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Year 5 Properties, changes and separating materials worksheet

“Same name, different properties” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 5 science unit “Properties, changes and separating materials”, for children aged 9 to 10, and takes about 22 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 1 to 8 of the year, 20 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Same name, different properties

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 5 · Science · about 22 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can tell materials apart by their properties, not just by their names.

A Look back3 min

  1. 1.

    Mark 20 °C with a dot on the scale. Then write the temperature 5 degrees warmer.

    0°C5°C10°C15°C20°C25°C30°C
  2. 2.

    Ice melts, and then the water boils. Circle the missing state in the chain.

    solidgas
    liquidsolidgas
  3. 3.

    Mia touched each object to a magnet, then counted the paperclips it picked up. Which object is not magnetic? How does the chart show this?

    Paperclips each object picked up012345678Steel pinWooden spoonIron nail

B Watch me, then you4 min

Kit tests a steel pin and a piece of aluminium foil with a magnet. Both are metals. Which one sticks?

Watch me
Stuck to a magnetSteel pinAluminium foil= 1

The steel pin sticks to the magnet.

The foil does not stick to the magnet.

Both are metals, but they behave differently.

Now you
  1. 1.

    Ali tests a steel nail and a brass key with a magnet. Does the brass key stick? Circle yes or no.

    Stuck to a magnetSteel nailBrass key= 1
    yesno
  2. 2.

    Leo has a clear plastic cup and a black plastic cup. Circle the one that lets light pass through clearly.

    clear cupblack cup

C Your turn8 min

Read each question. Circle or write your answer. Each question changes one thing.

A tidy kitchen worktop with a jar, a wooden spoon, a food bag and a tin
  1. 1.

    Which material lets light pass through clearly? Circle one.

    glasswoodsteel
  2. 2.

    Which material lets electricity flow through it easily? Circle one.

    copper wirerubber bandwooden stick
  3. 3.

    Write each material into the right column.

    steel paperclipiron nailaluminium foilwooden ruler
    Attracted to a magnetNot attracted
  4. 4.

    A steel paperclip and aluminium foil are both metals. Why does only one of them stick to a magnet? Write two sentences.

Say it out loud: What changed from one question to the next? Did the material change, or the property you were testing?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Kit says: “All plastic is see-through, so the black bin bag must be too.”
Lets light through clearlyClear food bagBlack bin bag= 1
  1. 1.

    Is Kit right? Explain in one sentence.

E Think deeper4 min

Look at the shed. Each object is made from a different material.

A garden shed with a metal watering can, a wooden spade and a green plastic bucket
  1. 1.

    Choose one object from the shed and the job it does. Name a property you would test to check it suits that job, and say how you would test it.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet
StudyDen · Year 5 · Science · Properties, changes and separating materialsAnswers are on the grown-up page

For the grown-up

Same name, different properties · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 25 If they write 15, they took 5 away. Warmer means the number goes up. Ask them to count up the scale from 20.

2. liquid If they circle gas, they may think water turns into steam first. Ice melts into liquid water before it boils into a gas.

3. Look for: Names the wooden spoon and says it picked up no paperclips. If they name the steel pin, they may think a shorter bar means not magnetic. Ask which object picked up no paperclips at all.

B

1. no If they circle yes, they may think all metals are magnetic. Brass is a metal, but magnets pull only some metals, such as steel.

2. clear cup If they circle the black cup, ask them to hold each cup up to a window and look through it.

C

1. glass If they circle wood, they may think all solids block light. Ask them whether they can see through the wood.

2. copper wire If they circle the rubber band, ask them what they know about rubber and electricity. Rubber stops electricity; copper lets it through.

3. Not attracted: aluminium foil, wooden ruler · Attracted to a magnet: steel paperclip, iron nail If foil is in the magnet column, they may think all metals stick. Ask them to test the foil with a magnet.

4. Look for: Says steel is magnetic and aluminium foil is not, so two metals can have different properties. If they say all metals stick, correct them gently. The paperclip sticks because steel is magnetic. The foil does not stick, so metals can differ.

D

1. Look for: Says Kit is wrong because a black bin bag is plastic but is not see-through, so plastics can differ. If they say yes, ask them to hold the bin bag up to a lamp. Different plastics can have different properties, even when they share a name.

E

1. Look for: Names one object from the scene, a property such as hardness, magnetism or transparency, and a simple fair test.

Words to use

Say“How could you find out, rather than guess? What would you test first?”
Instead of“Plastic is plastic, so they must all be the same.”

After the sheet

Hold a clear sandwich bag and a dark carrier bag up to a window. Which lets light through? Talk about how you knew, then try a spoon and a fork with a fridge magnet.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

19 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

  1. Materials for the job(with a plan)
  2. Planning a Fair Test(with a plan)
  3. Which cup keeps heat in?(with a plan)
  4. Insulators in everyday life(with a plan)
  5. Keeping Heat In and Out(with a plan)
  6. Solids That Vanish(with a plan)
  7. Recovering insoluble solids(with a plan)
  8. Making Water Safe to Drink(with a plan)
  9. Getting salt back(with a plan)
  10. Getting Salt Out(with a plan)
  11. Changes that go back(with a plan)
  12. Getting Materials Back(with a plan)
  13. Burning: a one-way change(with a plan)
  14. Burning Plants as Fuel(with a plan)
  15. Greenhouse gases and heat(with a plan)
  16. Bioplastics: Plastic's Future(with a plan)
  17. Rusting: an irreversible change(with a plan)
  18. Fizzing and new materials(with a plan)
  19. Variables and careful watching(with a plan)

Every Year 5 science worksheet

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