States of Matter Mini-Unit

So we recently finished our states of matter mini-unit and had a really great time learning about solids, liquids and gases! Luckily, the three words (solids, liquids and gases) are cognates with Spanish (solidos, liquidos and gases) and therefore, the vocabulary for this mini-unit was much more accessible and easier to grasp for the students! Other words in this mini-unit are also cognates in English/Spanish (atoms--atomos, molecules--moleculas), which was great to capitalize on and utilize as a way of showing great similarities in the two langauges! I loved being able to utilize such a great strategy with my dual language kinders - that of cognate words! When words are similar in both languages, it eases children into being more confident in orally speaking the words and in engaging with the material - especially the children who are not dominant in the target language (in this case, Spanish!).

The states of matter mini-unit was also really fun because it incorporated non-fiction informational reading, science demonstrations, bubble maps, vocabulary, art project for each state of matter and a culminating mini-research project! The mini-unit was broken up into 5 days:

Day 1: Introduction to matter/word splash, what is matter? SQA chart (KWL in Spanish)
Day 2: Solids
Day 3: Liquids
Day 4: Gases
Day 5: Review of matter; culminating project/presentation

For each state of matter, I read a book in Spanish, we did a bubble map whole group and then the students did an art project to visually show the way the molecules are spread in each of the three states of matter. For solids, the art craft was in the shape of an ice cube and as you can see above, the students used Bingo Dotters to dot molecules very closely together. For liquids, the art craft was in the shape of a raindrop and as you can see from above, the students used Bingo Dotters to dot molecules a bit more spread apart. For gases, the art craft was a cloud and as you can see from above, the students used Bingo Dotters to dot the molecules very spread apart.

For the culminating project students were put into groups and each group had to choose a state of matter from a bag. Then, the groups went around the room and brainstormed how they would describe that state of matter. Then, after they brainstormed, they came back together and then I gave each group their sheet of paper and one pencil and they went again around the room to work collaboratively on their project. The idea is that each group would describe their state of matter (without stating it in the description) and then illustrate various examples of that state of matter in the box above. I had all the states of matter books out on a table while the students were working and they were encouraged to use that to help them formulate their descriptions as well as to use our bubble maps to help them! In that way, the project become a mini-research project as well to synthesize the information they had learned! After they wrote their description in pencil, I checked their work and then gave each group a sharpie to trace their description. Finally, each group came up to the front of the room and presented their poster by just reading the description and not showing the picture. Their peers had to guess what state of matter they were describing! This culminating project was able to all around assess how well the students had understood the mini-unit! Below are the posters each group created:

On one of our classroom pocket charts, I put up the three labels "Solidos, Liquidos (and) Gases" and then a plethora of pictures in the little orange basket. I encouraged the students to go to this area and pick up a card and categorize it under the correct state of matter! This quick pocket chart activity acts as a review for our states of matter unit and a great visual! The activity is not highly language-dependent; it's 3 vocabulary words and the rest are pictures so it's great for enticing all learners, even those who still lack a bit of confidence in the target language!

If you're interested in checking out this mini-unit and implementing it in your own classroom, check it out in my tpt store:

States of Matter Unit