Elements, Compounds, and Mixtures

In eighth grade right now we're finishing up our unit on matter.  Last week we went over elements, compounds, and mixtures.  My kids are very visual and need to "see" examples of these things in order to really understand.  But I was happy with how they did and how they caught on to the concepts.  We've focused on separating mixtures this week, so I need to go back and do a quick review later, but this is the main way that I introduce these concepts.

Elements are easy.  I've used the word "element" throughout the unit as we talk about atoms, properties of matter, etc. But not until now did I give them a real definition for it.

I use a smart board file that I made for this.  Each slide has a different example of either an element, compound, or a mixture.  They write their answer on a whiteboard and I come around and check.  Once everyone has the right answer, we discuss why that was the correct answer.

My teacher friends wanted access, but their computers/smart boards use a different program, so instead I just took screen shots of each smart board slide and made it a power point.  

ELEMENTS COMPOUNDS AND MIXTURES

POWER POINT

Example Slides:

The kids did pretty well.  This group activity of identifying each example is followed by an independent worksheet where they are identifying them again.  I didn't make the worksheet, so I'm not going to post it, but there are plenty of worksheets you can find when you google images for "element, compound, mixture." That's where many of my worksheets come from!