What Is This Unit About?

In Properties of Materials, students take on the role of glue engineers and they design and test a glue for their school. They figure out what happens to ingredients when they’re heated and cooled, and they find patterns in the properties of different materials and mixtures. Students make scientific explanations about good glue recipes using the evidence they have gathered from investigations and science texts. 

What Science Vocabulary Words Do Students Use?

These are the most important science words that students use throughout the unit. These words are introduced one at a time throughout the unit and not all at once. Getting familiar with these definitions, which are sometimes different from how people use these words in everyday life, may be useful as you support your student’s at-home learning. Your student will have a Glossary that includes these words.

• claim: a proposed answer to a question

afirmación: una respuesta propuesta a una pregunta

• design: to try to make something new that solves a problem

diseñar: intentar crear algo nuevo que resuelva un problema

• engineer: a person who uses science knowledge to design something in order to solve a problem
  ingeniero: una persona que usa conocimientos científicos para diseñar algo que resuelva un problema

• evidence: information that supports an answer to a question

evidencia: información que respalda una respuesta a una pregunta

• ingredient: anything used in a recipe or mixture

ingrediente: algo usado en una receta o mezcla

• material: the stuff that makes up everything

material: lo que constituye todo

• mixture: two or more ingredients mixed together

mezcla: dos ingredientes o más mezclados

• observe: to use any of the five senses to gather information about something

observar: usar cualquiera de los cinco sentidos para recolectar información acerca de algo

• predict: to use what you already know to decide what you think might happen

predecir: usar lo que ya sabes para decidir lo que piensas que podría pasar

• property: something about a material that you can see, hear, smell, taste, or feel

propiedad: algo sobre un material que se puede ver, oír, oler, saborear o sentir

• record: to draw or write down information

apuntar: dibujar o escribir información

• substance: a specific kind of material

sustancia: un tipo específico de material

• test: to try something and find out what happens

testear: someter algo a prueba y averiguar lo que pasa

What Do Students Read?

These books give students a chance to learn about the science concepts in Properties of Materials through stories, illustrations and photos, and real-world examples. The books also help students get more evidence to answer the questions in the unit. These books can be enjoyed together, and you can read them multiple times.

*Click for directions to reading the books.

Properties of Materials

Questions for At-Home Discussion

Chapter 1

● Let’s choose two or three ingredients in our kitchen. What are some properties of each ingredient?

● I hear you are going to help design a glue. What do you think makes a glue a good glue?

Chapter 2

● What is one of your favorite foods that we cook? How does it change when we heat it up to cook it?

● What are some ways engineers figure out how to make a good design?

Chapter 3

● What are some mixtures we make in our home? What happens when we mix the different ingredients together?

● Imagine I made some lemonade and wanted to turn it pink. What kind of ingredient might I add to the mixture? What if I wanted to make the lemonade sweeter?

Chapter 4

● What have you learned about designing mixtures? What do you still wonder?

● Can you tell me about the best glue recipe your class decided on? What makes it the best glue?

Amplify Family Resources website: amplify.com/amplify-science-family-resource-intro