Wemberly's Ice-Cream Star Science Lesson Plan
How Does Matter Change States from a Solid to a Liquid?
Feb 12, 2009
Elementary teachers wondering how to teach students how to answer the question "How does matter change states?" can use Kevin Henkes's picture book Wemberly's Ice-Cream Star [HarperFestival, 2003] to introduce elementary students to the process by which a solid changes to a liquid and then back to a solid. The story's setting and plot make this book appropriate for use as part of a Fourth of July science lesson plan that can be adapted for use with any holiday during which children receive frozen treats.
How to Help Elementary Students Build Background with the Solid State of Matter
To begin this elementary science lesson plan, display the cover of the book and have students identify the object in Wemberly's hand as an ice-cream star on a stick. Ask students to use their prior experience to describe properties of ice cream on a stick, such as hard, frozen, and cold. Introduce students to the states of matter by identifying ice cream as a solid. Invite them to share past experiences with eating ice cream on a stick and discuss times when people enjoy this treat, especially when it takes the form of a red, white, and blue star. For example, people often eat ice cream on hot summer days, particularly on the Fourth of July.
How to Share Wemberly's Ice-Cream Star with Elementary Students
Read the book aloud. Pause to discuss Wemberly's first worry, having students explain why she is concerned that her ice cream might drip. Help students use information from the book (it is a hot day) and prior knowledge (ice cream melts, especially when it gets warm) to draw the conclusion that Wemberly is afraid her ice-cream star will melt and make a mess before she can finish eating it.
Pause again to discuss Wemberly's second worry, having students predict how Wemberly might solve the problem of there not being an ice-cream star for Petal. Allow students to adjust their predictions after reading the part where Wemberly gets two bowls, two spoons, and two napkins, and have them adjust their predictions again one final time once Wemberly settles in to wait. Check predictions once Wemberly has made ice-cream soup for herself and Petal to share. Then check to see if students can describe and explain what happened to the ice-cream star.
Demonstrate a Solid Changing to a Liquid State of Matter
Display a real ice cream on a stick treat (one that is not covered with any chocolate or other coating) and note that it is solid and frozen in one form. Have students use their prior knowledge and what they have just read to predict what would happen if you held the ice cream in the hot sun or even just kept it outside of a freezer.
Then, hold the ice cream in sunlight from a window or under a source of heat like a light bulb or heat lamp and let it melt into a dish while students observe what happens as it changes from a solid to a liquid. For assessment, have students write a sentence or two describing their observations and relating them to Wemberly's experience.
Extension Activities
Have younger students or kinesthetic learners act out the process by which a substance changes from solid to liquid. Explain that when the tiny bits of material that make up some objects get cold, they freeze in place and become a solid. Ask students to stand up and freeze in place. Then tell them to pretend that they are getting warmer. Explain that as the tiny bits of materials warm up, they begin to move around faster and faster and turn into a liquid. Have students wiggle their arms and legs slowly and then faster to act out changing from a solid to a liquid. Then have them act out getting colder and freezing back in place again.
For more advanced students, introduce the concept of reversible change with a simple experiment. Melt a popsicle, then pour the juice into a mold and freeze it again. Discuss how and why the juice changed from a solid to a liquid and then back to a solid. Students can also use an ice cream maker to change liquid ingredients into solid ice cream.
For a math activity exploring volume, have students use measuring cups and bowls to experiment with how to divide one portion of a liquid (such as ice-cream soup) into two equal amounts.
Using a melting ice-cream treat as the focus for an elementary science lesson plan captures students' interest with a practical (and delicious) real-life example of changing states of matter. Elementary teachers searching for other elementary lesson plans based on books from Kevin Henkes's A Box of Treats can use Sheila Rae's Peppermint Stick [HarperFestival, 2001] in a Christmas writing lesson to teach how to use descriptive adjectives and in a Christmas math lesson to teach fractions, and Lilly's Chocolate Heart [HarperFestival, 2004] in a Valentine's Day writing lesson to teach how to use prepositions and adjectives.
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