Subscribe

2nd grade · Science · Unit 3 of 11

Mixtures & Materials

Dissolve, sink, float, absorb

What your child practices

Mixing liquids and solids (dissolving, separating), what sinks or floats, and which materials soak up or push away water.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 2.1; 2.2 · classifying materials by properties and choosing the right one for a use

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Stirring things together makes a mixture.
  2. Some solids dissolve in water and seem to disappear, like sugar.
  3. Light things like a rubber duck float. Sponges soak up water.

Example: You stir sugar into water. What happens to the sugar? You can't see the sugar any more. It dissolves in the water. Answer: it dissolves

Mixtures & Materials in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 3 of 11 in 2nd grade Science, after Changing Materials and before Objects & Structures.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Which material absorbs water best?

    • 🛁a cotton towel
    • 🛍️a plastic bag
    • 🥛a glass cup

  2. Question 2

    Which one is a liquid?

    • 🥛milk
    • 🪵a block of wood
    • 🧱a brick

  3. Question 3

    Salt is stirred into water. What happens?

    🧂
    • It stays in a lump and never mixes
    • It dissolves and seems to disappear
    • It turns into a rock

  4. Question 4

    Which mixture can you separate by picking the pieces out by hand?

    • trail mix
    • juice
    • salt in water

  5. Question 5

    Which job needs a material that absorbs water?

    • building a boat
    • making a raincoat
    • wiping up a spill

  6. Question 6

    A fruit salad has apples, grapes and melon. It is a…

    🍉
    • gas
    • mixture
    • solid block

More 2nd grade