Grade 5 – Matter and Energy
Lesson Summary: Students will create an interactive story to showcase the changes of states of matter (i.e., solids,
liquids, gases, and plasmas) at home, in the community, or in the natural environment.
Curriculum Expectations: These expectations are intended to highlight the many ways in which this lesson could support
the curriculum. It is neither expected nor necessary for teachers to address all of these expectations at once. Teachers
are encouraged to select the most relevant expectations based on their unique context and intentions for the lesson.
Science & Technology
Mathematics
Language - Writing
Overall Expectations
A2. use coding in investigations and
to model concepts and assess the
impact of coding and of emerging
technologies on everyday life and in
STEM-related fields
A3. demonstrate an understanding of
the practical applications of science
and technology, and of contributions
to science and technology from
people with diverse lived experiences
C2. Demonstrate an understanding of
the properties of matter, changes of
state, and physical and chemical
change
Specific Expectations
A2.1 write and execute code in
investigations and when modelling
concepts, with a focus on using
different methods to store and
process data for a variety of
purposes
A2.2 identify and describe impacts of
coding and of emerging technologies
on everyday life, including skilled
trades
A3.3 analyse contributions to science
and technology from various
communities
C2.1 describe matter as everything
that has mass and occupies volume
C2.2 identify the states of matter,
and describe characteristics and
properties of solids, liquids, and gases
C2.3 describe changes of state of
matter observed at home, in the
community, or in the natural
environment
C2.4 describe physical changes in
matter as changes of the state,
volume, or form of the matter that do
not result in the formation of a
different substance
C2.6 explain how changes of state
can occur when matter absorbs or
releases thermal energy
Overall Expectations
C3. solve problems and create
computational representations of
mathematical situations using coding
concepts and skills
Specific Expectations
C3.1 solve problems and
create computational
representations of mathematical
situations by writing and executing
code, including code that
involves conditional statements and
other control structures
C3.2 read and alter existing code,
including code that involves
conditional statements and other
control structures, and describe how
changes to the code affect the Error!
Hyperlink reference not valid.
Overall Expectations
1. Generate, gather, and organize
ideas and information to write for an
intended purpose and audience
2. draft and revise their writing, using
a variety of informational, literary,
and graphic forms and stylistic
elements appropriate for the purpose
and audience
Specific Expectations
1.1 identify the topic, purpose,
audience, and form for writing
1.2 generate ideas about a potential
topic, using a variety of strategies and
resources
1.3 gather information to support
ideas for writing in a variety of ways
and/or from a variety of sources
1.4 sort ideas and information for
their writing in a variety of ways
1.5 identify and order main ideas and
sup- porting details into units that
could be used to develop a short,
simple para- graph, using graphic
organizers
1.6 determine whether the ideas and
information they have gathered are
relevant and adequate for the
purpose, and gather new material if
necessary
2.1 write short texts using a variety of
forms
2.3 use words and phrases that will
help convey their meaning as
specifically as possible
2.4 vary sentence structures and
maintain continuity by using joining
words (e.g., and, or) to combine
simple sen- tences and using words
that indicate time and sequence to
link sentences
2.6 identify elements of their writing
that need improvement, using
feedback from the teacher and peers,
with a focus on specific features
2.7 make revisions to improve the
content, clarity, and interest of their
written work, using several types of
strategies
3.4 use punctuation to help
communicate their intended
meaning, with a focus on the use of:
quotation marks to indicate direct
speech; commas to mark
grammatical boundaries within
sentences; capital letters and final
punctuation to mark the beginning
and end of sentences
3.8 produce pieces of published work
to meet identified criteria based on
the expectations related to content,
organization, style, use of
conventions, and use of presentation
strategies
Breaking Down the Coding Expectations in Science & Technology:
In the Grade 5 Science & Technology curriculum, there are 2 coding related expectations:
A2.1 write and execute code in investigations and when modelling concepts, with a focus on using different
methods to store and process data for a variety of purposes
A2.2 identify and describe impacts of coding and of emerging technologies on everyday life, including skilled
trades
To paraphrase these expectations and express them in plainer language, students are being asked to:
● write code to demonstrate a science-related concept, focusing on using data to influence code
● show how coding impacts our lives
Both expectations will be addressed through the project.
Learning Goals: We are learning to write code to create an animated story to teach others about the changes of states
of matter at home, in the community, or in the natural environment.
Success Criteria:
1. I can use a variety of event blocks to trigger different parts of my story
2. I can use conditionals to respond to data in my code
3. I can use the Ask () and Wait blocks to seek input from my user
4. I can describe changes in states of matter
STEM Profile:
Physicists are people who plan and conduct
experiments to test theories and discover
properties of matter and energy. They help us to
understand matter, and the world around us!
Deborah S. Jin is a physicist who invented ways to
study a state of matter called “Bose-Einstein
condensates”. In 2003, her team made the first
fermionic condensate, which is a new form of
matter!
Deborah Jin was considered a pioneer in polar molecular quantum chemistry. In 2005 she was elected a member of the
National Academy of Sciences and, in 2007, became fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has won
numerous awards, such as The Institute of Physics Isaac Newton Medal, a Service to America Medal: Science and the
Environment, and the William Proctor Prize for Scientific Achievement. If we want to be like Deborah Jin, then we will
need to understand the changes of states of matter. Let’s get started!
Minds On:
1. Students will have different experience levels when it comes to coding.
a. If students have never experienced coding before, please watch the “What is Coding?” video.
b. If students have experienced coding before, have a quick discussion in which students share their definition
of coding. Some responses to look for include:
i. Coding is the language that computers speak
ii. Coding is how we talk to computers or get computers to do what we want
iii. Coding is the instructions that we give to a computer
2. Introduce the idea of a conditional, a statement that allows the computer to respond to different situations (or
conditions) based on a certain set of criteria. There are two main types of conditionals.
a. If/then conditionals are only able to respond to one condition. You can create multiple conditionals to
respond to different data, but each conditional on its own is just able to respond to one condition. Some
real-life examples include:
● If it is raining, then bring an umbrella
● If you are hungry, then eat a snack
● If it is cold outside, then wear a sweater
b. If/then/else conditionals are slightly different. The else can be thought of as a “none of the above” option,
similar to a multiple choice test. The else will only run if the condition for the if/then is false. Some real-
life examples include:
● If it is raining, then bring an umbrella, else leave the umbrella at home
● If you are hungry, then eat a snack, else don’t eat a snack
● If it is cold outside, then wear a sweater, else wear a t-shirt.
Discussion: Can students think of other real-life examples of conditional statements?
3. Brainstorm with students to generate ideas for their animated story. Some discussion prompts include:
o What is matter?
o How does matter change state?
o What are the characteristics of different states of matter?
o Where can we see changes in states of matter?
Planning Our Project:
Provide students with the animated story project planner and encourage students to create between three and four
scenes in their story; however, some students may require more. Students should create an outline of their scenes by
drawing pictures and writing a few words or sentences, including any dialogue that will appear on screen, and starting
to plan their code, if applicable. Teachers may wish to provide a list of words from which to choose, a scribe, or other
assistive technology to support students.
Creating Our Project:
Since every student’s project will be unique, there is no single, step-by-step set of instructions to follow; however, the
information below will support your students in the general process of creating an animated story, as well as key
features that they will likely want to include. This sample code further demonstrates how the project might work and
please note that there is code included for each of the sprites and the stage. For your reference, Scratch determines
where to display sprites and controls movement using a Cartesian coordinate system, with (0,0) being the center of the
screen and it may be helpful to pre-teach this concept, if it is one with which students are unfamiliar.
1. Choose or create your backdrop(s) for the project. If adding multiple backdrops, all of them can be added now or
later on but be sure to rename your backdrops as appropriate to help keep track of them through the project.
2. Delete the cat sprite that is automatically added to your project and press the “choose a sprite“ button to select a
new sprite. You may wish to add all sprites that will be needed at this time. Remember that each sprite is
programmed separately, so be sure that you have selected the correct sprite before starting to write your code.
3. Your code must always start with an Event block. In this project, you will likely use the “When Green Flag Clicked“
block. You will also likely use the “When I Receive ()“ block, in combination with the “Broadcast ()“ block throughout
your code to trigger events to create the appearance of interactions between your sprites.