Mix It, Dissolve It, Separate It: Mixtures and Solutions

Student Task

• Show three clear cups: water with sand, water with salt and water with oil. Ask students what they notice.
• Teach the key words, then do activities 1 and 2 together.
• Students complete activities 3 to 5; answers are in the answer key.

Classroom Use

• Dissolving test: test sugar, salt, sand, flour and coffee granules in water and record which dissolve.
• Fastest dissolving race: compare sugar cubes in cold water, warm water and stirred water.
• Separation challenge: give groups a mixture of sand, salt, paper clips and pebbles and ask them to separate it step by step.

Differentiation

Support: use real materials and a word bank. Challenge: plan a method to get pure salt from rock salt (crush, dissolve, filter, evaporate).

Answer Key & Assessment

Activities 1 to 4 check vocabulary and classifying (answer key included). Activity 5 checks choosing separation methods.

Learning Objectives

• Explain what a mixture and a solution are, using the words solute and solvent.
• Sort substances into soluble and insoluble and describe how to make dissolving faster.
• Choose a suitable method to separate a mixture: sieving, filtering, evaporating or using a magnet.

Teacher Tips

Students often think the salt has disappeared when it dissolves. Let them taste a drop of salt water (with clean equipment) or evaporate it to show the salt is still there.

What's Included

• 7-page printable PDF lesson pack: teacher lesson plan with timings, materials and differentiation
• Key vocabulary list (4 words with meanings and examples)
• Student worksheet (5 activities)
• Editable Word version of the worksheet
• Complete answer key (also as a separate PDF)

Additional Files

• Editable Worksheet (Word) (DOCX)
• Answer Key (PDF) (PDF)

Teacher Reviews