In class, we did science centers with our science groups. The first activity we did was called Create It! We had to sort beads by color and we observed the properties of the beads. We saw that the beads were hard, small, colored and square. Then we had to make a mixture out of the beads. We observed whether the properties of the beads changed or stayed the same. The properties of the beads did not change, but instead of one color, there were many.

Next, we did Sort It!. In Sort It!, we sorted mixtures, solutions and compounds into seperate piles. When we were done we had sand and water, sand and iron filing and salad in the mixture column. We put soda, sugar and water, and air into the solutions column and we put table salt baking soda and water into the compound column.

Next, we did Match It! In Match It!, we matched words and definitions. Here is what we learned: Physical Properties: a characteristic of matter, Mixture: a combination of 2 or more substances, Solution: a type of mixture in which one substance dissolves in another, Solvent: the substance that dissolves in another substance to make a solution, Solute:the substance in a solution that there is more of, and Dissolve: to break down into smaller pieces until it is invisible.\

Next we did Explain It!, In Explain It!, we made observations on the recipe of lemonade and then we wrote what we learned. I wrote that the hot water is the solvent, the sugar was the solute and if you add the cold water with the lemon to the hot water and the sugar, it’s a solution. I learned that you can mix a solvent and solute together add another liquid and you would still get a solution. I wonder if you didn’t mix the sugar and hot water, would the sugar still dissolve? If so, how long would it take?

Overall I learned so much from these activities and thought they were a lot of fun!