What do we know about liquids and solids?

 Our current science unit is called liquids and solids. In this unit students explore what solids and liquids are. We started out by discussing the properties of solids. Students quickly caught on and were able to describe solids as hard, soft, round, rigid, sharp, etc.
We used solids to construct a tower. Students had to try and create the tallest tower using the same materials. We then discussed that some materials are better when building because of their properties. We learned that solids all come in different sizes. Students were challenged to sort different solids when they were mixed together. They found this very challenging. I introduced sorting screens to them and they quickly figured out how to sort the properly.

When we got back from our winter break, students were introduced to liquids. We discussed the different properties of liquids, viscous, opaque, colored, transparent, bubbly, foamy, etc. Students were able to compare and contrast different solids in bottles. We played go fish with liquid cards. Students had to look at the picture of the liquid and ask their partner for the liquid using the name of the property.

We explored liquids in water this week. Students put different solids in water and found that some sink and some float. I discussed with the the different reasons some might float and why some sink. They learned that some solids are more dense than the water and some are less dense.  First grade had the most fun with our liquids and water experiment. We put a vial of water into a ziploc bag with a solid in it and waited 24 hours to see what happened to the solid. Before we added the water in this experiment we made predictions of what would happen to each solid. The next day we looked at each ziploc and noticed that some got larger in size because they absorbed the water (rice and beans), some dissolved (candy and sugar), and some stayed the same (cloth and foil). At the end of the lesson, students were curious about the sugar. We created a second experiment with the sugar. We poured all four groups sugar water into a container. We set it by the window and we are going to wait until all the water evaporates to see if the sugar evaporates too or if it will be left in the container. Twelve students voted YES that the sugar will be left in the container and two students voted NO the sugar will evaporate with the water. We cannot wait to see what happens!