Fifth and Sixth Grade Vocabulary Pages with Definitions and Sentences 5th and 6th Grade Vocabulary Pages

5th and 6th Grade Vocabulary Pages Index

Vocabulary/Spelling Words  08/11/05

1.             Consumer – An organism that eats other organisms (animals)

A shark is certainly a big consumer.

2.             Estuary – A place where salt and fresh water meet and mix

We sailed our boat across the estuary at the mouth of the river.

3.             Eutrophication – A body of water becoming richer in nutrients

There was a bad smell because of the eutrophication of the estuary.

4.             Nutrients – Sources of food and energy for plants and animals

The small bay must be rich in nutrients to have so many organisms.

5.             Organisms – Living things

I think there are organisms called lice growing in my hair.

6.             Heterotroph – A consumer, an eater of other living things (animals)

That killer whale is a very large heterotroph.

7.             Pollution – Natural or, more often, manmade waste

The pollution is so bad here that people are moving away.

8.             Stimulate – To cause an increase in activity or energy level

If you stimulate that worm, it will begin to wiggle around.

9.             Source – Origin, place where a thing comes from

The sun is our primary source of energy on this planet.

10.         Plankton – Tiny or microscopic organisms and waste in the sea

A mouthful of sea water is full of plankton.

11.         Detritus – Dead and decaying things that once were alive

Plenty of detritus can cause eutrophication.

12.         Phytoplankton – Plant plankton – the primary producer in the sea

Zooplankton consumes the primary producer called phytoplankton.

13.         Decaying – Rotting, falling apart

There were many dead fish decaying in the water.

14.         Organic – Once alive or produced by living things

The cows were steadily filling the pond with organic waste.

15.         Producers – Organisms that make their own food, autotrophs (plants)

Phytoplankton are the primary producers that feed zooplankton.

16.         Primary – Main, most common, most important

Exposure to the sun was the primary cause of her sunburn.

17.         Zooplankton – Animal plankton – The primary consumer in the sea

Many large sea creatures begin life as zooplankton.

18.         Holoplankton – Organisms that are always tiny plankton

Tiny sea worms will always be plankton.

19.         Meroplankton – Large plants or animals that begin as plankton

The giant squid began life as meroplankton.

20.         Autotroph – Organisms that make their own food (plants)

Seaweed can become a huge autotroph.

21.         Microscopic – Too small to see without a microscope

The organisms that made him so ill were microscopic.

22.         Larval – The worm (caterpillar) stage some organisms go through

There are tomato worms in my garden that are going to die in their larval stage.

23.         Nekton – Organisms that swim freely in the ocean (fish)

I never thought of a whale as a nekton.

24.         Benthos – Organisms that live on the ocean floor (crabs)

Some benthos are just delicious while others are disgusting.

25.         Community – An interrelated group living together

Our community is growing way too fast.