Description
What our States of Matter lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: States of Matter teaches students about the three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas). They will discover their properties and be able to identify examples of each. This lesson is for students in 1st grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. This lesson requires scissors, glue, and old magazines or a computer with a printer for the activity.
Options for Lesson
There are several suggestions in the “Options for Lesson” section that you might want to take advantage of. Use real-world objects to represent each state of matter: provide students with small rocks, crayons, or blocks to describe solids, cups of water or sealed juice pouches for liquids, and inflated balloons or Ziplock bags filled with air for gases. To simulate particle movement, use small objects like beads or pom-poms in containers. Shake them lightly when representing solids (tightly packed), swirl them gently for liquids (sliding past), and shake them vigorously for gases (freely moving). You could also use plastic water bottles: freeze one, leave one as liquid, and show steam coming off hot water (safely), so students can observe all three states in one object.
Teacher Notes
The paragraph on this page provides a little extra information on what you can expect from the lesson. You could also teach this lesson at the same time as or before a lesson photosynthesis. Use the lines to write out your thoughts as you prepare.
STATES OF MATTER LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
What Is Matter?
The States of Matter lesson plan includes two content pages. You’ve probably seen water in three forms: ice, water, and steam. Have you ever wondered why ice feels so hard, yet water flows, and steam turns invisible? That is because they are all different types of matter! Matter is anything that has shape and takes up space. Everything you can see, smell, or touch is matter. There are three types of matter: solids, liquids, and gases.
Let’s start with solids. Solids are things that have a shape that doesn’t change unless you do something to them. Think about your favorite toy, your pencil, or an orange. If you put an orange on a table, it stays the same size and shape. This is because the tiny particles inside solids, called atoms, are packed tightly together and don’t move much.
Now, imagine pouring a glass of orange juice. The juice takes the shape of the glass. That’s because it is a liquid. Liquids have a definite volume (which means they take up a certain amount of space), but they don’t have a definite shape. The atoms in liquids are closely packed, but they can still move relative to one another. That’s why liquids flow.
Gases are even more interesting! You can’t always see them, but they are all around us. The air we breathe is made up of gases. Gases don’t have a definite shape or volume. The particles in gases are widely spaced and move rapidly in all directions. That’s why a balloon gets bigger when you blow air into it. The gas particles spread out and fill the space.
Changing States
Sometimes, matter can change from one form to another. Let’s go back to water, for example. When you put an ice cube in your drink, it melts and turns into liquid water. This change from solid to liquid is called melting. If you heat water on the stove, it starts to boil and turns into steam, which is a gas. This change from liquid to gas is called evaporation.
If you cool the steam, it can turn back into water. That process is called condensation. And if you freeze the water, it turns back into ice, a solid. This is called freezing. These changes occur because temperature affects the speed at which particles move.
You can even see these changes in nature. In the morning, you might see dew on the grass. (That’s condensation!) Snowflakes form from water droplets in the clouds as they freeze. When puddles disappear on a sunny day, it is due to evaporation. Scientists use these states of matter to understand how the world works. Engineers, chefs, astronauts, and even weather forecasters all use knowledge about solids, liquids, and gases in their respective fields. The lesson then provides a chart that students can use to write down various things that are solid, liquid, and gas.
STATES OF MATTER LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The States of Matter lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. Each one of these handouts will help students demonstrate their knowledge and will reinforce what they learned throughout the lesson. Use the guidelines on the classroom procedure page to determine when to give students each worksheet.
STATES OF MATTER SIMULATION ACTIVITY WORKSHEET
Students will get to act out for this activity! You will join students in simulating the atoms that make up solids, liquids, and gases in a simulation. You will explain what students will do as they act like the atoms of a solid, liquid, or gas. Then you will call out everyday situations and ask students to act them out as the correct state of matter. For example, if you tell them to act out juice in a bottle, they should move around pretty close together. But if you say to act like an ice cube in the freezer, they should get really close together and freeze!
PICTURE FIND PRACTICE WORKSHEET
The practice worksheet requires students to find images of various things that are solids, liquids, and gases. They can either print pictures from online or use old magazines out of which they can cut pictures and glue them to the table on the worksheet.
STATE CHANGE DETECTIVE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
For the homework assignment, students will pretend they are a State Change Detective. Their mission is to find something around their home that changes from one state of matter to another. It could be water freezing, ice melting, steam rising, or something else they discover. Then their will observe a change in matter at home using their senses. They will watch, listen, and feel (safely) to spot something changing. Finally, they will fill out the detective report on the page.
