Rusting, Burning, Cooking, and Rotting

Rusting, Burning, Cooking, and Rotting: Grade 4 Science Worksheet

Can you un-burn wood? Some changes make a brand new material that looks, feels, or smells different and cannot be changed back. Students look at before and after pictures of a beach bike, a campfire log, an egg, and a banana and name the change: rusting, burning, cooking, or rotting. Then they decide if cut paper, burnt paper, and melting ice make a new material.

Key Science Vocabulary

• new material: a different kind of stuff made by a change
• rusting: iron turning orange-brown and flaky
• burning: fire turning wood or paper into ash and smoke
• rotting (decay): old food or leaves getting soft, dark, and smelly
• physical change: a change like cutting or melting that keeps the same material

What Students Do

• Read a short teach box on four changes that make new materials
• Part A: four before and after picture rows; circle rusting, burning, cooking, or rotting
• Part B: cut paper, burnt paper, and melting ice; circle yes or no for a new material
• Answer key with red reason lines

Standards

Florida SC.4.P.9.1: Identify some familiar changes in materials that result in other materials with different characteristics, such as decaying animal or plant matter, burning, rusting, and cooking. Builds toward NGSS 5-PS1-4 (mixing substances can form new substances).

Where It Fits in Grades 3 to 8

Earlier grades describe how heating and cooling change materials. Grade 4 names changes that make new materials. In grade 5 and middle school, this grows into physical and chemical changes, chemical reactions, and conservation of mass.

Teaching Tip

Cut one sheet of paper and burn a second piece safely as a demo. Students see that the cut pieces are still paper, but the ash is something new. Prints clearly in black and white and takes 8 to 10 minutes.