Fourteen labeled photos are the center of this 3-page 5th grade sheet on physical and chemical changes. A blue box at the top defines both kinds of change. Students sort the photos, from ice melting and tearing paper to rusting a nail and fireworks, into a two-column table, then answer three questions, including whether a burning candle is one change or two. Page 3 is the answer key with seven examples in each column.
“Classify everyday changes as physical or chemical and explain the choice by whether a new substance forms.”
The sort covers 14 examples, and questions 1 to 3 ask for the reasoning behind melting ice, rusting and a burning candle.
A box defines physical change (the same kind of matter, no new substance) and chemical change (a new substance, often with bubbles, a new odor, heat, light or a color change). Below it are 14 labeled photos.
A Physical Change and Chemical Change table with seven lines in each column. Students write the name of each pictured change in the right column.
Three written questions. Two ask why melting ice is a physical change and why rusting is a chemical change. The third asks whether a burning candle is one change or two, beside a photo of a candle.
The sorted table with seven items per column and model answers for the three questions, including both the wax and the wick for the candle.
Cut and sort
Print page 1, cut out the 14 pictures and let pairs sort them on the desk before anyone writes. The table is on page 2, so keep both pages side by side.
Dissolving salt
Send students back to the definition box for dissolving salt in water. Many call it chemical because the salt seems to vanish, and the key has it as physical.
Candle question
Save question 3 for a class talk. The key splits it into wax melting (physical) and wick and wax vapor burning (chemical), so students need to name both.
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