Elementary Science Glossary · NYS Grade 5 science test vocabulary

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The Elementary Science Glossary lists more than 800 terms from New York State elementary science (grades 3–5): the vocabulary of the grades 3–5 science learning standards (NYSSLS performance expectations) and of released Grade 5 Science Test questions, along with the organisms, substances, places, celestial objects and units they name.

This glossary is strictly limited to terms originating from official NYSED materials such as standards and released test questions. Every term links to its source: a performance expectation (for example 3-LS4-3) means the term appears in that standard's text, clarification statement, assessment boundary or performance level descriptions; a test cluster means the term appeared in that released question cluster, and the link opens the question. Sections: vocabulary from the standards, vocabulary from released tests, organisms, substances and materials, places, features and events, celestial objects, spacecraft and instruments, units, and terms the standards point to without naming.

Vocabulary from the standards

Terms used in the grades 3–5 performance expectations and their supporting NYSED text (clarification statements, assessment boundaries and performance level descriptions). This is the core vocabulary; the science-practice and engineering words the standards use (claim, evidence, model, criteria, constraint) are included because the test uses them the same way. Each term links to the first standard, in course-map order, that uses it.

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Vocabulary from released tests

Terms that do not appear in the standards' text but have appeared in a released Grade 5 Science Test cluster. The test is noted after each term; the link opens the question.

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Organisms

Living things that the standards or the released test clusters name, grouped by source so teachers can see the kinds of organisms NYSED writes about.

From the standards

Spring 2026 Grade 5 Science Test

Spring 2025 Grade 5 Science Test

Spring 2024 Grade 5 Science Test

Substances and materials

Specific substances, chemicals, materials and everyday objects named in the standards or the released test clusters, grouped by source.

From the standards

Spring 2026 Grade 5 Science Test

Spring 2025 Grade 5 Science Test

Spring 2024 Grade 5 Science Test

Places, features and events

Geographic places, landforms, named events and people that the standards or the released test clusters mention.

From the standards

Spring 2026 Grade 5 Science Test

Spring 2025 Grade 5 Science Test

Spring 2024 Grade 5 Science Test

Celestial objects, spacecraft and instruments

Planets, moons and other bodies, spacecraft and instruments named in the standards or the released test clusters.

From the standards

Spring 2026 Grade 5 Science Test

Spring 2025 Grade 5 Science Test

Units

Units used in the released tests, with the first cluster that uses each one.

Implied terms

These terms are not named in the standards or released tests, but the NYSED wording points to them so directly that teachers will want to use them. Each entry quotes the wording that implies it. Terms that could be argued either way are deliberately left out; for example, metamorphosis is not listed because 3-LS1-1 asks only for "unique and diverse life cycles", and evaporation and condensation are not listed here because they are named in the assessment boundary of 5-PS1-1.

  • crest and trough – 4-PS4-1: implied by "patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength"
  • food chain – 5-LS2-1: implied by "the movement of matter among plants (producers), animals (consumers), decomposers, and the environment" (a food web is named in the PLDs)
  • heredity – 3-LS3-1: implied by "traits inherited from parents"
  • independent and dependent variables – 3-5-ETS1-3: implied by "fair tests in which variables are controlled"
  • kinetic energy – 4-PS3-1: implied by "relating the speed of an object to the energy of that object" and, in 4-PS3-3, "the change in the energy due to the change in speed"
  • law of conservation of matter – 5-PS1-2: implied by "regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances the total amount of matter is conserved"
  • sediment – 4-ESS2-1: implied by "loose Earth materials" and "relative rate of deposition"
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