Materials and their properties

This half term, our learning topic is 'Materials and their properties'. This page will be updated weekly with the next lesson in the sequence. Complete the lesson as best you can, and share your work with us if you would like to via the class blog or Twitter. 

Lesson 1 - Question: What are the properties of this material?

WALT: identify the properties of different materials. 
Wilf1: I can think of different properties. 
Wilf2: I can identify appropriate properties for each material. 
Wilf3: I can think of other items that could be made from these materials. 
Wilf4: I can match properties to their descriptions. 

Activity 1 - Write down everything you can remember about materials and their properties (think back to Y5 - Autumn term and Y4). 

Activity 2 - Watch the PowerPoint below - following along with the activities. 

Activity 3 - these sheets are attached below if you wish to download them. If you don't have a printer, you could draw the table out on a piece of paper. 

Activity 4 - 

Lesson 2

Question: Is it… flexible, transparent, porous, strong?

WALT: identify the properties of different materials.

Wilf 1: I can think of different properties.

Wilf 2: I can identify appropriate properties for each material.

Wilf 3: I can think of other items that could be made from these materials.

Wilf 4: I can use key vocabulary to describe different materials.

You can download the worksheets at the bottom of this lesson. 

Activity 1 - Write a definition of the following words:

- flexible

- transparent

- porous

- strong

Activity 2 - Are these materials flexible, transparent, porous, strong?

If you don't want to print the sheet, write a sentence for each one. 

Activity 3 - Identify the key properties of each material. See if you can find some of them around your house. 

Activity 4 - 

Make a list of materials in your house you would like to be flexible, transparent, porous and strong. 

Lesson 3

Question: Is it an effective insulator?

This lesson will need ice cubes

Activity 1 – Use the PowerPoint below to identify and sort different materials.

Activity 2 – Which material insulates the most effectively?

You are going to investigate which material would make the best lunch box.

Why does your lunch box need to be a good insulator?

1. Gather some materials from around your house that you don’t mind getting a little wet (these could be a scarf, cotton, an ice box, a cooling bag, bubble wrap, paper etc.).
2. What are your independent, dependent and controlled variables?
3. Place an ice cube in each material at the same time.
4. Keep all of the materials in the same place.
5. Monitor the ice cubes regularly and record the order at which they melt, or how long it takes the ice cube to melt.
6. Write a conclusion – which material was the best insulator in your house? What would you do differently next time?

Share some pictures of your experiment with us on the class blog or Twitter @R92Brown @BeedenMiss

Activity 3 - Complete the quiz on the PowerPoint below.

Lesson 4

Question: Is there a limit to how much material can be dissolved in a liquid?

Activity 1 - Find the definition of the following words – soluble, solution, solute, dissolve, evaporation

Activity 2 – Are some materials more soluble than others?

If possible, you are going to conduct an experiment investigating the above question.

YOU WILL NEED

• Water
• Jugs/cups
• Spoons
• Salt
• Sugar
• Coffee

Don’t worry if you haven’t got all of the substances, you can do it with the ones you have in. Please do not buy anything.

1. Pour the same amount of water into 3 cups (or however many substances you are using), making sure it is the same temperature.
2. You will add a spoonful of the substance into its cup, stirring until it dissolves. Keep adding a spoonful until the substance no longer dissolves. Record in a table how many spoons of each substance it took until it no longer dissolves.
3. Which substance is the most soluble?
4. Complete the conclusion below.

Conclusion

When the water dissolved the sugar it made ____  ______.

When the water dissolved the ____ it made ____ ______.

When the water cannot dissolve any more sugar or salt we sat that it is _________.

The water dissolved more ____ than ____ before it became _______.

sugar              salt                  solution           saturated

Activity 3 – Complete the table

Answers – T, F, F, T, F, T, F, F, T, T, F