Chemical Reactions Fifth Grade Science Stations

These fifth grade Conservation of Mass Science Stations include eight different science stations where students learn about the conservation of mass. Students work with chemical and physical changes, dissolvable solids, mass that increases and decreases and more. These science stations align with the 5th grade Next Generation Science Standards.

What’s Included in the Conservation of Mass Science Stations

In these science stations students learn about when mass stays the same and when it changes. Students measure and graph quantities to show how the total weight of matter is conserved during heating, cooling, or mixing substances.

The science stations contain challenging material for fifth graders, with new words and concepts in easy to implement, interactive stations. They are are designed to help students understand how heating, cooling, or mixing substances does not change the total weight of matter.

Focus on NGSS Standards for 5-PS 1-2

Next Generation Science Standards are written to be “Three Dimensional.”  The three dimensions are Performance Expectation, Disciplinary Core Idea, and Science and Engineering Practices/Crosscutting Concepts.

The Conservation of Mass Science Stations Unit focuses on these standards:

• Performance Expectation 5-PS1-2. Measure and graph quantities to provide evidence that regardless of the type of change that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of matter is conserved. 
• Disciplinary Core Ideas:
  • 5-PS1.A – Structure and Properties of Matter – The amount (weight) of matter is conserved when it changes form, even in transitions in which it seems to vanish. 
  • 5-PS1.B – Chemical Reactions – No matter what reaction or change in properties occurs, the total weight of the substances does not change. 
• Science and Engineering Practices: Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
• Crosscutting Concepts: Scale, Proportion, and Quantity: Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities such as weight, time, temperature, and volume

Big Idea Posters for Conservation of Mass

Like all of our science stations, the Conservation of Mass stations come with Big Idea posters that explain the core science ideas students will learn in this unit of study.

Some of the Big Ideas include:

• Substances can go through physical changes or chemical changes.
• A solution has two parts: the solute is the part that is dissolved and the solvent is the part that the solute was dissolved into.
• The Law of Conservation of Mass says that mass is never created nor destroyed.  When substances change, the mass stays the same before and after the change.

There are six Big Idea Posters in this unit. Only the Conservation fo Mass Unit Bundle includes the Big Idea Posters. The Posters are not included for each individual station.

Vocabulary Cards

Included are two sets of vocabulary cards. One set has pictures with the word and definition. This set can be cut apart and used another science center where students can match vocabulary cards. They are the perfect size for pocket charts, too!

The second set of vocabulary cards have the word and definition in larger font. This set is great for a science word wall. The two sets have the same words.

The conservation of mass vocabulary cards are also only available in the Unit Bundle. They are not available for each individual science station.

Differentiated Responses for Each Science Station

Like all the science stations, the Conservation of Mass Science Stations have a variety of ways for students to interact with the station.  Each station includes five different ways to respond to the experience at the station:

• short answer questions
• fill-in-the-blank questions without a word bank
• fill-in-the-blank with a word bank
• task cards with short answers
• task cards with multiple choice

All the variations are similar to one another, but require a different level of independence. The fill-in-the-blank is the easiest and perfect for your students who struggle with reading.  The short answer is the most difficult as it requires students to construct their own responses without much support.

Choose the format that best fits your classroom and students. Students are also encouraged to use their science journal task cards.  Answer keys are included.

Some activities also include an activity sheet or worksheet in addition to the differentiated responses.  This activity sheet is the “work” of the station while the differentiated responses require students to think broadly about the topic and concept.

See examples of the questions in some of the images below.

Reading Passages

All stations, except the Watch and Play stations include reading passages. Most of the reading passages are optional, but they do build students’ background knowledge and solidify key concepts. Use them if your students do not have prior knowledge of the topic of the station.

The reading passages come in two formats. You’ll see versions of both of these formats in the below photographs. Both versions have the same text, but different layouts.

• Full-page with color border
• Two-Column with a black border

See examples of the two formats in the images below.

Google Classroom Components

All of our fifth grade science stations come with components easily integrated with Google Classroom. Google Forms and Google Slides are included for most stations.

• A Google Form™️ with Reading Passage & Differentiated Questions is available for the Watch, Investigate, Diagram, Read, Model, Explore and Sort stations.
• Google Slides™️ with Activity Directions & Worksheets are available for for Investigate, Diagram, Model, Explore, Sort

Most of the hands-on activities still require physical components, but we have provided the directions and recording sheets in Google Slides.

Watch a Video about the Law of Conservation of Mass

In this Watch a Video science station, students watch a video to learn about what happens to matter and its mass during changes. There is a second video pictured below about the law of conservation of mass. Students watch the video and answer questions about the video.

There are three videos included in this science station. Two of the videos are pictured here.

Play a Game About Conservation of Mass

The Play Science Station includes a board game with questions and diagrams. Students work together to answer questions and move along the board.

Also included in the Play a Game station are a crossword puzzle and word search. There are two versions of the crossword puzzle. One has a word list the other does not. The crossword puzzle and word search also come in digital form. The digital form changes each time the page is loaded so each student can work on his or her own versions of the puzzle.

Investigate

In the Investigate Dissolvable Solids Station students read about physical and chemical changes and how these changes relate to the law of conservation of mass. Like all of our science stations, differentiated questions are included. What you see in the image below are the short answer task cards.

Students conduct and investigation to determine if the masses before and after changes differ.

Diagram Change in Sizes to Learn Conservation of Mass

In the Diagram Size Changes Station students read about the law of conservation of mass and how it applies to change in state of matter.

Students conduct an investigation to learn more about the changes in size and draw diagrams to show what happens to substances as their states change.

Read About How Things Change and How They Stay the Same

In this science station, students read a passage about conservation of mass in chemical and physical changes. Students then answer questions about the reading passage.

Model Mass and Chemical Changes

In this Model Science Station students read about matter and chemical changes.

Students learn how the mass of substances before a chemical change needs to equal the mass after the change. They model this concept with an activity using everyday objects.

Explore Chemical Changes

In the Explore station, students read about chemical changes and learn how the mass of substances before and after the change is the same.

Sort Chemical Change or Physical Change

For the Sort Science Station, students read about physical and chemical changes with respect to the law of conservation of mass.

They sort descriptions of changes into two categories: physical change or chemical change.

Here are a few examples. Can you determine which is a chemical change and which is a physical change?

• Plants take carbon dioxide and combine it with water.  The atoms in the molecules are rearranged, forming oxygen and sugar.
• When coal is burned, it forms carbon dioxide and water.
• A tree is cut up into firewood.
• Electricity can be used to split apart water molecules.  The water molecules turn into hydrogen and oxygen molecules.
• A pot of water on the stove is brought to a boil.  Liquid water is turned into steam, or water vapor.

How to Purchase the Fifth Grade Conservation of Mass Science Stations

The Conservation of Mass Science Station Unit can be purchased on my website or on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Other Fifth Grade Science Stations

We have fifth grade science stations for all of the NGSS Standards. Click below for information about each one!