Elements, Compounds and Mixtures

Use the sorting sheet first, then have students explain why salt water is a mixture and table salt is not. Bring out the graph sheet last, and let students use their sugar line to predict before checking the key.

Name three particle boxes, then sort 12 substances such as air and sugar by type of matter. The directions on the page read: Read the text. Write element, compound or mixture on the line under each particle box. Then complete page 2. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th 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 mixtures and solutions. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

In a heterogeneous mixture the parts are not spread evenly and you can often see them, as in trail mix. In a solution one substance dissolves completely, so it looks the same throughout and its parts never settle. Salt water is a solution.

The solute is the substance that dissolves, and the solvent is the substance it dissolves in. In salt water, salt is the solute and water is the solvent.

Each method uses a property that makes one part different from the others. Separating Mixtures covers filtering, sieving, a magnet, evaporation and distillation, which use particle size, magnetism and boiling point. Students pick the best method for six mixtures such as sand and iron filings.