Properties of Matter Worksheets

About this resource

How would you describe a cork, a nail and a brick without using the words solid, liquid or gas? This is a complete kit for describing matter by its properties. It starts with a one-page chart of seven properties: mass, volume, texture, hardness, magnetic, float or sink, and conductor. Children then circle every magnetic item, every item that floats and every conductor, find the item that does not belong, count, fill in a word, choose the true sentence and cut and paste items into the right box. Every item is a printed word in a rounded tile, so nothing depends on a picture or on color. It comes with a tracker, a class grid and a family page, so nothing has to be written from scratch.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (32 pages)

• 17 student pages in 8 page types: Properties Chart, My Property Words, Circle It, Which One Does Not Belong?, Count the Items, Fill It In, Circle the True Sentence and Cut and Paste
• 79 scored items on 15 pages, every answer read from the same tables that print the page, never typed by hand
• 7 properties on the chart: mass, volume, texture, hardness, magnetic, float or sink, conductor
• 40 cut-and-paste pieces on 5 mats: magnetic or not magnetic, floats or sinks, hard or soft, rough or smooth, mass words or volume words
• 2 answer keys, generated from the same data as the student pages
• 1 tracker (page, page type, items right, date) and 1 whole-class progress grid
• 1 team note (a hand-off page between team meetings) and 1 home page
• 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (16 observable-language starters), 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and a how-to-read-a-page page

The Page Types, Easiest First

1. Properties Chart (starting): seven bands, each with a short meaning and an example, and three lines for the child to write an object of their own.

2. My Property Words (starting): three word lists to keep beside the child (how it feels, what it does, how much) and a sentence to finish.

3. Circle It, 3 pages (1 or 2 dots): rows of six items. Circle every item a magnet sticks to, every item that floats in water, or every conductor of electricity, then write how many.

4. Which One Does Not Belong?, 2 pages (2 or 3 dots): a line says what three items share. Circle the odd one. Set A uses magnetic, floats or sinks, and conductor or insulator; Set B uses mass and volume words and asks the child to write mass or volume.

5. Count the Items, 2 pages (2 dots): eight items in a tray. Count the magnetic and not magnetic, or the items that float and the items that sink.

6. Fill It In, 2 pages (2 or 3 dots): Set A reads a sentence and picks the word from a box of eight; Set B reads a clue and picks the property word from a box of eight.

7. Circle the True Sentence, 1 page (3 dots): three sentences about one item; exactly one is true.

8. Cut and Paste, 5 pages (1, 2 or 3 dots): a block of 8 pieces that touch edge to edge, so cutting is a few straight lines. Paste mats: magnetic or not, floats or sinks, hard or soft, rough or smooth, mass words or volume words.

No Guessing The Answer

Wherever a child picks among printed spots (which items in a row match, which one is the odd item, which lettered sentence is true, where the answer sits in the word box, the order of the pieces on the cut strip), the position of the right answer is checked so it does not sit in the same spot three times in a row. In a sort, no item is on both sides. The two wrong sentences on the true-sentence page each say the opposite of a real fact, so a child has to know the item, not just read.

Built For The Child Holding The Page

A big "My name" line, one short instruction, large rounded type, big answer boxes, and dots (not words or colors) to show which level a page is. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult. The file prints clean in black and white. No page asks a child to test anything; a class can check an answer with a magnet, a bin of water or a balance if the teacher wants to.

Type In, Or Print

The name line and every answer box are type-in fields in any PDF reader: click one, type, then save. The same goes for the tracker, the class grid, the team note and the home page. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Elementary classrooms in grades 3-5, self-contained and resource rooms, and any teacher building a physical-science unit into a center, a small group or a morning work folder. The reading is written at about a grade 2-3 level, and the teacher can read each page aloud.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A properties-of-matter worksheet set with the record-keeping around it. It does not teach solid, liquid and gas (see States of Matter Worksheets for that). It is not a timed test, a screener, a clinical tool, or a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. There is no IEP goal language or eligibility wording anywhere in the file.