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Free 5th grade science worksheets

Written by Dr. Evan J. Hasson, DC — a dad of three who built this curriculum for his own kids.

50 questions with the answers, free to print and free to photocopy for your own students. Drawn across every topic in the grade rather than one — life science, earth science, physical science and engineering design.

Enjoy them. If you want more, or something we do not have yet, write to support@uponlylearning.com and ask — we read it.

Science — Grade 5

50 questions · answers marked

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NameDateScore     / 50
  1. 1. What is a variable?
    1. A. Anything in a test that could change the result ← Answer
    2. B. A number that stays exactly the same in every one of the trials
    3. C. A kind of tool
  2. 2. What causes day and night on Earth?
    1. A. The Sun moving around Earth every day
    2. B. Earth spinning on its axis ← Answer
    3. C. Clouds covering the Sun
    4. D. Earth moving around the Sun once each year
  3. 3. Where do plants get most of the material they need to grow?
    1. A. From the sunlight itself turning into wood
    2. B. Air and water ← Answer
    3. C. Mostly from the soil around their roots
    4. D. From bugs that land on their leaves
  4. 4. What is a producer?
    1. A. A rock that gives soil nutrients
    2. B. A living thing that makes its own food ← Answer
    3. C. A living thing that breaks down dead plants and animals
    4. D. An animal that hunts other animals for its food
  5. 5. Which of these is a good definition of matter?
    1. A. Anything you can see clearly with your own eyes
    2. B. Anything that has mass and takes up space ← Answer
    3. C. Anything you could pick up and hold in your hand
    4. D. Anything that is a solid or a liquid
  6. 6. Which word means a feature of a material you can observe or measure?
    1. A. Property ← Answer
    2. B. Particle
    3. C. Experiment
    4. D. Mixture
  7. 7. What is a mixture?
    1. A. Parts mixed together that keep their own properties ← Answer
    2. B. A single pure material like gold, with nothing else in it
    3. C. A brand new substance made by heating two things
    4. D. A substance that gives off light and heat
  8. 8. What force pulls a falling leaf to the ground?
    1. A. Friction
    2. B. Gravity ← Answer
    3. C. Magnetism
    4. D. Wind only
  9. 9. What is a controlled variable?
    1. A. A result you measure
    2. B. The one thing you deliberately change between the two trials
    3. C. A variable you hold the same every trial ← Answer
  10. 10. About how long does Earth take to spin around once?
    1. A. About one week, or seven days
    2. B. About one hour
    3. C. About 365 days
    4. D. About 24 hours ← Answer
  11. 11. Which gas do plants take in from the air to grow?
    1. A. Steam from clouds
    2. B. Helium from the sky
    3. C. Oxygen only, like people breathing
    4. D. Carbon dioxide ← Answer
  12. 12. Which of these is a decomposer?
    1. A. A hawk that hunts mice in the field
    2. B. An oak tree
    3. C. A deer that eats grass
    4. D. A mushroom ← Answer
  13. 13. What do scientists say all matter is made of?
    1. A. Tiny particles too small to see ← Answer
    2. B. Small drops of water stuck together
    3. C. Bits of light and heat energy
    4. D. Pieces of dust, dirt and sand
  14. 14. Which of these objects would a magnet pick up?
    1. A. A steel nail ← Answer
    2. B. A glass marble
    3. C. A plastic button
    4. D. A wooden bead
  15. 15. Which is a sign that a new substance has formed?
    1. A. The pieces are stirred
    2. B. Gas bubbles appear ← Answer
    3. C. The parts are poured
    4. D. The cup is shaken around
  16. 16. Which way does Earth's gravity pull on objects?
    1. A. Sideways, toward the east where the Sun rises
    2. B. Down, toward Earth's center ← Answer
    3. C. Up, toward the sky
    4. D. Toward the nearest wall
  17. 17. How many things should you change in a fair test?
    1. A. One ← Answer
    2. B. Two
    3. C. All of the variables that you listed before the test started
    4. D. None of them
  18. 18. About how long does Earth take to orbit the Sun once?
    1. A. About one day, or 24 hours
    2. B. About one year ← Answer
    3. C. About ten years
    4. D. About one month
  19. 19. What do plant roots mainly take in?
    1. A. Small rocks and pebbles
    2. B. Sunlight that shines down into the soil
    3. C. Water ← Answer
    4. D. Carbon dioxide gas from deep underground
  20. 20. In the food chain grass to rabbit, which is the consumer?
    1. A. The sun
    2. B. The grass, because it uses up sunlight
    3. C. The soil the grass grows in
    4. D. The rabbit ← Answer
  21. 21. Which of these is matter?
    1. A. A shadow on a wall
    2. B. The sound of a drum
    3. C. The air in a tire ← Answer
    4. D. A rainbow after rain
  22. 22. Which material lets electricity flow through it easily?
    1. A. A rubber band
    2. B. A paper straw
    3. C. Copper wire ← Answer
    4. D. A cotton string
  23. 23. Sand mixed with water is...
    1. A. a new substance
    2. B. pure water with no sand left
    3. C. a mixture ← Answer
    4. D. a chemical change that made rock
  24. 24. What is a force?
    1. A. A kind of matter
    2. B. A type of light
    3. C. A push or a pull ← Answer
    4. D. A measure of heat
  25. 25. What is a failure point?
    1. A. The last trial
    2. B. The exact place where the model gives way ← Answer
    3. C. The person who ran the test
    4. D. The total number of coins the bridge held before it collapsed
  26. 26. When is your shadow usually the shortest?
    1. A. Around midday ← Answer
    2. B. Early in the morning, right at sunrise
    3. C. Late in the evening, at sunset
    4. D. At midnight
  27. 27. What is photosynthesis?
    1. A. How plants sleep at night in the dark
    2. B. How seeds fall to the ground
    3. C. How plants eat soil and rocks through their long roots
    4. D. How plants make food from air, water and light ← Answer
  28. 28. What do the arrows in a food chain show?
    1. A. Who is the hunter
    2. B. The direction matter and energy move ← Answer
    3. C. Which way the animals walk at night
    4. D. Which animal is the biggest and strongest
  29. 29. A spoonful of salt is stirred into water until you cannot see it. What happened to the salt?
    1. A. It turned into more plain water
    2. B. It floated up into the air above
    3. C. It was destroyed by the stirring water
    4. D. It broke into tiny particles in the water ← Answer
  30. 30. Which property tells you how easily a material can be scratched?
    1. A. Magnetism
    2. B. Color
    3. C. Smell
    4. D. Hardness ← Answer
  31. 31. Baking soda and vinegar are mixed and fizz. What does the fizzing show?
    1. A. A new gas formed ← Answer
    2. B. The vinegar froze
    3. C. The baking soda turned into water
    4. D. Nothing new formed at all
  32. 32. A ball rolls off a table. What happens next?
    1. A. It falls to the floor ← Answer
    2. B. It floats in the air
    3. C. It flies up to the ceiling
    4. D. It stops in midair
  33. 33. What is a prototype?
    1. A. An early working model built to be tested ← Answer
    2. B. A list of materials
    3. C. A drawing of the final object with labels on every single part
  34. 34. In which direction does the Sun appear to rise?
    1. A. North
    2. B. West
    3. C. South
    4. D. East ← Answer
  35. 35. What does a plant need sunlight for?
    1. A. To scare away animals that might eat it
    2. B. To turn its leaves brown
    3. C. Energy to make food ← Answer
    4. D. To keep the soil warm and soft for roots
  36. 36. Which is a consumer?
    1. A. Algae
    2. B. A blade of grass
    3. C. A frog ← Answer
    4. D. A fern growing on the forest floor
  37. 37. What is the word for a liquid changing into a gas?
    1. A. Condensation
    2. B. Evaporating ← Answer
    3. C. Freezing
    4. D. Dissolving
  38. 38. Which property describes how shiny a material is?
    1. A. Reflectivity ← Answer
    2. B. Hardness
    3. C. Solubility
    4. D. Conductivity
  39. 39. A bowl of cereal and raisins is...
    1. A. a new substance
    2. B. a mixture ← Answer
    3. C. a chemical reaction in the bowl
    4. D. a gas
  40. 40. What does a plumb line show?
    1. A. The direction of down ← Answer
    2. B. How hot the air is
    3. C. The direction of north
    4. D. How fast wind blows
  41. 41. Why run three trials instead of one?
    1. A. Three trials use up more of the materials you were given
    2. B. Three is a required number
    3. C. One trial could be luck ← Answer
  42. 42. Is it day or night on the side of Earth facing away from the Sun?
    1. A. Both day and night at once
    2. B. Night ← Answer
    3. C. Day, because the Sun shines all around Earth
    4. D. Neither one
  43. 43. Which part of the plant takes in carbon dioxide?
    1. A. The flowers only, when they open up
    2. B. The seeds
    3. C. The leaves ← Answer
    4. D. The roots buried deep under the soil
  44. 44. What do decomposers do?
    1. A. Break down dead things and return matter to soil ← Answer
    2. B. Turn soil into rock
    3. C. Make food from sunlight, air and water like green plants do
    4. D. Hunt live animals for food
  45. 45. Why does a balloon get bigger when you blow into it?
    1. A. Heat from your mouth melts the rubber
    2. B. Air particles push on the inside of it ← Answer
    3. C. Your breath makes the rubber grow longer
    4. D. The rubber soaks up the warm air
  46. 46. What does it mean if a material is soluble in water?
    1. A. It sinks to the bottom fast
    2. B. It dissolves in the water ← Answer
    3. C. It floats on top of the water
    4. D. It changes the water to ice
  47. 47. Which of these is a new substance?
    1. A. Pebbles mixed with sand
    2. B. Rust on an old nail ← Answer
    3. C. Salt stirred in water
    4. D. Beads mixed in a jar
  48. 48. A child in Brazil drops a pencil. Which way does it fall?
    1. A. Up to the sky
    2. B. Sideways to the north
    3. C. Down to the ground ← Answer
    4. D. It stays where it is
  49. 49. Which should stay the same in a paper bridge test?
    1. A. The gap between the books ← Answer
    2. B. The result you get
    3. C. The fold pattern you are comparing between the two bridges
    4. D. Nothing at all
  50. 50. What is a shadow?
    1. A. A cloud on the ground
    2. B. A bright spot where light bounces off a mirror
    3. C. A dark area where an object blocks light ← Answer
    4. D. A reflection in water
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · free to print and photocopy for your own studentsScience — Grade 5
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · Science Grade 5
From the workbook

A real page of Science · Grade 5

Control the Variables, Find the Weak Point

Students will plan a fair test with one variable changed and the rest held constant, run it, identify the failure point of the prototype, and make one targeted improvement. · 40 min

Warm-up — say this

“Do not just record that it failed. Record exactly where.”

Worked example

You change the fold pattern and also move the books further apart. What is wrong?

Answer: Two variables changed at once, so you cannot tell which one caused the difference.

A mistake students make

A test that ends in collapse is a failed test.

How the book fixes it

Record where the collapse started. The test succeeded because it located the weak point.

Note to the parent

Write the list of controlled variables on paper before the first trial, and check it out loud between trials. Drift is the usual reason home tests go wrong.

That is one topic of many. The free questions above check a skill; this is the part that teaches it.

Practice is not teaching. Science · Grade 5 is the part that teaches.

These questions check a skill your student has already met. They do not explain anything, and they are not meant to — that is what the workbook is for, and it is the whole difference between the two.

  1. It teaches.Each topic is a forty-minute lesson that tells you what to say, in order: a five-minute warm-up, twelve minutes of teaching, ten minutes guided, ten minutes on their own, three minutes to close. Written for a parent who has never taught.
  2. It explains.Two worked examples per topic, and the two mistakes students actually make on that exact skill — named, with how to correct each one. When a student is stuck, the book already knows why.
  3. It reviews.Every answer comes with a short explanation, not just a key. And every topic has its own question bank, so a student who needs another go gets different questions rather than the same page again.
  4. It is a plan, not a pile.Every topic names the standard it addresses, in teaching order, so you can see the whole year before you start.
$9.99 Buy Science · Grade 5 — $9.99 Read a free sample first Everything else we give away

Not sure which grade to start in? Write to support@uponlylearning.com and tell us about your student. We will tell you honestly, including if the answer is a grade below the one they are in.

Why this exists

I was spending thousands a month on tutors, and when I asked about enrolling a second or third child the answer was the same everywhere: that will be double. So I built the thing I could not find — nine subjects, kindergarten through grade 5, every topic in the order a student should actually meet it.

Dr. Evan J. Hasson, DC — Founder · Read the whole story

Other grades

KindergartenFree kindergarten science questionsGrade 1Free 1st grade science questionsGrade 2Free 2nd grade science questionsGrade 3Free 3rd grade science questionsGrade 4Free 4th grade science questions

Grade 5, other subjects

MathFree 5th grade math questionsReadingFree 5th grade reading questionsWritingFree 5th grade writing and grammar questions

Further reading

Science at the Kitchen Table, With Things You OwnHomeschool science without a lab: the one idea that carries K–5, eight experiments using household items, and what to write down.

Questions parents ask

Are these science worksheets really free?

Yes. All 50 questions and their answers are on this page, free to print and free to photocopy for your own students. There is no account, no email address and no card.

Can a teacher or a tutor use these with a class?

Yes. Print and photocopy them for the students you teach. The only thing we ask is that you do not republish them as your own or sell them.

Where are the answers?

Marked beside each question on this page, so it prints as its own answer key. If you want a clean copy for a student, print it and cover the answer column, or use the sample workbook instead.

What grade are these for?

Grade 5. Every other grade from kindergarten to grade 5 has its own page, linked at the foot of this one. If your student finds these hard, try the grade below — that is normal and it is not a problem.

What do the paid workbooks add?

These questions check a skill. The workbook teaches it: a forty-minute lesson that tells you what to say, two worked examples, the two mistakes students actually make on that skill and how to correct each one, and an explanation beside every answer rather than a bare key.