zip-top bag of blue water to a sunny window and another to a shady wall, and catch a cold cup 'sweating' in the room. They follow the water from the bottom of the bag to the clear drops at the top, and explain how the Sun, air and clouds bring rain back down.
Weather Detectives Grade 5 · partly supports this standard
- Why does a chinook feel like spring in January? 50–60 min
Students test how moving air speeds up melting, then use a tabletop mountain and a few simple numbers to follow a parcel of air over the Rockies and find out why it arrives warm. They compare the chinook with similar winds around the world.
NGSS is used as written in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, so the code 5-ESS2-1 matches there. Other states word and number their own versions: see curriculum alignment for your state's codes.
More NGSS standards for Grade 5
All standards we teach · Curriculum alignment by state and province
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