NGSS Resource Hub
Three-dimensional breakdowns, phenomena, and classroom-ready activities for every NGSS standard, grades 4-8.
🚀 Jump to Your Discipline
5th Grade NGSS Standards
Pick any standard. Each page is your full lesson-planning workspace for that standard.
Properties of Matter: Every Material Has a Fingerprint You Can Test
"Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties."
NGSS Lead States. (2013). Next Generation Science Standards: For states, by states (5-PS1-3). The National Academies Press. https://www.nextgenscience.org/dci-arrangement/5-ps1-matter-and-its-interactions
Students might identify materials such as baking soda and similar powders, metals, minerals, and liquids. Properties they could use include color, hardness, reflectivity, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, how the material responds to magnets, and solubility, but density is not meant to be one of these properties.
Summarized in our own words from the 5-PS1-3 clarification statement (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Not a verbatim quote.
Students are not expected to work with density or to tell the difference between mass and weight.
Summarized in our own words from the 5-PS1-3 assessment boundary (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Not a verbatim quote.
The three dimensions packed into this standard
Every standard bundles a DCI (the content), a SEP (the science practice), and a CCC (the crosscutting lens). They run in the same task, not in sequence.
"Measurements of a variety of properties can be used to identify materials."
National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K-12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13165
Every material has its own set of properties, like its color, hardness, or whether a magnet grabs it. Think of those properties as a fingerprint no other material shares. A 5th grader tests several properties, writes down what they find, and uses that list to figure out what the material is.
"Make observations and measurements to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for an explanation of a phenomenon."
National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K-12 science education. The National Academies Press.
5th graders don't just eyeball the material and guess. They run real tests, measure where they can, and record the results so the data becomes evidence. Did the magnet pull it? How many drops until it dissolved? The numbers and observations they collect are what back up their answer.
"Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities such as weight, time, temperature, and volume."
National Research Council. (2012). A framework for K-12 science education. The National Academies Press.
A real test gives a number with a unit, not "a lot" or "kind of hard." Saying "it dissolved in 10 milliliters of water" lets another group repeat the test and check. Standard units make results you can trust and compare.
📍 Where This Standard Fits in the K-12 Progression
Use this to plan the year. Knowing what students should already know and what they're heading toward keeps the lesson focused.
In 2nd grade, students observed and described materials by their observable properties, like hard, flexible, or shiny, and sorted objects into groups. They learned different materials have different properties, but they did not yet measure those properties or use a combination of them to identify a mystery material.
Properties of Matter: Every Material Has a Fingerprint You Can Test
In middle school, students move from physical properties to chemical clues. They analyze data on properties before and after a reaction to decide whether a new substance formed. Identifying materials grows into tracking chemical change.
🌎 Phenomena for 5-PS1-3
Anchor the lesson in one puzzling phenomenon kids keep coming back to. Use the two investigative phenomena to sharpen specific facets.
Four White Powders That Look Exactly the Same
Four small cups sit on the table, each holding a white powder. By eye they look identical. But one is baking soda, one is salt, one is cornstarch, and one is granulated sugar (table sugar). A drop of vinegar makes one of them fizz like crazy. A drop of iodine turns one of them dark blue-black. Warm water dissolves some fast and one barely at all. Same color, totally different materials.
"If four powders look exactly alike, what tests can prove which one is which?"
- "Why does only one powder fizz when we add vinegar?"
- "Is there one single test that tells them all apart, or do we need a few?"
- "How do we know we didn't just get lucky and guess right?"
Which Stuff Does the Magnet Grab?
Lay out a tray of samples: an iron nail, an aluminum tab, a penny (copper-colored), a plastic bead, a steel paperclip. Run a magnet over each. Some leap to it, others ignore it. This sharpens the anchor's big idea: response to a magnet is one property in the fingerprint.
"Why does the magnet pull some metals and skip others that look just as metallic?"
- "Are all shiny metals magnetic, or only some of them?"
- "Can two materials be the same color but act differently with a magnet?"
- "What other test would we need to tell apart two metals the magnet both ignores?"
Race to Dissolve
Give each group equal scoops of salt, granulated sugar, baking soda, and sand, plus identical cups of warm water. Stir each one the same number of times. Salt and sugar disappear, baking soda dissolves slower, sand never does. Solubility becomes a measurable, repeatable property that helps separate look-alikes.
"If we stir each powder the same way, why do some vanish and one never dissolves at all?"
- "Could we count the stirs or measure the water to make the test fair?"
- "Does warmer water change how fast something dissolves?"
- "If two powders both dissolve, how do we still tell them apart?"
100% Aligned Lessons for Every NGSS Standard You Teach
The membership gives you access to thousands of lessons and activities designed to boost student engagement and reclaim valuable teaching time. Trusted by schools and districts from every NGSS state.
⚠️ Misconceptions Your Students Will Walk In With
These come up almost every year. Knowing them in advance lets you head them off in the first lesson.
"If two materials look the same, they must be the same thing."
Color and shine are only one property. Salt, sugar, and baking soda are all white powders, but a fizz test, a taste-free dissolve test, and an iodine test sort them out fast. 5th graders learn to test more than just how something looks before they decide what it is.
"One test is enough to identify a material."
One test can fool you. Lots of powders are white. Lots of metals are shiny. The whole point of this standard is using a set of properties together. A magnet test plus a hardness test plus a dissolve test paints a fingerprint that one clue alone never could.
"All metals stick to a magnet."
Only some metals respond to a magnet, like iron and steel. Aluminum, copper, and gold ignore it completely. That's actually helpful: "a magnet grabs it" is one property that helps tell certain metals apart from the ones it skips.
"Measuring means you need fancy equipment."
5th graders can measure plenty with simple tools. A ruler, a measuring cup with milliliters, a kitchen scale, a timer. The point isn't expensive gear. It's writing down a number with a unit so the test is fair and another group can repeat it.
🙋 Common Student Questions and How to Respond
These come up almost every time this standard gets taught. Plan a response and you'll keep the lesson focused.
Stop that one fast. Never taste or smell unknown lab materials, even if you're pretty sure. Redirect the energy: "What test could give us the same answer safely?" Steer them to dissolving, iodine, or the fizz test. The rule is that scientists identify materials without putting anything in their mouths.
Don't rescue them. Ask, "What did your tests actually show?" Have them describe the full set of properties they recorded. Then they can say it matches their best guess OR that it doesn't match anything given, which is honest science. The data leads, not the list.
Push for the unit. Ask, "How would another group check if you only said fast?" Lead them to count stirs, time the seconds, or measure the water in milliliters. A number with a unit lets someone repeat your test. "Fast" can't be copied.
Yes, and let them figure out how. Ask, "How could you tell which mineral is harder?" Guide them toward the scratch test: a harder material scratches a softer one. They don't need the full Mohs scale, just the idea that harder scratches softer, and that's a property they can record.
📓 Teaching Resources for 5-PS1-3
These resources are aligned to this standard.
Print-ready classroom poster pack for 5-PS1-3. Includes the verbatim NGSS performance expectation plus student-language "I Can" statements broken into daily learning goals. Landscape letter, ready to print and post on your wall.
One-page printable with the anchoring phenomenon plus two investigative phenomena for 5-PS1-3. Each one comes with the driving question students will keep asking. Pin it above your desk for the week — one piece of paper, one week of hooks.
Teacher-facing PDF that breaks down the DCI, SEP, and CCC for 5-PS1-3 in plain English. Color-coded by dimension so you can read the whole standard at a glance. Perfect for lesson planning or a sub folder.
The full unit for 5-PS1-3: differentiated station labs, editable presentations, interactive notebooks (English + Spanish), student-choice projects, and assessments. Built on the 5E model.
9-station hands-on lab covering how to identify materials by their measurable properties, with input stations (Explore It!, Watch It!, Read It!, Research It!) and output stations (Organize It!, Illustrate It!, Write It!, Assess It!). Print and digital. English and Spanish.
A print-and-digital science writing activity where students reason and write about properties of matter through an engaging real-world prompt. Includes teacher directions with an answer guide and project ideas. Great for constructed response, bell-ringers, or science journals.
Teaching more than this one standard?
Get every I Can poster, phenomenon hook, and 3-dimension sheet for all 16 5th Grade standards, in one download. The whole year, ready to print.
📚 Vocabulary Students Need for 5-PS1-3
The terms students need to access this standard. Definitions in plain-English, classroom-ready language.
💡 Free Engagement Ideas for 5-PS1-3
Mystery Powder Lab
Groups get four numbered white powders (baking soda, salt, cornstarch, granulated sugar) and a test menu: add vinegar, add iodine, add water and stir. They record what each powder does in a data table, then use the full set of results to name each powder.
Magnet Sorting Station
Students run a magnet over a tray of metal and non-metal samples and sort them into 'magnet grabs it' and 'magnet ignores it.' They learn that being shiny doesn't tell you if something is magnetic, so response to a magnet is its own property worth testing.
Dissolve Race with Units
Each group measures equal water into cups using milliliters, adds equal scoops of salt, granulated sugar, baking soda, and sand, and times how long each takes to dissolve with the same stirring. They record times in seconds and decide which property best separates the powders. Practices using standard units.
Build a Material Fingerprint Card
Using data from the labs above, students create an identification card for one mystery material that lists every property they tested, with numbers and units where they measured. Another group reads only the card and tries to name the material. Turns their data into a usable identity profile.
📝 Assessment Ideas for 5-PS1-3
Three short tasks that hit all three dimensions. Doable in one class period each.
Give students a filled-in data table for an unknown material (color, magnet response, dissolved in 12 mL, scratched by a nail). They write which material it is and cite at least two properties from the data as their reason.
Show a sloppy procedure where one group used hot water and another used cold, and recorded results as 'dissolved fast.' Students explain what makes the test unfair and rewrite it to use equal water in milliliters and a timer in seconds. Checks understanding of measurement and fair testing.
Give students two white powders and ask them to list which property tests they would run, in order, to tell them apart, and what unit they'd record for each. No lab needed. This shows whether they can plan an investigation that produces real data, not just guesses.
🎯 What Proficient Student Work Looks Like
Same prompt, three student responses at different proficiency levels. Use as anchor papers when scoring.
"Use the data from your tests to identify Mystery Powder #3, and give at least two properties as your evidence."
- A specific claim backed by data or observation
- Use of standard-specific vocabulary in context
- Connection between what students observe and the underlying science idea
- A question they're still wondering about (curiosity stays alive)
"Powder 3 is baking soda. It fizzed when we put the vinegar on it. It looked white."
Lands on a reasonable answer and names one real property (the fizz). But color isn't useful here since all the powders were white, and there's only one solid piece of evidence. Uses no measurement and stops short of a second property.
"Powder 3 is baking soda. My evidence is that it fizzed a lot when we added vinegar, and it dissolved slowly in the water. The iodine did not turn it dark like it did to the cornstarch. Two of the properties matched baking soda."
Uses more than one property as evidence and rules out cornstarch with the iodine test. Connects the set of results to the identity. This is exactly what the standard asks a 5th grader to do.
"Powder 3 is baking soda. My evidence is it fizzed hard with vinegar, the iodine stayed brown so it wasn't cornstarch, and it took about 25 stirs to dissolve in 20 mL of water, slower than the salt. No single test would have proved it, but all three properties together only match baking soda. The measurements made it a fair test other groups could repeat."
Backs the claim with three properties including a measurement with units. Explains why a combination is needed and why units make the test repeatable. Reaches the crosscutting idea about standard units without being prompted.
“Next Generation Science Standards” is a registered trademark of WestEd. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of, and do not endorse, this product.
NGSS performance expectations © 2013 Achieve, Inc. The Disciplinary Core Idea, Science and Engineering Practice, and Crosscutting Concept descriptions are reproduced from A Framework for K-12 Science Education with permission from the National Academies Press.
Trusted Across NGSS States
From California to Connecticut, science teachers in the 20 states that adopted NGSS are using Kesler Science to save time and engage students.
Teachers in NGSS States
Love Kesler Science
What Teachers Are Saying
"I'm able to access rigorous NGSS-aligned lessons and labs that are ready to use, so I spend more time helping students directly and less time searching for quality material."
"There's a lesson for each of the NGSS, so I don't have to search for hours to find a good quality lesson. I can spend more time actually teaching."
"The resources help me cover NGSS in a meaningful way, and my students gain a deeper knowledge of the concepts, with learning that's more self-driven."
Give Your Science Teachers Everything They Need
School and district licenses give your teachers access to every resource they need, including station labs, inquiry labs, anchoring phenomena, presentations, escape rooms, and much more. One purchase covers the grade levels you need.
- PO-friendly. We accept purchase orders
- Volume discounts for 11+ teachers
- Complimentary membership orientation for 4+ teachers
- Three free implementation PD sessions for departments of 11+
- Aligned to the NGSS standards
See It in Action
Book a walkthrough and we'll show you how Kesler Science fits your campus.
Book Demo CallNo pressure, no hard sell
"My assistant principal stopped in my room and immediately noticed how the students were engrossed in their centers and how they moved seamlessly from center to center. Also the built-in modifications really impressed!"
"It provides differentiated instruction for all types of learners, allowing them to become more engaged."
"I love it all!! I have become a facilitator in my class and I love the excitement it brings to my class. The kids love all that we do with the Kesler products."