Solubility and Temperature

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.

Graph how much sugar and salt dissolve at five temperatures, then predict grams from the sugar line. The directions on the page read: Read the text. Plot sugar with dots joined by a solid line and salt with x marks joined by a dashed line. Label each line. Then answer 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.