Mystery Item Free Classifying Matter Group Activity

 How to Teach Classifying Matter?

Classifying matter has always been the first unit I taught in 5th grade science. The students need all year to practice it! In this unit students are not just identifying the properties of matter, they are classifying objects based on their properties of matter. Students continuously need practice identifying the properties of objects and putting them into categories based on their properties.

If you look at the STAAR test, there are a lot of tables classifying matter based on their physical properties of matter. My students in the past have struggled with reading those tables and figuring out what an object is based on three or four given properties.

This activity gives each group a box of items where they will pick one item and classify it based on the properties given on the sheet. 

Each group will pass their box of items and their classification for the mystery item to the next group. The group will have to use the table the previous group filled out based on the physical properties of the object to guess what the mystery item is. 

Download the free activity here. 

I have included a list of potential items that you can place in the box. I went through the last several years of the 5th grade science STAAR test to see which items they use in their questions.

Here are some other resources I have to help your students practice classifying matter. 

Classifying Matter BUNDLE

Circuits Intervention-Science STAAR Review-TEKS 5.6B

Ya'll. It's that time of year again.

STAAR Review Time--closer to summer and no alarm clocks and pool time!

This 4-day Easter weekend was just enough to give me the taste of summer.

STAAR review is not my favorite time of year because it can be so boring. By the end of our 2-3 STAAR review weeks, I am ready for the students to take the test and just get it over with already.

So, I refuse to just do 2-3 weeks of practicing test questions. There needs to be variety, students talking, excitement, etc.

I've had this idea that a multiple test is basically full of true/false statements. Students just need to identify the true statements and easy-peasy! (Of course I realize it is more complicated than that.) But for some students, it might be a way to chunk the questions and make them more manageable.

I have an activity to share that focuses on electrical circuits. In the activity, students analyze a circuit and 7 statements about it. They will need to determine if the statements are true or false.

I used this in an activity in small group yesterday. We analyzed the circuits together--talked about the path the electricity traveled, found areas where the circuit was open or closed, and traced the path with a dry erase marker. Then I gave each student one of the cards to determine if the statement was true or false. After they figured it out, they shared their answers and we talked about it. 

If you want to try out this FREE Resource, click the here to download it. 

I also have these Circuit Task Cards available in my store. 

Let me know how this intervention goes for you!