For Trimester 2, first graders will spend a lot of time learning about weather. Before we can fully understand how weather and the water cycle work, it’s important to understand the states of matter. On Monday, we read a nonfiction book called Matter is Everywhere to get started. Students learned that the three states of matter are solid, liquid, and gas. They learned the attributes of each type of matter and then practiced identifying objects by their state of matter by doing a states of matter sort. We also danced along to a fun Jack Hartmann song called Move Like a State of Matter!
On Tuesday, we began by imagining the smallest piece of something that students could think of. We imagined using a tiny knife to cut it in half, then a special laser, then a microscope and itty bitty saw, until it couldn’t possibly be cut any smaller! This is called an atom. We used a special handheld microscope to look at real atoms through our document camera! First graders learned that atoms are inside everything and the way they are organized determines if a material will be a solid, liquid or gas.
To explore this, students brought out their best acting skills to act as atoms. First, they linked arms and bunched closely together. We noticed that being so close together made it hard for any of us to move around. In a solid, molecules are packed tightly and cannot move around.
Next, students spread a bit apart but stayed in one small area. Students noticed that the atoms could move around, but would bump into each other and could not move completely freely. In a liquid, the molecules are spaced further apart, meaning the liquid can move much more easily than a solid. This is why a liquid flows, but a solid does not.
Finally, we spread out throughout the room. Ms. Ursino acted as a gas atom as well and easily floated between students and right out of the room! Gases take up the space of their container, which can sometimes be very large spaces such as rooms, buildings or even the atmosphere! In a gas, the molecules are spaced very far apart and can flow freely.
Can you tell which picture below is representing a solid, liquid, and gas?
After practicing with students as molecules, the students went to work to represent the molecules of each state of matter by using Cheerios and glueing them to images of a solid, liquid, and gas in the appropriate formation. When they were finished, students got to explore around the room using the handheld microscope!
On Wednesday, we explored how states of matter can change from temperature changes! We watched a video of this in action with a very familiar friend – a snowman! We watched as heat changed the snowman from a solid (frozen ice crystals) to a liquid (puddle) to a gas (when the puddle evaporates and dries up). This was a great quick introduction to the concept of evaporation, which we will explore more deeply as we dive into our weather unit. First graders used their observations to write about the life cycle of a snowman.
