Washington Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS) Grade 5 cheat sheet

Matter has mass and takes up space; mass is measured with a balance and volume with a graduated cylinder or by length × width × height for a rectangular solid.

A substance's state depends on temperature: adding heat can melt or evaporate it, and removing heat can freeze or condense it; the substance itself stays the same material.

In a physical change (tearing, dissolving, changing state) the material keeps its identity; in a chemical change (burning, rusting, baking) a new substance with different properties forms.

Mixtures can be separated by physical means: filtering removes undissolved solids, evaporation recovers a dissolved solid, and magnets remove iron.

A solution is a mixture in which one material dissolves evenly in another; the dissolved material does not settle out and cannot be filtered out.

An object's motion is described relative to a reference point, and speed = distance ÷ time (for example, 20 m in 4 s = 5 m/s).

Forces are pushes or pulls that can change an object's speed or direction; equal forces in opposite directions are balanced and cause no change in motion.

Friction opposes motion between surfaces, and gravity pulls objects toward Earth's center; both are forces that can be measured and compared.

Energy can be transferred from place to place (as motion, heat, light, sound, or electricity) but is not created or destroyed in ordinary events.

Living things share characteristics: they grow, need energy and materials, respond to their environment, and reproduce; nonliving things do none of these.

Plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make sugar (food) and release oxygen during photosynthesis; this is how energy from the sun enters food chains.

In any food chain, arrows show the direction energy flows, from producer to consumer; most food chains begin with a plant or other producer.

Organisms are classified as producers, consumers, or decomposers; decomposers break down dead material and return nutrients to the soil.

An ecosystem includes living organisms and the nonliving parts (water, air, soil, sunlight, temperature) with which they interact.

Structures in organisms serve functions that help them survive: roots absorb water, leaves capture light, and teeth are shaped for the food an animal eats.

An adaptation is a trait that helps an organism survive in its environment; organisms with helpful traits are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Inherited traits come from parents (such as eye color or flower color), while learned behaviors come from experience (such as a dog sitting on command).

A life cycle describes the stages an organism passes through, such as seed → seedling → mature plant → flower → seed.

Earth rotates on its axis once about every 24 hours, causing day and night; the side facing the sun has day.

Earth revolves around the sun once about every 365 days, and its tilted axis causes the seasons as different hemispheres receive more direct sunlight.

The sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west because Earth rotates from west to east.

The moon orbits Earth about once a month; its phases (new, crescent, quarter, gibbous, full) depend on how much of its sunlit side faces Earth.

Water moves through the water cycle by evaporation, condensation into clouds, precipitation, and collection in bodies of water and soil.

Earth's surface features change slowly by weathering and erosion and quickly by events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and landslides.

The sun is the main source of energy for Earth, warming the surface and driving weather, the water cycle, and plant growth.

Fossils are evidence of organisms that lived long ago, and layers of sedimentary rock place older layers below younger ones in undisturbed rock.

Natural resources such as water, soil, and minerals can be conserved by reducing use, reusing materials, and recycling.