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2nd grade · Science · Unit 1 of 9

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.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 2-PS1-4; 2-ESS2-3 · changes from heating and cooling, and water as a solid or a liquid

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 New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 1 of 9 in 2nd grade Science, before Water World.

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

    Which one is a solid?

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

  2. Question 2

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

    Sort into: 🧱 solid · 💧 liquid

    • 📕book
    • 💧water
    • 🪨rock
    • 🍯honey
    • 🧃juice
    • 🥄spoon

  3. Question 3

    What happens to a puddle of water on a very cold day?

    • 🏖️It turns into sand
    • 🧃It becomes juice
    • 🧊It can freeze into ice

  4. Question 4

    Which one is a gas?

    • 🎈the air in a balloon
    • 🧃a glass of juice
    • ✏️a pencil

  5. Question 5

    What happens to a snowman on a warm sunny day?

    • ☃️It melts
    • 🪵It turns to wood
    • 📏It grows taller

  6. Question 6

    Which of these is NOT a liquid?

    • 🖍️a crayon
    • 🎨paint
    • 🍲soup

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