Mrs. Thomas' Teachable Moments: Mixtures and Solutions Experiment

Do you ever have one of those lessons that makes your students say, "This is the best day EVER!!" Well, that was my science lesson today.

We have been studying matter for the past six weeks, and the final standard to master was about mixtures and solutions.

Luckily, I have some amazing parents who love to donate to the cause! I sent home a note a week ahead of time (and allowed a weekend in that time frame because, let's face it, who can get to the store during the week?) and asked if they would mind donating some food items for our upcoming science project.

If you would like a copy of the note, you can get it FREE in my TPT store by clicking on the picture below.

Here are the ingredients you will need for this experiment. Of course, items can be substituted or added. :)

First, we discussed our ingredients and what state of matter each substance was. (All solids except for the water in the pitcher).

Then, in a large, clear glass bowl, I poured each ingredient (substance) one at a time, careful to make it layered. We then discussed how even though all of the substances were in the same bowl now, they could still clearly see each one.

Then, I mixed it all together so it was more of a trail mix.

We discussed that none of the substances had changed forms of matter even though they were all mixed up.

Each student had a paper towel on his or her desk, and I scooped a cup for each student.

I asked them if they thought we could separate the combination of substances and if each one would continue to keep it's original property.

Next, we made our solution with three substances - water, sugar and Kool-Aid mix.

I poured Kool-Aid into a clear pitcher and a cup of sugar.

I let it settle down a little bit and pointed out that we could still see each of the substances.

Sugar settled at the bottom

Kool-Aid mix not yet stirred or dissolved

They made predictions about what would happen if I stirred it up and we decided it would dissolve.

We discussed that now that the sugar and mix were mixed evenly in the water and dissolved, we could no longer separate it back out like we could with a mixture.

Have I mentioned yet that it was also picture day?!?? THAT was bad timing, but amazingly, no one spilled, and there were no Kool-Aid mustaches....I think.... :)

And of course, we journaled about our discoveries in our Science Journals as pictured below. If you'd like the cute cover we put on our Science Journals, you can download them for FREE at my TPT store by clicking the picture below!