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2nd grade · Science · Unit 3 of 9

Changing Materials

Cut, bend, mix, cook and burn

What your child practices

Ways to change materials: cutting, bending, mixing, warming and cooling keep the same material, while cooking, burning and rusting make something new.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 2-PS1-1; 2-PS1-4 · describing materials and changes that can or cannot be reversed

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Cutting, bending, melting and freezing change size, shape or state. It is still the same material.
  2. Cooking, burning and rusting make a new material.
  3. Ask: can it go back the way it was?

Example: Toasting bread: same material or a new one? Toast can't turn back into soft bread. Heat made something new. Answer: a new one

Changing Materials in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 3 of 9 in 2nd grade Science, after Water World and before Mixtures & 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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    You squeeze a ball of clay into a snake shape. Is it still clay?

    🐍
    • no, it became metal
    • no, it became water
    • yes, only the shape changed

  2. Question 2

    Why must an adult help when we change materials with heat?

    🧯
    • heat and fire can burn us
    • heat is always cold
    • adults like to cook alone

  3. Question 3

    Chopping a carrot into pieces is a change in…

    🥕
    • what it is made of
    • its color inside
    • size and shape

  4. Question 4

    A recipe says to bake the muffins until they are golden. Which change happens?

    • 🧁wet batter turns into fluffy muffins
    • 🌾the muffins turn back into flour
    • 🧊the batter freezes

  5. Question 5

    Same material or a new one? Tap an item, then tap its basket.

    Sort into: ✂️ same material · 🔥 new material made

    • ⚪squish clay into a ball
    • 🥕chop carrots
    • ✈️fold a paper plane
    • 🔥burn wood in a campfire
    • 🍳fry an egg
    • 🍞toast bread

  6. Question 6

    You mix red and yellow paint. What color do you get?

    • 🔵blue
    • ⚫black
    • 🟠orange

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