North Carolina Science Essential Standards
Grade 4 Resource Pack: Properties of matter
Essential Standard:
4.P.2 Understand the composition and properties of matter before and after they undergo a change or
interaction.
4.P.2.1 Compare the physical properties of samples of matter (strength, hardness, flexibility, ability to conduct
heat, ability to conduct electricity, ability to be attracted by magnets, reactions to water and fire).
4.P.2.2 Explain how minerals are identified using tests for the physical properties of hardness, color, luster,
cleavage and streak.
4.P.2.3 Classify rocks as metamorphic, sedimentary or igneous based on their composition, how they are
formed and the processes that create them.
Vertical Strand Maps:
http://scnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Strand+Maps
Online Atlas map http://strandmaps.dls.ucar.edu/?id=SMS-MAP-1341
http://strandmaps.dls.ucar.edu/?id=SMS-MAP-0048
North Carolina Unpacking:
http://scnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Race+to+the+Top+Support+Tools
TEACHER KNOWLEDGE BLAST
Framework for K-12 Science Education:
How can one explain the structure, properties, and interactions of matter?
The existence of atoms, now supported by evidence from modern instruments, was first postulated as a model that could
explain both qualitative and quantitative observations about matter (e.g., Brownian motion, ratios of reactants and
products in chemical reactions). Matter can be understood in terms of the types of atoms present and the interactions
both between and within them. The states (i.e., solid, liquid, gas, or plasma), properties (e.g., hardness, conductivity), and
reactions (both physical and chemical) of matter can be described and predicted based on the types, interactions, and
motions of the atoms within it. Chemical reactions, which underlie so many observed phenomena in living and nonliving
systems alike, conserve the number of atoms of each type but change their arrangement into molecules. Nuclear
reactions involve changes in the types of atomic nuclei present and are key to the energy release from the sun and the
balance of isotopes in matter.
PS1.A: STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF MATTER
How do particles combine to form the variety of matter one observes?
While too small to be seen with visible light, atoms have substructures of their own. They have a small central region or
nucleus—containing protons and neutrons—surrounded by a larger region containing electrons. The number of protons
in the atomic nucleus (atomic number) is the defining characteristic of each element; different isotopes of the same
element differ in the number of neutrons only. Despite the immense variation and number of substances, there are only
some 100 different stable elements. Each element has characteristic chemical properties. The periodic table, a
systematic representation of known elements, is organized horizontally by increasing atomic number and vertically by
families of elements with related chemical properties. The development of the periodic table (which occurred well
before atomic substructure was understood) was a major advance, as its patterns suggested and led to the identification
of additional elements with particular properties.
Moreover, the table’s patterns are now recognized as related to the atom’s outermost electron patterns, which play an
important role in explaining chemical reactivity and bond formation, and the periodic table continues to be a useful way
to organize this information. The substructure of atoms determines how they combine and rearrange to form all of the
world’s substances. Electrical attractions and repulsions between charged particles (i.e., atomic nuclei and electrons) in
matter explain the structure of atoms and the forces between atoms that cause them to form molecules (via chemical
bonds), which range in size from two to thousands of atoms (e.g., in biological molecules such as proteins). Atoms also
combine due to these forces to form extended structures, such as crystals or metals.
The varied properties (e.g., hardness, conductivity) of the materials one encounters, both natural and manufactured, can
be understood in terms of the atomic and molecular constituents present and the forces within and between them.
Within matter, atoms and their constituents are constantly in motion. The arrangement and motion of atoms vary in
characteristic ways, depending on the substance and its current state (e.g., solid, liquid). Chemical composition,
temperature, and pressure affect such arrangements and motions of atoms, as well as the ways in which they interact.
Under a given set of conditions, the state and some properties (e.g., density, elasticity, viscosity) are the same for
different bulk quantities of a substance, whereas other properties (e.g., volume, mass) provide measures of the size of
the sample at hand.
Materials can be characterized by their intensive measureable properties.
Different materials with different properties are suited to different uses. The ability to image and manipulate placement
of individual atoms in tiny structures allows for the design of new types of materials with particular desired
functionality (e.g., plastics, nanoparticles). Moreover, the modern explanation of how particular atoms influence the
properties of materials or molecules is critical to understanding the physical and chemical functioning of biological
systems.
Grade Band Endpoints for PS1.A
By the end of grade 2. Different kinds of matter exist (e.g., wood, metal, water), and many of them can be either solid or
liquid, depending on temperature. Matter can be described and classified by its observable properties (e.g., visual, aural,
textural), by its uses, and by whether it occurs naturally or is manufactured. Different properties are suited to different
purposes. A great variety of objects can be built up from a small set of pieces (e.g., blocks, construction sets). Objects or
samples of a substance can be weighed, and their size can be described and measured. (Boundary: volume is introduced
only for liquid measure.)
By the end of grade 5. Matter of any type can be subdivided into particles that are too small to see, but even then the
matter still exists and can be detected by other means (e.g., by weighing or by its effects on other objects). For example, a
model showing that gases are made from matter particles that are too small to see and are moving freely around in
space can explain many observations, including the inflation and shape of a balloon; the effects of air on larger particles
or objects (e.g., leaves in wind, dust suspended in air); and the appearance of visible scale water droplets in
condensation, fog, and, by extension, also in clouds or the contrails of a jet. The amount (weight) of matter is conserved
when it changes form, even in transitions in which it seems to vanish (e.g., sugar in solution, evaporation in a closed
container). Measurements of a variety of properties (e.g., hardness, reflectivity) can be used to identify particular
materials. (Boundary: At this grade level, mass and weight are not distinguished, and no attempt is made to define the
unseen particles or explain the atomic-scale mechanism of evaporation and condensation.)
How do people reconstruct and date events in Earth’s planetary history?
Earth scientists use the structure, sequence, and properties of rocks, sediments, and fossils, as well as the locations of
current and past ocean basins, lakes, and rivers, to reconstruct events in Earth’s planetary history. For example, rock
layers show the sequence of geological events, and the presence and amount of radioactive elements in rocks make it
possible to determine their ages. Analyses of rock formations and the fossil record are used to establish relative ages. In
an undisturbed column of rock, the youngest rocks are at the top, and the oldest are at the bottom. Rock layers have
sometimes been rearranged by tectonic forces; rearrangements can be seen or inferred, such as from inverted sequences
of fossil types. Core samples obtained from drilling reveal that the continents’ rocks (some as old as 4 billion years or
more) are much older than rocks on the ocean floor (less than 200 million years), where tectonic processes continually
generate new rocks and destroy old ones. The rock record reveals that events on Earth can be catastrophic, occurring
over hours to years, or gradual, occurring over thousands to millions of years. Records of fossils and other rocks also
show past periods of massive extinctions and extensive volcanic activity. Although active geological processes, such as
plate tectonics (link to ESS2.B) and erosion, have destroyed or altered most of the very early rock record on Earth, some
other objects in the solar system, such as asteroids and meteorites, have changed little over billions of years. Studying
these objects can help scientists deduce the solar system’s age and history, including the formation of planet Earth.
Study of other planets and their moons, many of which exhibit such features as volcanism and meteor impacts similar to
those found on Earth, also help illuminate aspects of Earth’s history and changes. The geological time scale organizes
Earth’s history into the increasingly long time intervals of eras, periods, and epochs. Major historical events include the
formation of mountain chains and ocean basins, volcanic activity, the evolution and extinction of living organisms,
periods of massive glaciation, and development of watersheds and rivers. Because many individual plant and animal
species existed during known time periods (e.g., dinosaurs), the location of certain types of fossils in the rock record can
reveal the age of the rocks and help geologists decipher the history of landforms.
Grade Band Endpoints for ESS1.C
By the end of grade 2. Some events on Earth occur in cycles, like day and night, and others have a beginning and an end,
like a volcanic eruption. Some events, like an earthquake, happen very quickly; others, such as the formation of the
Grand Canyon, occur very slowly, over a time period much longer than one can observe.
By the end of grade 5. Earth has changed over time. Understanding how landforms develop, are weathered (broken
down into smaller pieces), and erode (get transported elsewhere) can help infer the history of the current landscape.
Local, regional, and global patterns of rock formations reveal changes over time due to Earth forces, such as
earthquakes. The presence and location of certain fossil types indicate the order in which rock layers were formed.
Patterns of tree rings and ice cores from glaciers can help reconstruct Earth’s recent climate history.
How and why is Earth constantly changing?
Earth’s surface is a complex and dynamic set of interconnected systems—principally the geosphere, hydrosphere,
atmosphere, and biosphere—that interact over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. All of Earth’s processes are
the result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among these systems. For example, the motion of tectonic
plates is part of the cycles of convection in Earth’s mantle, driven by outflowing heat and the downward pull of gravity,
which result in the formation and changes of many features of Earth’s land and undersea surface.
Weather and climate are shaped by complex interactions involving sunlight, the ocean, the atmosphere, clouds, ice, land,
and life forms. Earth’s biosphere has changed the makeup of the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere over
geological time; conversely, geological events and conditions have influenced the evolution of life on the planet. Water is
essential to the dynamics of most earth systems, and it plays a significant role in shaping Earth’s landscape.
ESS2.A: EARTH MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS
How do Earth’s major systems interact?
Earth is a complex system of interacting subsystems: the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. The
geosphere includes a hot and mostly metallic inner core; a mantle of hot, soft, solid rock; and a crust of rock, soil, and
sediments.
The atmosphere is the envelope of gas surrounding the planet. The hydrosphere is the ice, water vapor, and liquid water
in the atmosphere, ocean, lakes, streams, soils, and groundwater. The presence of living organisms of any type defines
the biosphere; life can be found in many parts of the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. Humans are of course
part of the biosphere, and human activities have important impacts on all of Earth’s systems. All Earth processes are the
result of energy flowing and matter cycling within and among Earth’s systems. This energy originates from the sun and
from Earth’s interior. Transfers of energy and the movements of matter can cause chemical and physical changes among
Earth’s materials and living organisms.
Solid rocks, for example, can be formed by the cooling of molten rock, the accumulation and consolidation of sediments,
or the alteration of older rocks by heat, pressure, and fluids. These processes occur under different circumstances and
produce different types of rock. Physical and chemical interactions among rocks, sediments, water, air, and plants and
animals produce soil. In the carbon, water, and nitrogen cycles, materials cycle between living and nonliving forms and
among the atmosphere, soil, rocks, and ocean.
Weather and climate are driven by interactions of the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, with inputs of energy
from the sun. The tectonic and volcanic processes that create and build mountains and plateaus, for example, as well as
the weathering and erosion processes that break down these structures and transport the products, all involve
interactions among the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. The resulting landforms and the habitats they provide
affect the biosphere, which in turn modifies these habitats and affects the atmosphere, particularly through imbalances
between the carbon capture and oxygen release that occur in photosynthesis, and the carbon release and oxygen capture
that occur in respiration and in the burning of fossil fuels to support human activities.
Earth exchanges mass and energy with the rest of the solar system. It gains or loses energy through incoming solar
radiation, thermal radiation to space, and gravitational forces exerted by the sun, moon, and planets. Earth gains mass
from the impacts of meteoroids and comets and loses mass from the escape of gases into space.
Earth’s systems are dynamic; they interact over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales and continually react to
changing influences, including human activities. Components of Earth’s systems may appear stable, change slowly over
long periods of time, or change abruptly, with significant consequences for living organisms. Changes in part of one
system can cause further changes to that system or to other systems, often in surprising and complex ways.
By the end of grade 2. Wind and water can change the shape of the land. The resulting landforms, together with the
materials on the land, provide homes for living things.
By the end of grade 5. Earth’s major systems are the geosphere (solid and molten rock, soil, and sediments), the
hydrosphere (water and ice), the atmosphere (air), and the biosphere (living things, including humans). These systems
interact in multiple ways to affect Earth’s surface materials and processes. The ocean supports a variety of ecosystems
and organisms, shapes landforms, and influences climate. Winds and clouds in the atmosphere interact with the
landforms to determine patterns of weather. Rainfall helps shape the land and affects the types of living things found in a
region. Water, ice, wind, living organisms, and gravity break rocks, soils, and sediments into smaller particles and move
them around. Human activities affect Earth’s systems and their interactions at its surface.
ESS2.B: PLATE TECTONICS AND LARGE-SCALE SYSTEM INTERACTIONS
Why do the continents move,and what causes earthquakes and volcanoes?
Plate tectonics is the unifying theory that explains the past and current movements of the rocks at Earth’s surface and
provides a coherent account of its geological history. This theory is supported by multiple evidence streams—for
example, the consistent patterns of earthquake locations, evidence of ocean floor spreading over time given by tracking
magnetic patterns in undersea rocks and coordinating them with changes to Earth’s magnetic axis data, the warping of
the land under loads (such as lakes and ice sheets), which show that the solid mantle’s rocks can bend and even flow.
The lighter and less dense continents are embedded in heavier and denser upper-mantle rocks, and together they make
up the moving tectonic plates of the lithosphere (Earth’s solid outer layer, i.e., the crust and upper mantle). Tectonic
plates are the top parts of giant convection cells that bring matter from the hot inner mantle up to the cool surface.
These movements are driven by the release of energy (from radioactive decay of unstable isotopes within Earth’s
interior) and by the cooling and gravitational downward motion of the dense material of the plates after subduction
(one plate being drawn under another). The plates move across Earth’s surface, carrying the continents, creating and
destroying ocean basins, producing earthquakes and volcanoes, and forming mountain ranges and plateaus.
Most continental and ocean floor features are the result of geological activity and earthquakes along plate boundaries.
The exact patterns depend on whether the plates are being pushed together to create mountains or deep ocean trenches,
being pulled apart to form new ocean floor at mid-ocean ridges, or sliding past each other along surface faults. Most
distributions of rocks within Earth’s crust, including minerals, fossil fuels, and energy resources, are a direct result of the
history of plate motions and collisions and the corresponding changes in the configurations of the continents and ocean
basins.
This history is still being written. Continents are continually being shaped and reshaped by competing constructive and
destructive geological processes. North America, for example, has gradually grown in size over the past 4 billion years
through a complex set of interactions with other continents, including the addition of many new crustal segments.
By the end of grade 2. Rocks, soils, and sand are present in most areas where plants and animals live. There may also be
rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds. Maps show where things are located. One can map the shapes and kinds of land and
water in any area.
By the end of grade 5. The locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, ocean floor structures, earthquakes, and
volcanoes occur in patterns. Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often along the boundaries
between continents and oceans. Major mountain chains form inside continents or near their edges. Maps can help locate
the different land and water features where people live and in other areas of Earth.
ESS2.E: BIOGEOLOGY
How do living organisms alter Earth’s processes and structures?
Evolution, including the emergence and extinction of species, is a natural and ongoing process that is shaped by Earth’s
dynamic processes. The properties and conditions of Earth and its atmosphere affect the environments and conditions
within which life emerged and evolved—for example, the range of frequencies of light that penetrate the atmosphere to
Earth’s surface. Organisms continually evolve to new and often more complex forms as they adapt to new environments.
The evolution and proliferation of living things have changed the makeup of Earth’s geosphere, hydrosphere, and
atmosphere over geological time. Plants, algae, and microorganisms produced most of the oxygen (i.e., the O2) in the
atmosphere through photosynthesis, and they enabled the formation of fossil fuels and types of sedimentary rocks.
Microbes also changed the chemistry of Earth’s surface, and they continue to play a critical role in nutrient cycling (e.g.,
of nitrogen) in most ecosystems.
Organisms ranging from bacteria to human beings are a major driver of the global carbon cycle, and they influence
global climate by modifying the chemical makeup of the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases in particular are continually
moved through the reservoirs represented by the ocean, land, life, and atmosphere. The abundance of carbon in the
atmosphere is reduced through the ocean floor accumulation of marine sediments and the accumulation of plant
biomass; atmospheric carbon is increased through such processes as deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels.
As Earth changes, life on Earth adapts and evolves to those changes, so just as life influences other Earth systems, other
Earth systems influence life. Life and the planet’s nonliving systems can be said to co-evolve.
By the end of grade 2. Plants and animals (including humans) depend on the land, water, and air to live and grow. They
in turn can change their environment (e.g., the shape of land, the flow of water).
By the end of grade 5. Living things affect the physical characteristics of their regions (e.g., plants’ roots hold soil in
place, beaver shelters and human-built dams alter the flow of water, plants’ respiration affects the air). Many types of
rocks and minerals are formed from the remains of organisms or are altered by their activities.
By the end of grade 8. Evolution is shaped by Earth’s varying geological conditions.
Sudden changes in conditions (e.g., meteor impacts, major volcanic eruptions) have caused mass extinctions, but these
changes, as well as more gradual ones, have ultimately allowed other life forms to flourish. The evolution and
proliferation of living things over geological time have in turn changed the rates of weathering and erosion of land
surfaces, altered the composition of Earth’s soils and atmosphere, and affected the distribution of water in the
hydrosphere.
Science for All Americans:
We live on a fairly small planet, the third from the sun in the only system of planets definitely known to
exist (although similar systems are likely to be common in the universe). Like that of all planets and stars,
the earth's shape is approximately spherical, the result of mutual gravitational attraction pulling its
material toward a common center. Unlike the much larger outer planets, which are mostly gas, the earth
is mostly rock, with three-fourths of its surface covered by a relatively thin layer of water and the entire
planet enveloped by a thin blanket of air. Bulges in the water layer are raised on both sides of the planet
by the gravitational tugs of the moon and sun, producing high tides about twice a day along ocean shores.
Similar bulges are produced in the blanket of air as well.
The earth has many resources of great importance to human life. Some are readily renewable, some are
renewable only at great cost, and some are not renewable at all. The earth comprises a great variety of
minerals, whose properties depend on the history of how they were formed as well as on the elements of
which they are composed. Their abundance ranges from rare to almost unlimited. But the difficulty of
extracting them from the environment is as important an issue as their abundance. A wide variety of
minerals are sources for essential industrial materials, such as iron, aluminum, magnesium, and copper.
Many of the best sources are being depleted, making it more and more difficult and expensive to obtain
those minerals.
The interior of the earth is hot, under high pressure from the weight of overlying layers, and more dense
than its rocky crust. Forces within the earth cause continual changes on its surface. The solid crust of the
earth—including both the continents and ocean basins—consists of separate sections that overlie a hot,
almost molten layer. The separate crustal plates move on this softer layer—as much as an inch or more
per year—colliding in some places, pulling apart in others. Where the crustal plates collide, they may
scrape sideways, or compress the land into folds that eventually become mountain ranges (such as the
Rocky Mountains and the Himalayas); or one plate may slide under the other and sink deeper into the
earth. Along the boundaries between colliding plates, earthquakes shake and break the surface, and
volcanic eruptions release molten rock from below, also building up mountains.
Elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur cycle slowly through the land, oceans, and atmosphere,
changing their locations and chemical combinations. Minerals are made, dissolved, and remade—on the earth's
surface, in the oceans, and in the hot, high-pressure layers beneath the crust. Sediments of sand and shells of
dead organisms are gradually buried, cemented together by dissolved minerals, and eventually turned into solid
rock again. Sedimentary rock buried deep enough may be changed by pressure and heat, perhaps melting and
recrystallizing into different kinds of rock.
Buried rock layers may be forced up again to become land surface and eventually even mountains. Thousands
upon thousands of layers of sedimentary rock testify to the long history of the earth, and to the long history of
changing life forms whose remains are found in successive layers of rock.
STRUCTURE OF MATTER
The things of the physical world seem to be made up of a stunningly varied array of materials. Materials
differ greatly in shape, density, flexibility, texture, toughness, and color; in their ability to give off, absorb,
bend, or reflect light; in what form they take at different temperatures; in their responses to each other;
and in hundreds of other ways. Yet, in spite of appearances, everything is really made up of a relatively
few kinds of basic material combined in various ways. As it turns out, about 100 such materials—the
chemical elements—are now known to exist, and only a few of them are abundant in the universe.
Every substance can exist in a variety of different states, depending on temperature and pressure. Just as
water can exist as ice, water, and vapor, all but a few substances can also take solid, liquid, and gaseous
form. When matter gets cold enough, atoms or molecules lock in place in a more or less orderly fashion as
solids. Increasing the temperature means increasing the average energy of motion of the atoms. So if the
temperature is increased, atoms and molecules become more agitated and usually move slightly farther
apart; that is, the material expands. At higher temperatures, the atoms and molecules are more agitated
still and can slide past one another while remaining loosely bound, as in a liquid. At still higher
temperatures, the agitation of the atoms and molecules overcomes the attractions between them and
they can move around freely, interacting only when they happen to come very close—usually bouncing
off one another, as in a gas.
Benchmarks for Science Literacy:
Earth Processes
Students should learn what causes earthquakes, volcanos, and floods and how those events shape the
surface of the earth. Students, however, may show more interest in the phenomena than in the role the
phenomena play in sculpting the earth. So teachers should start with students' immediate interests and
work toward the science. Students may find it harder to take seriously the less-obvious, less-dramatic,
long-term effects of erosion by wind and water, annual deposits of sediment, the creep of continents, and
the rise of mountains. Students' recognition of those effects will depend on an improving sense of long
time periods and familiarity with the effect of multiplying tiny fractions by very large numbers (in this
case, slow rates by long times).
Students can start in the early grades with the ways in which organisms, themselves included, modify
their surroundings. As people have used earth resources, they have altered some earth systems. Students
can gradually come to recognize how human behavior affects the earth's capacity to sustain life.
Questions of environmental policy should be pursued when students become interested in them, usually
in the middle grades or later, but care should be taken not to bypass science for advocacy. Critical
thinking based on scientific concepts and understanding is the primary goal for science education.
K-2
Teaching geological facts about how the face of the earth changes serves little purpose in these early
years. Students should start becoming familiar with all aspects of their immediate surroundings,
including what things change and what seems to cause change. Perhaps "changing things" can be a
category in a class portfolio of things students observe and read about. At some point, students can start
thinking up and trying out safe and helpful ways to change parts of their environment.
3-5
In these years, students should accumulate more information about the physical environment, becoming
familiar with the details of geological features, observing and mapping locations of hills, valleys, rivers,
etc., but without elaborate classification. Students should also become adept at using magnifiers to
inspect a variety of rocks and soils. The point is not to classify rigorously but to notice the variety of
components.
Students should now observe elementary processes of the rock cycle—erosion, transport, and deposit.
Water and sand boxes and rock tumblers can provide them with some firsthand examples. Later, they can
connect the features to the processes and follow explanations of how the features came to be and still are
changing. Students can build devices for demonstrating how wind and water shape the land and how
forces on materials can make wrinkles, folds, and faults. Films of volcanic magma and ash ejection
dramatize another source of buildup.
Structure of Matter
This section may have the most implications for students' eventual understanding of the picture that
science paints of how the world works. And it may offer great challenges too. Atomic theory powerfully
explains many phenomena, but it demands imagination and the joining of several lines of evidence.
Students must know about the properties of materials and their combinations, changes of state, effects of
temperature, behavior of large collections of pieces, the construction of items from parts, and even about
the desirability of nice, simple explanations. All of these elements should be introduced in middle school
so the unifying idea of atoms can begin by the end of the 8th grade.
k-2
Students should examine and use a wide variety of objects, categorizing them according to their various
observable properties. They should subject materials to such treatments as mixing, heating, freezing,
cutting, wetting, dissolving, bending, and exposing to light to see how they change. Even though it is too
early to expect precise reports or even consistent results from the students, they should be encouraged to
describe what they did and how materials responded.
Students should also get a lot of experience in constructing things from a few kinds of small parts
("Tinkertoys" and "Legos"), then taking them apart and rearranging them. They should begin to consider
how the properties of objects may differ from properties of the materials they are made of. And they
should begin to inspect things with a magnifying glass to discover features not visible without it.
By the end of the 2nd grade, students should know that
 Objects can be described in terms of their properties. Some properties, such as hardness and
flexibility, depend upon what material the object is made of, and some properties, such as size and
shape, do not. 4D/P1*
 Things can be done to materials to change some of their properties, but not all materials respond
the same way to what is done to them. 4D/P2
3-5
The study of materials should continue and become more systematic and quantitative. Students should
design and build objects that require different properties of materials. They should write clear
descriptions of their designs and experiments, present their findings whenever possible in tables and
graphs (designed by the students, not the teacher), and enter their data and results in a computer
database.
Objects and materials can be described by more sophisticated properties—conduction of heat and
electricity, buoyancy, response to magnets, solubility, and transparency. Students should measure,
estimate, and calculate sizes, capacities, and weights. If young children can't feel the weight of something,
they may believe it to have no weight at all. Many experiences of weighing (if possible on increasingly
sensitive balances)—including weighing piles of small things and dividing to find the weight of each—
will help. It is not obvious to elementary students that wholes weigh the same as the sum of their parts.
That idea is preliminary to, but far short of, the conservation principle to be learned later that weight
doesn't change in spite of striking changes in other properties as long as all the parts (including invisible
gases) are accounted for.
With magnifiers, students should inspect substances composed of large collections of particles, such as
salt and talcum powder, to discover the unexpected details at smaller scales. They should also observe
and describe the behavior of large collections of pieces—powders, marbles, sugar cubes, or wooden
blocks (which can, for example, be "poured" out of a container) and consider that the collections may
have new properties that the pieces do not.
By the end of the 5th grade, students should know that
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Heating and cooling can cause changes in the properties of materials, but not all materials respond
the same way to being heated and cooled. 4D/E1a*
Many kinds of changes occur faster under hotter conditions. 4D/E1b
No matter how parts of an object are assembled, the weight of the whole object is always the same
as the sum of the parts; and when an object is broken into parts, the parts have the same total
weight as the original object. 4D/E2*
Materials may be composed of parts that are too small to be seen without magnification. 4D/E3
When a new material is made by combining two or more materials, it has properties that are
different from the original materials. 4D/E4a
A lot of different materials can be made from a small number of basic kinds of materials. 4D/E4b*
Substances may move from place to place, but they never appear out of nowhere and never just
disappear. 4D/E5** (ASL)
All materials have certain physical properties, such as strength, hardness, flexibility, durability,
resistance to water and fire, and ease of conducting heat. 4D/E6** (SFAA)
Collections of pieces (powders, marbles, sugar cubes, or wooden blocks) may have properties that
the individual pieces do not. 4D/E7** (ASL)
PLANNING RESOURCES
Big Ideas:
All objects and substances in the world are made of matter.
Matter has properties that can be observed through the senses.
Objects and substances can be classified according to their physical and chemical properties.
Rocks and minerals emerge from the ever changing Earth.
Rocks and minerals have unique physical and chemical properties.
Essential Questions:
How can we compare and categorize objects and substances?
How can we understand rocks and minerals?
What are some of the properties of rocks and minerals?
What can we learn by examining the properties of rocks and minerals?
How can we identify rocks and minerals?
How can we classify rocks and minerals?
Do we need rocks and minerals?
Why are there different kinds of rocks and minerals?
What would the world be like without rocks and minerals?
Enduring Understandings:
Properties can be observed using our senses.
Objects and substances can be classified based on their properties: strength, hardness, flexibility, ability to
conduct heat, ability to conduct electricity, ability to be attracted by magnets, reactions to water and fire.
Patterns in properties can be used to compare and explain differences in matter.
Rocks and minerals have properties that tell us about what they are made of and how they were formed.
Identify Misconceptions:
Use formative probes: http://scnces.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/Formative+Assessment+Probe+Alignment
Formative Assessment Probes (articles, how-to, free-online) by Page Keeley, et al
http://pal.lternet.edu/docs/outreach/educators/education_pedagogy_research/assessment_probes_uncovering_stu
dent_ideas.pdf
http://www.ode.state.or.us/teachlearn/subjects/science/resources/msef2010-formative_assessment_probes.pdf
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Students may think that materials can only have the properties of one state of matter.
Students may confuse properties and life processes.
Students may have difficulty analyzing and classifying non rigid solids.
Students may think all rocks are the same
Students may either call everything a rock or call everything a mineral.
Students may think humans can fabricate rocks and minerals.
Students may not know that rocks are formed from minerals.
Students may not recognize that rocks and minerals are found in familiar objects and materials that they
use.
Annotated TEACHING Resources:
Rader’s Chem4Kids
http://www.chem4kids.com/files/matter_states.html
Explains basic states and properties. This site goes well beyond what elementary students need to know,
but it written in an accessible way and may be helpful in guiding students who are prepared for more
advanced study.
Inquiry in Action
www.inquiryinaction.org/pdf/InquiryinAction.pdf
This unit from the American Chemical Society includes lessons that examine physical properties.
Physical Properties of Matter
http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewResourceLesson/Preview/16015
Students will participate in a hands-on lab activity in which they will measure and compare apples based
on many of their physical properties. (5E Learning Cycle)
Science Online: Matter
http://classroom.jc-schools.net/sci-units/matter.htm
A collection of lessons for different grade levels concerning matter, properties, and more.
SuperSTAAR Teaching Resources
http://superstaar.org/grade-5/physical-science/55-properties-of-matter/55a-physical-properties-ofmatter/
Students classify matter based on physical properties. These lessons can be adapted to address the
physical properties outlined in the clarifying objective.
ACS Chemistry
http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/lessonplans/
http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/multimedia/
Multimedia and lesson resources that explore matter and properties. This is a middle school site with
some resources that might be helpful.
You Be the Chemist
http://www.chemed.org/programs/activity-guides/
The activity guides on this site encompass students in grades K-8. There are some lessons here that
might be good additions to a unit.
Structure and Properties of Matters Unit
http://www.mccracken.kyschools.us/Downloads/5th%20Grade%20Structures%20and%20Properties
%20of%20Matter.pdf
http://www.mccracken.kyschools.us/Downloads/2%20NGSS%20UNIT%20Matter.pdf
Properties of Matter Inquiry explorations ideas
http://thesciencepenguin.com/2014/07/time-to-teach-properties-of-matter.html
Properties of Matter Stations Ideas
http://thesciencepenguin.com/2013/09/getting-started-with-science-stations-with-properties-ofmatter.html
Ducksters Rocks and Rock Cycle
http://www.ducksters.com/science/rocks.php
An introduction to types of rocks and how they are formed.
Rock Hound Kids
http://www.rockhoundkids.com/
Information, games, family and teacher resources. Geology links.
Rocks and Minerals Unit Blueprint
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/j/jelinekd/EDTE%20226/Unit/Rock%20and%20Mineral%20Unit%20Plan
%20Summer%202009%20%282%29.pdf
A blueprint for unit development on the topic of Rocks and Minerals.
Rocks and Minerals Unit
http://www.wallingford.k12.ct.us/uploaded/curriculum/science_k8/sci_grade_4/sci_gr_4_rock_minrls_sci_kit_curriculum.pdf
A unit of lesson plans related to rocks and minerals.
Rocks and Minerals with 21st Century Learning
www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=14&ved=0ahUKEwinl_7Ims_JAhUJ6yYKHcYc
B8QQFghaMA0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bedminsterschool.org%2Fcms%2Flib6%2FNJ01000206%2FCe
ntricity%2FDomain%2F46%2FRocks%2520and%2520Minerals.doc&usg=AFQjCNHBzPPgIl5TlLJljJrYbfSRW
gu6yA&sig2=dAHbGCefBzNYCPDmeGMIwg&cad=rja
Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears: Rocks and Minerals
http://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/issue/rocks-and-minerals/
A collection of teaching resources and information for professionals wanting to teach about rocks.
Teachnology Rocks and Minerals
http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/science/earth_sciences/rocks/
Video Resources:
Study Jams: Properties of Matter
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/matter/properties-of-matter.htm
Physical Science for Children: All About Properties of Matter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ta4HygRCpk
Study JAMS: The Rock Cycle
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/rocks-minerals-landforms/rock-cycle.htm
Geology Kitchen #2 – Identifying Minerals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjA2-MrWAVU
Geology Kitchen #1 – What is a Mineral?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTXSwnkieZc
Study Jams: Minerals
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/rocks-minerals-landforms/minerals.htm
Study jams: Sedimentary
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/rocks-minerals-landforms/sedimentaryrocks.htm
Study Jams: Igneous
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/rocks-minerals-landforms/igneous-rocks.htm
Study Jams: Metamorphic
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/rocks-minerals-landforms/metamorphicrocks.htm
Text Resources:
Properties of Matter
http://schools.bcsd.com/fremont/5th_Sci__matter_Properties_of_matter.htm
One Geology
http://www.onegeology.org/extra/kids/rocks_and_minerals.html
Earth Facts – Rocks and Minerals
http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/earth/rocksandminerals.html
Rocks for Kids
http://www.rocksforkids.com/
Terminology:
properties
conductor
reactivity
color
solid
conductivity
mineral
luster
liquid
magnetic
rock
cleavage
gas
heat
igneous
streak
mass
volume
shape
density
electricity
strength
hardness flexibility
sedimentary metamorphic
crystal
Writing Prompts:
1. Imagine that you are turned into a snowman while you are sleeping. You know the sun will come
out and start melting and evaporating your body. Write a story about how you survived the day
without melting and evaporating. Be sure to use science words such as solid, liquid, and gas.
2. What is the most important mineral? Explain why you believe this is so.
3. The properties of a rock or mineral determine how the rock or mineral is used. Choose a rock or a
mineral. Discuss its properties and how we use it.
4. Research different rocks and minerals. Create a baseball card for 3 rocks or minerals that you
research with important details unique to that rock or mineral.