The fifth graders started our Chemical Reactions and Properties of Matter Unit. Over the last couple of weeks we have been focusing on dissolving and particulate matter. We put our salt, vinegar, and penny solution from the previous week's experiment into a bag with a steel nail. We made very thoughtful observations and predictions as to what would happen to the pennies and nail in our bag. We recorded our observations for a week and found the dissolved copper from the pennies had “transformed” our nail to copper! We then created a conceptual model of how the particles from the pennies are the same one that eventually coated the nail in copper. Amazing!