Florida SC.5.P.8.1

Science5th GradeProperties of Matter

The Standard

Compare and contrast the basic properties of solids, liquids, and gases, such as mass, volume, color, texture, and temperature.

Florida Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students observe and measure samples of matter, then record properties such as mass, volume, appearance, feel, and temperature. They use evidence to explain similarities and differences among the three states.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students accurately describe a solid, liquid, and gas using observations and measurements. They explain that all three have mass and occupy space, while shape and volume behave differently.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think gases have no mass or do not occupy space. They may also think liquids have no volume, or that color and temperature alone determine a state of matter.
How to Assess It: Give students pictures of an ice cube, liquid water, and air in a sealed balloon. Ask them to name two shared properties and two differences.

Lesson moves

Set up stations with a block, water, and a sealed air syringe for students to measure mass, volume, appearance, feel, and temperature.
Ask students to write: How are water, ice, and water vapor alike, and how are they different?
Play a property-card sort where teams match cards such as fixed shape, measurable mass, and fills container to one or more states.
Examine a sealed soda bottle and identify the solid container, liquid drink, and gas bubbles, then compare their observable properties.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to SC.5.P.8.1, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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