Why Bridges Use Steel and Tires Use Rubber, Read and Compare

Drop an ice cube in a glass of water and ask your child why it bobs at the top. Then bend a rubber band and a metal spoon and talk about which one would make a better tire. Read the page after each test.

Compare steel in a bridge and rubber in a tire, chart their properties and tell what fails if they swap. A property is something you can observe or measure about a material. The directions on the page read: Read the passage. Then, turn the page and fill in the compare chart. On page 2: Fill in boxes 1 to 6 of the compare chart with words from the passage. Then, circle the letter of the best answer for question 7 and write the answers to questions 8 and 9 on the lines. The answer key covers the questions on page 2.

Yes, both. We made it for 5th Grade matter, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with properties of matter. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

A property is something you can observe or measure about a material, such as its hardness, how it bends, its mass or whether it floats. Engineers pick a material for a job by its properties.

When water freezes, its particles lock into an open pattern with gaps, so ice takes up more space than the same water did. That makes ice lighter for its size than liquid water, so it floats and a pond freezes from the top down.

Steel is hard and strong, so it holds up heavy trucks without sagging. Rubber bends and springs back, so it soaks up bumps and grips the road. One sheet has students chart what would go wrong if the two swapped jobs.

Yes. All five properties of matter sheets have an answer key, with sample answers for the questions children answer in their own words.

5 printable worksheets, all free to preview. Downloads are included with a ClassWeekly free trial, and every page prints on standard 8.5 x 11 paper.

These are written for 5th Grade students, roughly ages 10-11. Many teachers also use them a grade up for review or a grade down as an extension, so use the preview to judge the fit for a particular child.

Yes. Each one shows the NGSS code it covers on its own page, so you can check the alignment yourself rather than taking our word for it.