The most important thing to know about grade 5 science in Washington is that it is not a grade 5 test. The WCAS covers the grades 3, 4, and 5 standards together, and on a real form the grade 3 and 4 material outweighs the grade 5 material. A student who has reviewed only this year’s science has reviewed the smaller part of the test.
This book holds four flashcard decks: 140 cards written to all 45 of the Washington State 2013 K-12 Science Learning Standards the grade 5 test draws on: 15 from grade 3, 14 from grade 4, 13 from grade 5, and 3 written for the grades 3 to 5 band. Every answer card prints the grade its standard belongs to, so you can see which year each card comes from. Every card is a new item. Read the front, answer in your head, then turn the page to flip it.
The test reports against three areas: Physical Sciences (about 40%), Earth and Space Sciences (about 31%), and Life Sciences (about 29%). The 140 cards follow those shares: 56, 44, and 40.
What’s inside
- Four color-coded decks of 35 cards: Like Test Day (test-style questions), Key Concepts (one idea per card), Vocabulary (the standards’ own terms), and Trouble Spots (the ideas easiest to confuse)
- A drawing on every card: 140 figures, each computed from its own numbers
- Key Concepts cards that ask your child to explain an idea, then show the principle and one worked example
- Vocabulary cards that define each term in the standards’ own language
- Trouble Spots cards whose wrong choices are the mix-ups students make, including claims to judge. Some of them are correct
- The answer on the very next page: the correct answer, a worked explanation in plain language, and a Tip that names the mistake behind the wrong choices
- The Washington standard each card tests, on the back word for word with its category and grade, so a missed card points to a standard
- Each deck in its own color on every page; the amber box is always a Tip
- A letter to families on how the test is built and reported, with test-taking tips
- A Study Reference listing the three categories, the share each carries, and all 45 standards with their topics in plain words
- A Quick Answer Key for both question decks
Topics covered
- Forces that push or pull without touching, balanced forces, and patterns in motion
- Energy of motion, collisions, and devices that convert energy from one form to another
- Waves, and how light reflecting from an object lets the eye see it
- Particles too small to see, conservation of weight, and identifying materials by their properties
- Weathering and erosion, and reading patterns in maps of Earth’s features
- Earth’s systems, where Earth’s water is, the sun and stars, and day, night, and the seasons
- Life cycles, inherited traits, habitats, structures that support survival, and matter cycling
- Design problems with criteria and constraints, and testing to improve a design
Why parents and teachers choose Smart Stars
- Written by experienced educators working from Washington’s own science standards and the OSPI test blueprint
- Four ways to study the same 45 standards instead of one worksheet format repeated
- Because the test spans three years, a run of missed grade 3 cards is a signal, and this book makes it visible
How to use this book
Work through one deck in order the first time; after that, jump to any deck from the table of contents. Answer before turning the page, then read the back even when you were right. Start with Like Test Day and Vocabulary, and save Trouble Spots for last. Ten to fifteen cards a day beats one long sitting.
The four decks
- Like Test Day (35 cards): Each card is a test-style question written to the Grade 5 WCAS science test.
- Key Concepts (35 cards): Each card asks you to explain one science idea from the Grade 5 WCAS science test.
- Vocabulary (35 cards): Each card is a single term used on the Grade 5 WCAS science test.
- Trouble Spots (35 cards): Each card is built on a distinction the Washington science standards draw and students most often blur: weathering against erosion, renewable against harmless, a criterion against a constraint, inherited against acquired, a daily pattern against a yearly one.Five cards give you a claim a student wrote and ask you to judge it.
How the cards work
Read the front of a card, answer it in your head, then turn the page. The answer card shows the answer, a worked explanation, a Tip naming the mistake behind the wrong choices, and the exact Washington standard the card tests. When you miss a card, write down the reporting category and the Washington standard printed on its answer page. Those are the questions to practice again before test day.
The grade 5 WCAS is not a grade 5 test: it covers the science standards for grades 3, 4, and 5 together. Every answer card prints the grade its standard belongs to, so you can see which year each card comes from.
Color code. Each deck has its own color on every card, so you always know which deck you are in. The amber box is always a Tip.
Pair it with the practice tests
Washington WCAS Grade 5 Science Practice Tests
Work through full-length practice tests in the same test format, then use these cards to review what each test turns up.
