Object or Material Sorting

Year 1 ScienceEveryday Materials3 pages

About this worksheet

A Year 1 science sorting sheet on the difference between an object and a material. Professor Pip has spilt his science trays, and a short definition explains that a toy car is an object and plastic is a material. Pupils sort fourteen words from the Word Bank into a two-column table. In Think Like a Scientist, pupils pick the hardest word and add one new word to each group. The answer key accepts rubber and paper in either column if pupils explain their choice. It is written to the England National Curriculum objectives on everyday materials.

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Curriculum objectives covered

Everyday materials

โ€œCompare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties.โ€

Partly met. Pupils name materials such as wood, glass and metal, but the sheet does not ask them to compare properties.

Everyday materials

โ€œDistinguish between an object and the material from which it is madeโ€

The Sorting Table is built on this. Question 1 asks pupils to explain a word like rubber that can go in both groups.

What's inside this worksheet

Object or Material?

Pupils read that an object is the thing itself and a material is what it is made from, next to a picture of a child with a wooden spoon and a magnifying glass.

Word Bank

Fourteen words to sort, including key, teddy bear, window, pencil, metal, fabric and clay.

Sorting Table

Two columns headed Object (the thing) and Material (what it is made of).

Think Like a Scientist

Pupils explain which word was hardest to place, then add their own object and material.

How teachers use it

Feely bag start

Pull a spoon and a key from a bag and ask what each one is made of before pupils start the sort.

The rubber question

Hold up an eraser and a rubber boot. Pupils see why the key accepts rubber in both columns.

Classroom hunt

After question 2, send pairs to find three more objects and name the material of each.

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