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2nd grade · Science · Unit 1 of 7

Solids & Liquids

Melting, freezing and steam

What your child practices

Sorting solids and liquids, describing melting, freezing and boiling, and changes that can or can't be undone.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 2P.1.2.1.1 · how heating and cooling affect different materials

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A solid keeps its shape, like a spoon or an ice cube.
  2. A liquid flows and takes the shape of its container, like juice.
  3. Warming melts solids into liquids. Cooling freezes liquids into solids.

Example: What happens to water in the freezer? The freezer is very cold. Cold turns liquid water into a solid. Answer: it freezes into ice

Solids & Liquids in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 1 of 7 in 2nd grade Science, before Changing Materials.

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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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 change CANNOT be undone?

    • 💧water freezing
    • 🧊ice melting
    • 🍞toast being made from bread

  2. Question 2

    Which one is a solid?

    • ♨️steam
    • 🪵a wooden block
    • 🧃orange juice

  3. Question 3

    When water boils, some of it turns into…

    🫖
    • ♨️steam (a gas)
    • 🧊ice
    • 🏖️sand

  4. Question 4

    Can melted chocolate become solid again?

    🍫
    • 🍫Yes, if it cools down
    • 🚫No, never

  5. Question 5

    Is it a solid or a liquid? Tap an item, then tap its basket.

    Sort into: 🧱 solid · 💧 liquid

    • 🥛milk
    • 🪨rock
    • 🧊ice cube
    • 🍎apple
    • 🍯honey
    • 💧water

  6. Question 6

    What happens when you warm up butter?

    • 🪨It turns into stone
    • 🧈It gets softer and melts
    • 💨It becomes a gas right away

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