Texas Grab-and-Go Substitute Packet

Mixtures and Solutions

Grade: 5 Subject: Science Time: ~45 min core + ~15 min extension Science

Overview

This is a self-contained, no-technology substitute packet for Grade 5. Working alone with a pencil, students explore the difference between a plain mixture (parts you can see and pick apart) and a solution (a mixture that looks the same throughout because a part dissolved, like salt water). They read a short original passage, study a labeled particle picture and an original data table of mixtures, classify each mixture, choose the best way to separate it from the evidence, and write a short evidence-based explanation. There are no lab materials and no hazards — it is a paper investigation.

At a glance

Grade: 5

Subject: Science

Time: about 45 minutes core plus a 15-minute optional extension

Materials: printed packet and a pencil (no calculator, computer, or lab materials)

Work mode: independent

Standards (provisional): 19 TAC Chapter 112 (Grade 5 Science, 2021 TEKS) — mixtures and solutions, and separating mixtures using physical properties. Provisional — section and codes pending educator verification against the current official TAC source. Standards are paraphrased, not quoted; this packet does not claim formal alignment to the TEKS.

Accessible version of the student activity

The full student activity is reproduced below in plain, screen-reader-friendly HTML. It reflows on phones and at 200% zoom. Write your answers on the printed packet.

Start (5 minutes) — Notice & Wonder

Trail mix has peanuts, raisins, and pretzels tossed together. Write one thing you notice and one thing you wonder about trail mix.
You stir a spoon of salt into a cup of water and the salt seems to disappear. Where do you think the salt went? Write your best idea.

Build (5–10 minutes) — Read the science

A mixture is two or more things put together that are not joined into a new material. In many mixtures, like trail mix, you can still see the different parts. A solution is a special kind of mixture: one thing dissolves into another and it looks the same all the way through. Salt water is a solution. The salt did not disappear — it broke into tiny bits too small to see and spread out in the water. You can taste it, and you can get it back.

Because the parts keep their own properties, you can separate a mixture:

Sift — shake through a screen to split big pieces from small ones.
Magnet — pull out a part that is magnetic, like iron.
Filter — pour through paper to catch bits that will not fit through while liquid passes.
Evaporate — let the water dry into the air; the dissolved solid, like salt, stays behind.

Word bank

mixture: two or more things put together that keep their own properties.
solution: a mixture that looks the same throughout because one part dissolved.
dissolve: to break into bits too small to see and spread out evenly.
property: something you can observe, like size, color, or being magnetic.
separate: to take a mixture apart into its pieces.

Figure 1 description (text alternative for the SVG in the printed packet). Two jars side by side. The left jar is a plain mixture: big square pieces sit in one clump and small round pieces sit in another clump, so you can see and pick apart the separate parts. The right jar is a solution: it is filled evenly with tiny dots and labeled "tiny bits dissolved and spread out evenly," so it looks the same all the way through. In the printed packet this is a labeled line drawing that uses hatching and dot patterns (not colors), so it reads clearly in grayscale.

Look at Figure 1. In one sentence, tell how the solution jar looks different from the plain mixture jar.

Apply (20 minutes) — Use the data

A class made some mixtures and wrote down what they observed.

Table 1. Four mixtures and what the class observed (original class data).
Mixture	Can you see the parts?	Does it dissolve in water?	Is a part magnetic?
A. Sand + iron filings	Yes	No	Yes (iron)
B. Sugar stirred in water	No — looks the same all through	Yes	No
C. Sand + water (muddy)	Yes — bits float and settle	No	No
D. Small beads + big buttons	Yes	No	No

Classify each mixture: write S for a solution (looks the same all through, dissolved) or P for a plain mixture you can pick apart — for A, B, C, and D.
Choose the best way to separate each mixture (sift, magnet, filter, or evaporate) and tell which clue helped you choose — for A, B, C, and D.
Observation or inference — write O (you see or measure it) or I (an idea you figure out):
- a) The sugar water looks clear all the way through.
- b) The sugar is still in the water even though you cannot see it.
- c) The iron filings jumped to the magnet.

Explain (5–10 minutes) — Claim, Evidence, Reasoning

Question 7. Pick Mixture A (sand + iron filings) or Mixture B (sugar in water). Explain how you would separate it, and use one clue from Table 1 as your evidence.

Sentence starters you may use: "I would separate Mixture ___ by…"; "My evidence from Table 1 is…"; "This works because…"

Close (5 minutes) — ACE

Articulate: in your own words, what is the difference between a plain mixture and a solution?
Connect: point to one row of Table 1 that is a solution; write its letter and how you know.
Extend: name one new mixture from home and tell how you would separate it.

Continue (optional, ~15 minutes) — Early finisher

Make a separation plan for a new mixture: salt + sand + iron filings, all dry in one cup. Write the steps in order to get all three parts by themselves, and tell which tool you use for each step (magnet, water, filter, or evaporate) and why.

Turn in

Hand in the whole packet with your name, class, and date, with questions 1–7 and the ACE box answered. Include the optional plan if you did it.

G05_SCI_MixturesSolutions_01 — Mixtures and Solutions Accessible landing page