Storyline Link

1. Bring students to a central area and have them guide you in drawing a picture on chart paper of what they recall doing to the solid objects in Lesson 1: Properties of Matter. Be sure to label and clarify students’ current thinking and wonderings.
2. As a whole group, students can view the eight solid objects from Lesson 1: Properties of Matter, a variety of containers, and a water bottle. Have students connect their thinking about properties from the previous lesson by asking, “What do you wonder about the items?” Encourage students to explore the objects by asking the following questions:
   • What do you feel when you touch the objects?
   • How do the objects smell?
   • What is the same about the objects?
   • What is different about the objects? What does it make you wonder?
   ESRs: I wonder if I can hit the water bottle with a hammer. I wonder if I can smash the water bottle.

TEACHER NOTE

To increase student-driven learning, connect to the student ideas and wonderings about the bottle of water while introducing the activity. If all student wonderings are about changing the water bottle, redirect student wonderings to the contents of the water bottle. A possible exchange between you and your students might be:

Student: “What happens if we hit the water bottle with a hammer?”

Teacher: “Remember what happened when we hit the crayons and other objects with the hammer?”

Student: “They were smashed.”

Teacher: “So we know what’s going to happen if we hit it with a hammer. Let’s focus on the water inside. What do you wonder about the water?”

Student: “I wonder if we can take it out. I wonder if we can put it in those containers. I wonder if it will spill. I wonder if it will get things wet. I wonder if it will dry up. I wonder if we can put it back in the water bottle.”

3. Invite pairs of students to select a bottle of water and a variety of containers to investigate their wonderings. Have students work in pairs to explore the materials by pouring water into different containers, then think-pair-share observations of how the water behaves. Ask students to write–in words or pictures–in their science notebook what they observed and questions that they have about water based on the investigative phenomenon, “Water poured from one container to a different container takes the shape of the new container.” ESRs: The water is wet. It spreads out. It looks like there is more or less in different containers. It is wider or taller. It changed shape. What happened to the water? What happens if I pour it back into the bottle? Why did it change shape? Is there more water now? Is there less? Do other things change shape also? Add their questions to the 2.1.C1: Student Question Chart.
4. Ask students to name other substances/items that behave like water when they are poured. ESRs: I can pour milk. I can pour pancake syrup. I can pour juice. Rain pours. I can pour glue. I can pour oil.

TEACHER NOTE

In the materials, it was suggested that you provide certain liquids for the Explore. However, if you are able, it is best to provide the liquids the students identified.

TEACHER NOTE

Set boundaries for this investigation to ensure student safety.

5. If students used the word liquids in the Engage stage, affirm that the substances/items they listed that act like water when they are poured are called liquids. If the word liquid was not mentioned by students, introduce the term.
6. Show students the liquids they can choose to investigate and the different materials and containers they can use in their investigation. Provide each pair with 2.2.G1: Investigation Planner. Have students work in pairs to create a plan about how they will investigate the different liquids. Prompt students to think about how much liquid is in the bottle/container and the shape of the liquid in the container. Allow five to ten minutes for students to work on their plan.

7. Circulate among the students; as needed, encourage students to create ways in their investigation plan to answer questions from 2.1.C1: Student Question Chart or other questions they might have about the properties of liquids.
8. Have students share their plans with the whole class. Allow time for them to ask questions about each other’s plans. Then allow time for students to revise based on the ideas they heard from other students.
9. Explain to students that they will be choosing the liquids described in their plan from the materials table to carry out their investigations. Students will record their observations in their science notebook using 2.2.G1: Investigation Planner. Remind students of the safety boundaries for this investigation.
10. Allow time for students to conduct their investigations and record data. Ask students to note any patterns they notice in their observations (similarities, differences, things that happen repeatedly, etc.).
11. Refer to the question in 2.2.G1: Investigation Planner: “What patterns did you see when you observed the liquids?” Have students think-pair-share the similarities and differences they observed about the different liquids. Then select some students to share their own or their partner’s observations, facilitating a student-to-student conversation about how some of the observable properties are similar to each other, and some are different.
12. As students share ideas using their own words, help students discuss why certain properties belong together. ESRs: The liquids spread out in their new container. Some liquids poured fast. When we poured two liquids into the same container, one liquid was on top of the other. The liquids didn’t mix. The liquids looked like the shape of the new container. The liquids looked taller or shorter depending on the container’s shape. The liquids looked fatter or skinnier depending on the container’s shape.

TEACHER NOTE

The properties of liquids relate to the anchoring phenomenon. Eventually students will understand that when some solids melt, they spread out to take the shape of their container. When cooled, the liquids become a solid that doesn’t need a container to keep that shape, e.g., chocolate bars, chocolate bunnies, etc.

13. Have students refer to the 2.1.C1: Student Question Chart. Ask students to think-pair-share which of the questions have been answered. Record answers on the chart. ESR: Liquids spread out and take the shape of their new container.

14. Have students write or draw their observations of the liquids in their science notebook. Remind students to use examples from their investigations in their explanation. ESRs: Liquids pour, but I observed that the water poured easier than the syrup. Liquids spread out in their containers. The water and the dish soap spread out when they were poured into a container. When I poured two liquids into the same container, they didn’t mix. The syrup spread out, but it was slow. Some liquids are bubbly, and some liquids are clear.
15. Have students review the 2.1.C1: Student Question Chart to recall the properties they observed about the solid objects. Have students answer the question, “How are liquids similar to or different from the solid objects?” in their science notebook. ESRs: The liquids are wet, and the solid objects are dry. The liquids are soft, and the solid objects are hard. The misshapen objects spread out like the liquids. They are similar because both are smooth.

16. Distribute an ice cube in a cup and a cup of water to each student pair. Have students make observations of the ice and the water as it changes from a solid to a liquid.
17. Encourage students to explore the materials. Allow students to decide how to explore the cup with ice and the cup with water. Have students think-pair-share observations. ESRs: The ice cube is hard. The ice cube doesn’t spread out. The water spread out. Water is wet, and the ice cube is wet. When we put the ice in the water, it floated. It was solid and then it was a liquid. The ice cube melted in my hand.
18. Ask students to think-pair-share how the ice cube and water are like the misshapen and regular solid objects. ESRs: The ice cube is hard like the solid objects. The ice cube doesn’t spread out when it is frozen. The regular objects don’t spread out. The water is like the misshapen objects because it spreads out.

TEACHER NOTE

Students are beginning to explain the anchoring phenomenon: “Materials are made of matter. We can observe misshapen objects, including a crayon, lip balm, and a candle” by noticing when the ice cube (a solid) gets heated, it becomes liquid water.

19. Ask students to think-pair-share how the ice cube and water are like the misshapen and regular solid objects. ESRs: The ice cube is hard like the solid objects. The ice cube doesn’t spread out when it is frozen. It spreads out in my hand as it melts. When the ice becomes water in my hand, it is like (the crayon, lip balm, or candle) because it spreads out.
20. Ask students if anything they just did with the liquids would help the objects go back to their original shape. Refer to the 2.1.C1: Student Question Chart and the engineering question from Lesson 1: Properties of Matter, “How can we keep this from happening?” ESR: Don’t warm them up!
21. Provide a block and a glass of milk and two different-sized containers for students to observe. Have students think-pair-share to describe how they would plan and conduct an investigation to find evidence to describe the patterns of the properties of each. Encourage students to recall what they know about the properties of solids and liquids.

22. Have students refer to the 2.2.G1: Investigation Planner they completed in the Explore. Have students write their own investigation plan.

TEACHER NOTE

You can provide your students with scaffolds to write their investigation plans. For example:

First, I would...

Next, I would...

Then, I would...

Last, I would...

Finally, I would...

23. Based on the investigation plan, have students write in their science notebook about the differences between solids and liquids. They should base the differences on the evidence they found in patterns of observation, including classifying each as a solid or liquid and identifying at least three properties. ESRs: I know that the block is a solid. I know because I observed it is hard, brown, wooden, and square. I know the milk is a liquid. I know this because it is white, runny, cold, foamy, flowing, spreads, and takes the shape of the glass.

TEACHER NOTE

Review your student’s responses. Use the following rubric for evaluating student understanding of solids and liquids in step 23.

3

2

1

The student identifies the state (solid or liquid), provides 3 or more properties, and fully explains how he or she found out or used evidence to find out about those properties.

The student identifies the state (solid or liquid) and provides 2–3 properties but does not fully explain how he or she used evidence to find out about those properties.

The student demonstrates minimal understanding. Can identify solid or liquid and 1–2 properties but does not explain how he or she used evidence to find out about those properties.