Science - What are materials?

Today we began our new unit on Materials, learning about different types of materials and Mrs Loizos was really impressed with how many material types the children could name; wood, metal, fabric, brick, pottery, glass, plastic, cardboard and paper. We then explored the word 'Property' and realised we already had hear this word, thinking about what 'Lost Property' means, and that if something is 'your property' then it belongs to you. We learned that when we talk a 'property of a material' it means the way a material behaves. We looked at five different properties - opaque, transparent, flexible, waterproof and absorbent. We then discussed three different objects: - cardboard shoes - glass hammer - chocolate teapot The children discussed why these materials wouldn't work for the purpose, and which materials would be better. Mrs Loizos even put on some carboard shoes and we tested it in the water and rain outside - unsurprisingly, she ended up with...