2nd Grade · Science · 2-PS1-1, 2-PS1-2, 2-PS1-4

Material Properties Lesson Plan for 2nd Grade

A ready-to-teach material properties lesson for 2nd Grade, built around observable properties of materials, sorting by properties, choosing materials for a job, building new objects from pieces, reversible and irreversible changes, and solids, liquids and gases. Print the plan, print the practice pages, and you are set.

Approximately 45 minutes

Learning objective

Identify and describe the properties of solids, liquids, and gases
Sort everyday objects and materials into the correct state of matter
Explain what happens to water when it is heated or cooled to an extreme temperature

Materials

Materials with Common Properties
Sorting by Properties
Observable Properties
Properties and Uses
States of Matter
Reversible or Irreversible?
Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples

Lesson steps

1. Ask the question (5 min)
Open with a question about material properties that students cannot answer yet. Take predictions and record them without correcting anything. Wrong predictions are the point: you will come back to them.
2. Explore (12 min)
Students investigate material properties through a hands-on activity, a demonstration, or a set of images. Their job is to notice and describe, not to be right yet.
3. Explain (10 min)
Now give the vocabulary and the explanation for material properties. Tie it directly back to what students just observed and to the predictions on the board. Name which predictions held up.
4. Independent practice (you do) (13 min)
Hand out "Materials with Common Properties". Students record what they learned and answer the questions independently. Circulate and press for "how do you know?"
5. Extend the thinking (5 min)
Ask where else material properties shows up outside the classroom. Collect two or three examples and leave the question open for tomorrow.

Check for understanding

Ask students to explain material properties to a partner in one sentence, then write that sentence down. Collect the sentences: they show you exactly which part of the idea did not land.

Differentiation

Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild material properties with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.

Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own material properties problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand material properties.

Skills covered in this lesson

States of matter · Physical changes · Reversible and irreversible changes · Observable properties · Materials and their uses · Materials with common properties · Sorting by properties

Questions teachers ask about teaching material properties

What are the properties of materials?

A property is something you can observe about a material, the stuff a thing is made of. Second graders describe whether a material is hard or soft, flexible or brittle, transparent or opaque, whether it floats or sinks and whether it soaks up water (2-PS1-1).

What is the difference between a solid and a liquid?

A solid keeps its own shape, like ice or cold butter. A liquid flows, like milk or juice. Heating can melt a solid into a liquid, and cooling can freeze a liquid into a solid.

Which NGSS standards do these worksheets support?

The four 2nd grade matter standards: 2-PS1-1 (classify materials by observable properties), 2-PS1-2 (test which material best suits a purpose), 2-PS1-3 (take an object made of small pieces apart and build a new one) and 2-PS1-4 (heating and cooling changes, some reversible and some not).

Do the material properties worksheets have answer keys?

Yes. All 39 sheets have an answer key, and the newer two page sheets point to the paragraph or table that holds each answer.