Changing Materials: a full term of science

Ten ready-to-teach lessons for Year 2 Chemical sciences. Print this pack and the term is prepared: every lesson comes with a step-by-step plan, the questions to ask, student worksheets, cut-out cards, an assessment kit and every answer.

Start here: five minutes to Monday

1. Skim the term at a glance on the next page.
2. Print the lesson you need. Each lesson is three A4 sheets: plan, worksheet, cards or tickets.
3. Gather the few everyday items under “You need” on the plan. Nothing needs a science cupboard.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board or projector. Every plan tells you which picture to show and when.
5. Teach straight from the plan. Timings, talk prompts, misconceptions and answers are all on the one page.

No science background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each plan explains the science idea in plain words, lists the misconceptions children bring, and gives model answers, so you can walk in and teach it even if chemistry was never your subject.

Two ways to run each lesson

Every lesson works as one 60-minute block, or as two 30-minute sessions. The split point is marked in every plan. Ten lessons fill a weekly science slot for a whole term, or up to twenty shorter sessions if your timetable runs small blocks.

The term at a glance

One lesson a week for a term. Each lesson stands on the ones before it, so run them in order where you can.

How the sequence builds

Lesson 1 names materials. Lessons 2 to 5 work through the four actions in the curriculum: bend, stretch, twist, break. Lessons 6 to 8 deepen the idea: some changes undo, the amount of stuff stays the same, and a new shape can mean new strength. Lesson 9 connects the idea to people’s jobs, and Lesson 10 is the making task and final check.

Curriculum links (Australian Curriculum V9)

The whole term teaches the Science Understanding descriptor AC9S2U03 quoted on the cover. The lessons also work these Science Inquiry and Human Endeavour descriptors:

Assessment in this pack

• Every plan ends with “Answers and look-fors”: what meeting the idea sounds like in a Year 2 voice.
• The assessment sheet near the front has a class observation checklist and a three-level rubric.
• Lesson 10 is the summative pair: a making task plus the “Show what we know” check sheet.

Materials for the whole term

One gathering session covers all ten lessons. Everything on this page is an everyday item; nothing needs a science cupboard.

The one-trip list

• From the classroom: paper, card, books, scissors, sticky tape, paper clips, a marker.
• From the shops: drinking straws, pipe cleaners, craft sticks, rubber bands, modelling dough, aluminium foil, dry biscuits.
• From home donations: clean socks, fabric scraps, small cloths, newspapers, wooden pegs, a cardboard box.

Safety in one look

• Food allergy check before Lesson 5 (and Lesson 9 if you bring the optional bread roll).
• Rubber bands stay low and never fly.
• Break only soft, crumbly things.
• Nothing goes in mouths.
• Hands washed after food lessons.

Assessment without extra work

The term assesses itself. Every lesson plan ends with answers and look-fors, and Lesson 10 is the summative pair: the making task plus the check sheet. This sheet is the place to jot down what you notice along the way.

The three levels

Class observation checklist

A tick a lesson is plenty; the Lesson 10 check sheet fills the gaps.

Word wall cards

Cut out the cards and build the wall as the words arrive. Lesson 1 starts the wall with material and shape; add the action words as the lessons land.

Dear families

This term in science, Year 2 becomes a class of material detectives. We bend, twist, stretch and break everyday things such as paper, dough, cloth and foil, and we look closely at what happens.

Every investigation points to one big idea: the shape or the size changes, but the material stays the same. A squashed ball of dough is still dough; a folded sheet of paper is still paper. Your child will practise saying this in their own words all term.

Try this at home

• Squash and re-roll some dough together, then ask: is there more dough now, less, or the same?
• Make a paper fan and stand a small toy on it. The same paper suddenly holds a load.
• Twist two paper strips into a rope and have a gentle tug of war. Which is stronger, one strip or the rope?
• At the recycling bin, hold something up and ask: “What material is this?”

What to ask your scientist

• What did you change today?
• Could you change it back?
• Was it still the same stuff?

A small safety note: we check food allergies at school before any food investigations. At home, an adult helps with anything stiff or snappy.

Warm regards,

The Year 2 team

Printed from the free seegongsik Changing Materials teaching pack · seegongsik.com/au/y2/chemical/AC9S2U03/pack

Material detectives

Children learn that a material is what a thing is made of, and sort everyday objects by material. This lesson lays the ground for the term: you cannot talk about changing materials until the class can name them.

We are learning to

• say what a material is: the stuff a thing is made of,
• name common materials: wood, metal, plastic, fabric, paper,
• sort objects by the material they are made of.

Success criteria

• I can name the material a thing is made of.
• I can sort objects into material groups.

You need

• a tray of small objects: a wooden peg or block, a metal spoon, a plastic cup, a fabric scrap, a sheet of paper, a rubber band,
• five sorting mats labelled wood, metal, plastic, fabric, paper (a sheet of paper and a marker each is fine),
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child,
• the sorting cards (third sheet), one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after Sort it out. Start Session B by re-sorting two cards from memory, then go on to the Material hunt.

Watch for these ideas

• “It is made of spoon.” Object and material are tangled: keep modelling the two words, thing and stuff.
• “Plastic” used for anything smooth or shiny. Let children touch a metal spoon and a plastic one side by side.
• Some things are made of more than one material (the pencil). Park them on the edge of a mat and celebrate the find.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: sort with just two mats, wood and metal, then add the rest one at a time.
• Bigger: hunt for an object made of two materials and label both parts.

Answers and look-fors

• Worksheet finds will vary. Look for the material named, not the object: “the cup is plastic” meets the goal.
• Tricky cards: the rubber band is rubber, a sixth material. Name it and add a scrap-paper mat. The pencil is wood outside, graphite inside, often metal and rubber at the top.
• Keep the sorted mats (or a photo of them) as the anchor chart: the word wall cards in this pack match.

Material hunt

Be a material detective. Find things in your classroom. Draw or write one thing made of each material.

What is it made of?

Cut out the cards. Sort them onto your material mats. Two cards are tricky on purpose.

Teacher note: the rubber band and the pencil are the tricky pair. The rubber band wants a new mat (rubber); the pencil belongs on more than one mat at once.

Bend it

Children bend five everyday objects and discover that bending turns a shape into a curve, that many things spring back, and that bending never makes new stuff. This is the first of the four action lessons, so the routine learnt here (guess, test, record) carries straight through to stretching, twisting and breaking.

We are learning to

• say what bending does to a shape: it makes a curve,
• guess first, then test whether things bend and spring back,
• explain that bending changes the shape, not the material.

Success criteria

• I can bend something gently and say how its shape changed.
• I can say that a bent thing is still made of the same material.

You need

• drinking straws, pipe cleaners, craft sticks, a plastic ruler and strips of card, one small set per pair,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child,
• the exit tickets (third sheet), cut out ahead so they are ready at the door.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after Guess first, with the guesses filled in. Start Session B by re-bending one straw together, then go on to the bend test.

Watch for these ideas

• “It sprang back, so nothing happened.” Two changes happened: it bent into a curve, then it changed back. Hold a bend still so everyone sees the curve before you let go.
• “The pipe cleaner stayed bent, so it must be broken or different stuff now.” Bend it straight again in front of them: same wire, same fuzz, just a new shape each time.
• “Bent means ruined.” Point to bent things we like: a coat hook, a slide, a straw with an elbow. Say that bending is how lots of useful shapes get made.

Keep it safe

Bend gently is the rule of the day: snapping things on purpose is Lesson 5, not today. Craft sticks can splinter if they are forced, so demonstrate the gentle bend yourself before pairs start, and ask children to stop at the first creak.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: test just the straw and the pipe cleaner. One springs back and one stays bent, and the whole story is there.
• Bigger: choose one more classroom object that is safe to bend, guess first, test it, and report back to the circle.

Answers and look-fors

• Bend test: all five objects bend at least a little (the craft stick only slightly). The straw and the ruler spring back, the pipe cleaner stays bent, the card holds a crease. Every one of them is still the same material.
• Sentence completion: stays the same. In a Year 2 voice, “it is still a straw, just a bendy one” meets the idea.
• Exit ticket: question 1 is shape. Any drawing of something bent today meets question 2.

The bend test

Guess first! Tick one box in the guess column for every thing. Then bend each thing gently and tick what really happened.

Exit tickets

Cut along the dashed lines to make four tickets. Each child answers one on the way out the door.

Teacher note: question 1 is shape. Collect the tickets at the door and sort them into two piles for a ten-second check of the class.

Stretch it

Children stretch four everyday things and find that some stretch a lot, some hardly at all, and every one of them is still the same material afterwards. This is also the first measuring lesson of the term: counting length in paper clips turns “it got longer” into a number two pairs can compare.

We are learning to

• stretch materials gently and describe what happens,
• measure length in paper clips, at rest and stretched,
• say that a stretched thing is still the same material.

Success criteria

• I can measure how long something is in paper clips.
• I can say that stretching changes the shape, not the material.

You need

• rubber bands, one per pair,
• modelling dough rolled into short snakes, one per pair,
• a fabric scrap or clean sock per pair, and paper strips,
• chains of paper clips (or counting cubes) for measuring,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child,
• the exit tickets (third sheet), one ticket per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after Stretch and measure. Start Session B by re-measuring the rubber band at rest, then go on to Record.

Watch for these ideas

• “It got longer, so there is more of it.” Pinch both ends of a dough snake as you pull: nothing was added. The same dough was pulled longer and thinner.
• “The sock is bigger now.” Let go together and watch it relax back. The stretch was a change of shape, not the sock growing.
• Stretchy and stretched getting tangled. Keep the two words apart: stretchy is what the material is like; stretched is what we just did to it.

Keep it safe

Show the grip before any bands go out: stretch low over the table, along it, never toward a face, and no flicking. Stop pulling the paper strip before it tears. Tearing things into pieces is Lesson 5, so today the strip must survive.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: measure just two things, the rubber band and the dough snake, with a partner holding one end still against the table.
• Bigger: order all four things from most stretchy to least on the worksheet edge, then predict where a woolly jumper sleeve would fit in the line.

Answers and look-fors

• Table: the rubber band and the dough snake stretch a lot, the sock a little, the paper strip hardly at all. Exact numbers vary with clip size. Look for the stretched count larger than the at-rest count in the stretchy rows; the paper strip may well measure the same, and that is a good observation.
• Listen for the unit named: “six paper clips long” is measuring; “six” on its own is just a number.
• Bottom question: yes, still rubber. Meeting the idea sounds like “it sprang back the same” or “it is still the same band, just pulled longer”.

How far does it stretch?

Stretch each thing gently. Measure it with paper clips before and after. Write your numbers, then circle how stretchy it is.

Exit tickets

Cut along the dashed lines. One ticket per child on the way out the door.

Teacher note: a circled “longer” plus any stretchy thing named or drawn meets the goal. A circled “a new material” is your revisit list for Lesson 4.

Twist it

Children twist cloth, then wind paper strips into a rope and give it a gentle tug. Twisting is the third action of the term, and it carries a surprise: a wound-up material can look brand new and even work better, yet the rope is still nothing but paper. That surprise seeds Lesson 8, where the class chooses shapes for jobs.

We are learning to

• twist materials and describe how they look,
• wind paper strips into a rope by twisting,
• say that a twisted thing is still the same material.

Success criteria

• I can twist a towel and untwist it back flat.
• I can say what my paper rope is made of.

You need

• small cloths or tea towels, one per pair,
• strips of newspaper or tissue paper, a good handful per table,
• pipe cleaners for warm-up hands and the easier path,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child,
• the rope-making step cards (third sheet), one set per table, cut out ahead.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after Twist a real towel. Start Session B by pressing Twist and Twist more on the board picture again, then go on to Make a paper rope.

Watch for these ideas

• “The rope is a new material.” Unwind a spare rope back into two limp strips in front of everyone: it was paper all along, wound into a stronger shape.
• “The twisted towel is ruined.” Untwist it together and watch it lie flat. The twist was a shape it was holding, not damage.
• “Twisting only works on cloth.” Twist a pipe cleaner and a paper strip side by side: paper, wool and wire all twist. The action does not care what the material is.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: start with pipe cleaners. They hold their twist while slow hands catch up, then move on to paper strips.
• Bigger: take card 6 further. Make a three-strip rope, or plait three flat strips and test the plait against the twisted rope.

Answers and look-fors

• Worksheet drawings: before is a flat cloth, after is a wound-up spiral or leaning lines. Both circles are Yes for most children, and the sentence ends “paper”.
• The tug is the point: the rope holds a gentle tug that one flat strip cannot. New shape, new strength, same material. Meeting the idea sounds like “it is still paper, just wound up tight”.
• A rope that fails the tug was usually under-twisted at card 2. Send the pair back to card 2, not card 4: more turns, then rewind.

Twist it

Twist your cloth and look hard at it. Draw it before and after. Then make your paper rope and answer the questions.

Make a paper rope

Cut out the cards and follow them in order. Card 6 is for rope-makers who want more.

Teacher note: one set per table. Card 4 is the secret: winding the pair the opposite way locks the first twists in, so the rope cannot unwind itself.

Break it into pieces

Children break a biscuit and tear paper into smaller and smaller pieces, and find that every piece, right down to the crumbs, is still the same material. This is the last of the four action lessons and the boldest claim of the term: unlike a bent stick, the pieces will not go back together, yet nothing new was made.

We are learning to

• break and tear materials into smaller and smaller pieces, with care,
• look closely at tiny pieces and name the material they are made of,
• say that breaking makes smaller pieces, not new stuff.

Success criteria

• I can say what the crumbs are made of.
• I can say that breaking makes pieces smaller, not different.

You need

• one dry biscuit or cracker per pair (check food allergies first; dry spaghetti is a fine swap),
• a clean cloth per pair to cover the biscuit while it snaps (crumb control),
• scrap paper strips to tear, one or two per pair,
• a magnifying glass or two if you have them,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child,
• the exit tickets (third sheet), one ticket per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after Break and tear, and keep each table’s crumbs in a labelled cup. Start Session B by tipping the crumbs out and asking what they are made of, then go on to Record.

Watch for these ideas

• “The crumbs are not biscuit any more.” Pass the magnifier: same colour, same stuff, only tiny. If breaking had made something new, the crumbs would look and feel different.
• “More pieces means more biscuit.” Slide the four quarters back into the biscuit shape on the cloth: more pieces, same amount. Nothing was added.
• “Breaking made a new material.” Ask what went in or came out. Nothing did; every crumb was already inside the biscuit before it snapped.

Keep it safe

Check food allergies before any biscuit comes out; dry spaghetti snaps just as well. Nothing goes in mouths today, not even at the end. Break only soft, crumbly things, and with care: this is a looking lesson, not a smashing lesson. Everyone washes hands after the tidy-up.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: tear only the paper strip, folding it before each tear, and stop at eight pieces before drawing.
• Bigger: keep tearing the paper until the piece is as small as fingers can manage, then ask whether even that speck is still paper, and how much smaller it could go.

Answers and look-fors

• Worksheet: all three Same material boxes tick yes, and the sentence ends with biscuit (crumbs or biscuit crumbs also meets it). Look for the three drawings showing the same stuff getting smaller, not turning into something else.
• Meeting the idea sounds like “it is still biscuit, just tiny bits” or “we did not make anything new, we just snapped it”.
• Exit tickets: question 1 is no, no new stuff; question 2 circles smaller. A yes on question 1 is your revisit list for the start of the next lesson.

Smaller and smaller

Break your biscuit under the cloth, a little at a time. Draw what you see at each step. Then tick: is it still the same material?

Exit tickets

Cut along the dashed lines. One ticket per child on the way out the door.

Teacher note: no for question 1 and a circled “smaller” meets the goal. A yes for question 1 means the child thinks breaking makes new stuff; revisit with the crumbs and the magnifier at the start of the next lesson.

Can we change it back?

Children take the four actions around six quick stations and ask a new question of each: can we undo it? Some changes go back easily and some do not, and even when a change will not undo, the material is still the same: the scrunched foil is still foil. This is the thinking lesson of the term, sitting right after the four action lessons so children can argue about things they already know.

We are learning to

• try to undo a change and say whether it went back,
• sort changes into easy to change back and not easy to change back,
• say that the material stays the same even when the change will not undo.

Success criteria

• I can say whether a change will go back or not.
• I can say that the scrunched foil is still foil.

You need

• five hands-on stations set up around the room: a straw, a rubber band, a ball of modelling dough, a square of aluminium foil and a sheet of paper to fold (spares at each station help),
• a teacher table as station 6: a torn paper strip and a broken biscuit sealed in a clear zip bag, for looking only,
• the station cards (third sheet), cut out and standing at each station,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the station circuit and leave the stations standing. Start Session B by revisiting one station that went back and one that did not, then go on to the record sort.

Watch for these ideas

• “We cannot undo it, so it turned into new material.” This is the heart of the lesson. Hold up the scrunched foil: still shiny, still thin, still foil. Hard to undo is not the same as new stuff.
• “It only counts as undone if it looks brand new.” The opened paper keeps its crease, and that is a fine discussion: it lies flat again, near enough counts, and the crease is a clue that a change happened.
• “The dough is different because I squashed it.” Roll it back to a ball together: same colour, same feel, same dough the whole time. Squashing changed the shape, not the stuff.

Keep it safe

Rubber bands are stretched gently with two hands and never let fly. The biscuit stays sealed in its bag all lesson: station 6 is looking only, and nothing goes in mouths.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: run just three stations, the band, the dough and the foil, and sort each one together as a class before children write.
• Bigger: hunt the classroom for one more change you could undo and one you could not, and add both to the worksheet boxes.

Answers and look-fors

• T-chart: I can change it back holds the straw (mostly: it may keep a kink, a good talking point), the band and the dough. I cannot easily change it back holds the foil, the torn strip and the broken biscuit.
• The folded paper sits in the middle: it opens flat but keeps a crease. Either box is right if the child can say why.
• The sentence ends with the same (the same material or the same stuff also meets it). Meeting the idea sounds like “I could not flatten the foil, but it is still foil”.

Can I undo it?

Go to each station. Do the action, then try to change it back. Write or draw each thing in the best box.

Can you change it back?

Cut out the cards and stand one at each station. At every station: do what the card says, try to undo it, then talk about what happened.

Teacher note: stations 1 to 5 are hands-on; station 6 is your table and is looking only. About three minutes a station keeps the circuit inside twenty minutes.

The dough shape factory

Children run a shape factory: order cards ask for snakes, pancakes and bowls, and one ball of modelling dough fills every order. The four action lessons showed that the material stays the same; today the class meets the harder twin idea, that the amount stays the same too. A long snake looks like more dough than a ball, and believing your eyes here is the classic Year 2 stumble, so every order ends with the same check.

We are learning to

• squash, roll and flatten one ball of dough into any shape an order asks for,
• check the amount of dough after every change,
• say that changing the shape does not change how much dough there is.

Success criteria

• I can make the shape an order card asks for.
• I can say the amount of dough stays the same.

You need

• one same-sized ball of modelling dough per child, one colour each (do not mix colours today; see the notes below),
• a paper plate or mat per child for the dough to live on,
• the order cards (third sheet), one set per table, cut out ahead,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after Factory time, and park each ball on its named plate. Start Session B by holding up one ball and asking whether any dough sneaked in or out overnight, then go on to Record.

Watch for these ideas

• “The long snake has more dough than the ball.” The classic. Do not argue with words: squash the snake back into a ball beside an untouched one. Nothing was added and nothing was taken away, so it must be the same amount.
• “The pancake has less.” The same proof in reverse: roll the pancake back up and ask what was taken away. Nothing ever left the plate.
• “If we mixed two colours we would make a new material.” That is why every child has one colour today. Park it warmly: mixed dough is still dough, but the colours will not come apart again. Mixing is a story for another year; today is shapes.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: run only orders 1 to 3 (snake, pancake, ball), and say the check together each time: nothing in, nothing out, same dough.
• Bigger: two children pair up; one keeps a ball while the other fills an order, then both squash back to balls and compare. Can they prove the amounts still match?

Answers and look-fors

• Worksheet: all three Same dough? boxes tick yes, and the circle goes around stays the same. The sentence is any wording of “I did not add any or take any away”.
• Meeting the idea sounds like “it is the same dough, I just squashed it” or “no dough came in and none went out”.
• A child who squashes the snake back into a ball to check their answer is doing real science: name it for the class as a proper test, not playing.

The shape factory

Fill the orders with your dough. Draw three shapes you made, one in each box. Then tick: is it still the same dough?

Factory orders

Cut out the cards and put them face down in the middle of the table. Take the top card, fill the order, answer the question, then squash your dough back into a ball and take the next one.

Teacher note: order 6 keeps fast finishers busy for as long as you need. Keep every ball one colour today; two colours squashed together will not come apart again, and the class set is spoiled for next time.

The strong paper test

Children take one floppy sheet of paper and make it strong. Flat across a gap it flops under a single book; folded like a fan or rolled into a tube, the very same sheet holds a real stack. Seven lessons have said the shape changes, the material stays the same; today shows why that matters, because a new shape can do a new job. And since the paper is the same all lesson, this is also the first proper fair test of the term: change one thing only, and that one thing is the shape.

We are learning to

• fold and roll one sheet of paper into shapes that can hold weight,
• guess first, then test each shape the same way and count the books it holds,
• say that a fair test changes one thing only: today, the shape.

Success criteria

• I can make a paper bridge that holds a book.
• I can say what we kept the same and the one thing we changed.

You need

• three sheets of the same scrap paper per pair (same size, same kind, or the test is not fair),
• two equal stacks of books per pair, set a hand-width apart, as the bridge supports,
• a pile of small identical books or wooden blocks per pair for loading,
• a small bit of sticky tape per pair to hold the rolled tube closed,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child,
• the exit tickets (third sheet), cut out ahead so they are ready at the door.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after Build and load, with the counts written on the worksheets. Start Session B by bridging one flat sheet and one fan again as a reminder, then go on to the fair-test talk.

Watch for these ideas

• “The tube is stronger because it is thicker paper.” It is one single sheet rolled around itself. Roll it up slowly in front of the class so everyone sees the same one sheet going in.
• “Strong paper must be a new kind of paper.” Peel off the tape and unroll the tube: the same floppy sheet falls flat again. The strength lived in the shape, not in new stuff.
• “Adding more books was unfair.” The books are how we measure, not what we change. Every bridge was loaded the same way, one book at a time; the only thing we changed was the shape.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: test just the flat sheet and the fan. Flop, then hold, is the whole story, and the fan needs no tape.
• Bigger: invent a fourth shape from one sheet, guess first, test it the same fair way, and report the count to the circle.

Answers and look-fors

• Worksheet table: the flat sheet holds no books, the fan and the tube both hold real ones. Counts vary with the paper and the books, and that is fine; look for a guess written before the test.
• Fair test box: we kept the same the paper and the way we loaded the books; we only changed the shape. Any wording of “same paper, same books, new shape” in the child’s own words meets it.
• Strongest shape is usually the tube, sometimes the fan, and still made of paper is yes. Meeting the idea sounds like “it is the same paper, I just folded it, and now it can do a job”.

Paper power

Make three paper bridges: flat, folded like a fan, rolled into a tube. Guess first! Write how many books you think each one will hold. Then test it and write what really happened.

Exit tickets

Cut along the dashed lines to make four tickets. Each child answers one on the way out the door.

Teacher note: question 1 is shape. Collect the tickets at the door and sort them into two piles for a ten-second check of the class.

People who change materials

Children have spent the term bending, stretching, twisting and breaking with their own hands. Today they look up and find grown-ups doing the very same actions all day for work: the baker stretches and folds dough, the potter squashes clay, the knitter twists wool, the carpenter cuts wood into pieces. This is the Human Endeavour thread of the curriculum, people use science in their daily lives, and it sets up next week’s making task, where the children become the workers.

We are learning to

• name people whose work is changing materials,
• match each job to the action it uses and the material it changes,
• spot our four actions, bend, stretch, twist and break, out in the world.

Success criteria

• I can say which action a worker uses.
• I can name the material the worker changes.

You need

• the job cards (third sheet), one set per table, cut out ahead,
• the word wall cards from the front of the pack, on display where every table can see them,
• the worksheet (next sheet), one per child,
• optional show-and-tell: a bread roll, a knitted scarf and a paper fan, real materials that a person changed.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after Mime theatre and collect the job cards. Start Session B by miming one job yourself for the class to guess, then go on to the worksheet.

Watch for these ideas

• “The baker makes a new material by kneading.” Not yet: stretching and folding keep dough as dough. Be honest if a child pushes further: the oven really does turn dough into something new, and that kind of change belongs to older year levels. Today we stay with the shaping that happens before the oven.
• “Only factories change materials.” The whole term says otherwise: children changed materials with their own hands every week. Every job card shows one person and their hands, not a machine.
• “Hair is not a material.” For our purpose it is: it bends, twists and stretches like one. That is why the hairdresser card belongs in the set.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: match only the four worksheet jobs (baker, potter, knitter, carpenter) to the four action words together as a class, before tables try the full set of six.
• Bigger: children invent a seventh job card, a grown-up they know who changes a material, and the class guesses the action.

Answers and look-fors

• Worksheet matches: the baker to stretches and folds dough, the potter to squashes and rolls clay, the knitter to twists wool into loops, the carpenter to cuts wood into smaller pieces.
• The drawing shows a person, a material and an action together, and the sentence names both: “They twist the wool.” Any true pair of action and material meets the goal.
• Meeting the idea sounds like “the carpenter breaks the wood into smaller pieces, like our biscuit”: a job connected back to an action the class has done.

Who changes materials?

Grown-ups change materials at work. Draw a line from each person to the work they do.

People at work

Cut out the cards, one set for each table. Read each card together and match it to an action word from the word wall. Keep the set for the mime game.

Teacher note: the hairdresser and the paper folder are the stretch cards; they are not on the worksheet. Hair counts as a material for our purpose, it bends, twists and stretches like one. Sawing sits with breaking (smaller pieces of the same wood), and folding sits with bending (a fold is a bend that stays).

Show what we know

The summative lesson, run as a celebration. Children plan and make something of their own by changing materials with at least two of the term’s actions, visit each other’s work in a gallery walk, then sit the final check sheet quietly and alone. The term closes with the on-screen quiz played as a class game. Every model on the table tells the story the term has been telling all along: the shape is new, the stuff is not.

We are learning to

• plan and make something by changing materials, using at least two actions,
• name the actions we used with the term’s words: bend, twist, stretch, break, fold, roll, squash,
• show what we know on our own on the final check.

Success criteria

• I can make something using at least two of our actions and say which ones.
• I can show that the material stays the same when the shape changes.

You need

• a makers’ table of the term’s leftovers: modelling dough, scrap paper, foil squares, pipe cleaners, fabric scraps and paper strips,
• the making-plan worksheet (next sheet), one per child,
• the final check sheet (third sheet), one per child,
• the interactive unit open on the board for the closing quiz.

Lesson flow (about 60 minutes)

Running two half-sessions instead? End Session A after Making time and keep the models safe on a shelf. Start Session B with the gallery walk, then the final check and the class quiz.

Watch for these ideas

• “New stuff” circled in item 4, under check-sheet pressure, even after a good term. Quietly say: picture the biscuit pieces from Lesson 5. Were they still biscuit? Then step back and let the child answer alone.
• Makers claiming glue or decoration as an action. Glue joins and stickers decorate, but neither changes a shape. Say: “Lovely. Now name one of our seven words that your hands did too.”
• Some children freeze when the task is “make anything”. Point at the dough and offer a start: roll a snake, then bend it into the first letter of your name. The plan sheet fills itself from there.

Make it easier, make it bigger

• Easier: swap “anything you like” for a ready idea, such as a rolled dough snake curled inside a folded paper basket. The making still counts, and the child still names the actions.
• Bigger: use four or more actions and label each part of the model with the action word that made it.

Answers and look-fors

• Final check marking guide: 1 any material name. 2 circle bend, twist and stretch; looking and naming change nothing. 3 yes. 4 smaller. 5 and 6 any sensible pair, such as a stretched rubber band beside torn paper. 7 the same. 8 stays the same, in any words.
• A score of 6 or more out of 8, together with a making task using at least two actions the child can name, meets the descriptor. The rubric sheet near the front of the pack turns this into a three-level judgement.
• Meeting the idea at the gallery sounds like “I rolled it and then bent it, and it is still dough”. The named actions matter more than how pretty the model is.

My making plan

Today you are the maker. You can make anything you like. Use at least two of our actions, and be ready to say which ones you used.

Show what we know

Show what you know about changing materials. Read each one, then write, circle or draw. Take your time.

Teacher note: read the items aloud one at a time. The marking guide is on this lesson’s plan page; the rubric sheet near the front of the pack turns the score into a level.