Unit Plan 18 (Grade 5 Science): Life Science — Quarter Synthesis

Focus: Use models, data, and written/oral explanations to show how plants grow, how energy flows from the sun to animals, and how matter cycles among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

Grade Level: 5

Subject Area: Science (Life Science • Physical Science Connections • Engineering Practices)

Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session

I. Introduction

In this quarter-synthesis unit, students pull together their learning about plant growth, energy flow, and matter cycling into a coherent story of how life on Earth is supported. They revisit investigations and models from earlier units (plant growth jars, food webs, decomposer setups) and build a capstone model that connects sunlight → plants → animals → decomposers → environment. Students practice supporting arguments with evidence, constructing models, and explaining how energy and matter move through ecosystems.

Essential Questions

• How do plants get the materials they need for growth, and why are air and water so important?
• How does energy from the sun move through plants and animals in an ecosystem?
• How does matter (like nutrients and gases) cycle among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment?
• How can we use models and explanations to tell the story of how life is supported on Earth?

II. Objectives and Standards

Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:

1. Support an argument with evidence that plants get materials for growth chiefly from air and water, not from soil disappearing.
2. Develop and revise models showing energy flow from the sun to plants and then to animals, using arrows and labels.
3. Develop a food web model that describes the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
4. Explain how decomposers break down once-living matter and return materials to the environment for plants to reuse.
5. Produce a final Life Science Synthesis Model & Explanation that clearly connects plant growth, energy flow, and matter cycling using drawings, labels, and written or oral explanations.

Standards Alignment — 5th Grade (NGSS-Aligned)

• 5-LS1-1 — Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water.
• 5-LS2-1 — Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
• 5-PS3-1 — Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, body warmth) was once energy from the sun.

Success Criteria — Student Language

• I can argue that plants get what they need to grow mostly from air and water, using evidence.
• I can draw and explain a model showing that energy from the sun moves through plants and animals.
• I can show and explain how matter cycles among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
• I can include decomposers in my model and show how they return materials to the environment.
• I can create a clear model and explanation that someone else can understand without me standing there.