Matter: Make and Take Study Guides

Here is one more post on Matter. Feedback on these resources would be wonderful as a friend and I are working on idea development for a teacher resource publisher and these may be going up for review. Let us know what you think!

The idea here is to have students create "Make and Take" study guide materials for the Matter Unit. We have them create a folder for each science unit. Here is their unit cover for matter. It is glued onto a simple pocket folder. Inside it they will place all their Matter work to take home to study. I collect them and keep them in the classroom. They get them back right before the state tests in the spring for review.


I try to use some sort of graphic organizer to help my students retain the information they are learning. Here is our flip sheet on the Atoms in Matter.


We used sticky dots to show how the atoms in each phase of matter are different. We have since decided to also give the definitions of these phases. They would glue them to the bottom portion of the cut tab under the sticky dots.

Here is a glossary my students made for the words connected to this unit. At the start of the unit, they were given the words and placed them in ABC order and glued one to each page.

As we worked on a word, they recorded the definition and drew an illustration.

Here is a tree map as a cut and sort activity for the scientific tools we used to study matter. We discussed how our brains do a better job remembering information if we give them a picture with the words. They illustrated each card and then cut them apart. They kept these in a baggie and I gave them many opportunities to sort and review.

These all went home for a few days before the test. I think having these resources to study from helped them to do better on their tests.

Here are some of the documents to print and use:

Please let us know what you liked or what suggestions you would have! (:

A sheet to record what we learned about these tools:

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Printed on cardstock for the kids so they will hold up better:



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Words used in glossary. Printed many on a page to save paper:




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