Summary
In the following activities, the students will experience seeing
bread made and experience making butter. They will also see
whether the product was produced by a physical or chemical change.
Materials
Activity One Group--Making Bread--Physical Change
(dough); Chemical Change (bread)
- Pictures of process
- Student journal
- Notes on Making _____
- Store bread
- Hand-made bread
- Wooden spoon
- Mixing pan
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cup
- Bread pan
- Hot pad
- Oven
- Dish towel
- Sugar
- Salt
- Yeast
- Flour
- Butter
- Water
Activity Two Group--Making Butter--Physical Change
- Pictures process
- Student journal
- Notes on Making _____
- Store butter
- Hand-made butter
- Pint jar with lid
- Wooden spoon
- Butter plate
- Whipping cream
- Salt
- Cold water
Additional Resources
Books
Colonial Living, by Edwin Tunis; ISBN 9780801862274 (Paperback)
If You Lived in Colonial Times, by Ann McGovern; ISBN 059045160X (Paperback)
If You Lived In Williamsburg in Colonial Days, by Barbara Brenner; 0590929224 (Paperback)
Background for Teachers
Cooking was one of the most important parts of colonial living.
The colonists learned many ways to cook the same type of food so it
didn't look the same each night. One of the highlights of the meal was
bread. Bread was only made once or twice a week in an oven made in
the wall of the fireplace. Maple sticks were put in the oven to burn to
get the walls of the oven very hot. Once the walls were hot the ashes
were scraped out and the dough was put in the oven. The bread would
bake over night and the bread would be taken out in the morning.
There are two types of chemical changes here. One is the burning
of the firewood. The other, is the dough changing into bread.
Another commodity that was made and used extensively by
colonists was butter. Butter was not only used on bread, but used for
all types of cooking and put on food to eat. It made food taste good.
Changing cream into butter is a physical change.
In the following activities, the students will experience seeing
bread made and experience making butter. They will rotate to the two
stations and make the products or observe the products being made.
They will experience how colonial people made bread and butter.
Students will personally make some of these products from raw matter,
and some will be made by a teacher demonstration for the purpose
of safety. Each student will keep a record in a journal about how
each product was made and what they discovered. They will also see
whether the product was produced by a physical or chemical change.
Intended Learning Outcomes
1. Use science process and thinking skills.
2. Manifest science attitudes and interests.
Instructional Procedures
Invitation to Learn
Hand out a store-made sugar cookie to each class member. Ask
the students where the cookie came from. (They will probably say
that it came from a store.) Ask the students where the store got it.
(They will say from a cookie factory for they have probably visited one
before.) Then ask them, how did they make the cookie? (They had
different ingredients that they put into the cookie.)
Draw a big pot on the board. Have the students name all the
ingredients that went into the cookie (sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla, flour,
baking power, etc.). Write the words in the pot on the board. Ask the
students, as the ingredients are being mixed, what does it turn into?
(Cookie dough) Then ask them that even though we can't see any
of the ingredients, are they all still in the cookie dough? (Yes) In
fact, it is possible that a chemist could analyze the cookie dough and
actually tell us what was in the dough because it is still in there. What
kind of change is this called when we just mix things together but the
substances still exist? (A physical change.)
But, we don't want to eat cookie dough. We want a cookie. What
do we do to make a cookie out of cookie dough? (It is baked in the
oven with heat.) When we take the cookies out of the oven, are they
still a mixture of sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla, flour, and baking powder?
(No) Why not? (They have gone through a chemical change.) What
does a chemical change mean? A chemical change is a process where
one type of substance is chemically changed into a totally different
substance. Usually, if heat is used it is a chemical change. Heat melts
substances and combines them with other substances. Sometimes things
fizzle, give off heat, and change into a new substance that feels different.
Chemical changes occur every day all around us, especially when we are
cooking.
"Today we are going to look at two foods that are made everyday
to see what type of change they go through. We will split you into
two groups."
Instructional Procedures
Activity One Group--Making Bread--Physical Change
(dough); Chemical Change (bread)
Pre-activity
- Have students take out their journals for the review.
- Review what the students learned about how colonists made
bread.
- Discuss how colonists found the materials for making bread.
- Show pictures of the colonists making bread and the oven they
used. Have a discussion about them.
- Pass out the activity sheet Notes on Making _____________.
(Have students write Bread on the line.)
- Have the students write the tools needed to make bread.
Explain why each is needed and have them write the reasons.
a. Wooden spoon (for stirring)
b. Mixing pan (for mixing the ingredients)
c. Measuring spoons (to measure out small measurements)
d. Measuring cup (to measure out large measurements)
e. Bread pan (for baking the bread dough in)
f. Hot pad (to handle the hot pan easily)
g. Oven (to bake the bread in)
h. Dish towel (to put over the dough while rising)
- Have the students write down the ingredients needed to make
bread. Explain why each is needed and have them write the
reasons. Weigh out each ingredient and record the weight.
Have the students put on their safety glasses.
a. Sugar (to sweeten the bread)
b. Salt (to give the bread flavor)
c. Yeast (to make the bread rise)
d. Flour (main substance of the bread)
e. Butter (to give the bread flavor, helps it bake better)
f. Water (helps mix the ingredients together)
Making the Bread Dough
- Since the students are watching, have them write down the
procedure as they are listening.
- In a small bowl, put 1cup of luke-warm water and 2 teaspoons
of yeast. Let it sit for a moment to fizz up.
- Measure and stir into the mixing pan the items below and stir
them in.
a. The bowl of water and yeast
b. 2 teaspoons butter
c. 2 tablespoons sugar
- Put 3 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon of salt into the pan and mix
with wooden spoon.
- Stir until you can knead the dough with your hands. Knead at
least 100 times. Gather all loose flour in the pan into the dough
in the kneading process. (Colonial mothers found that the more
times they kneaded the dough, the better tasting and better
looking their loaves would be. Kneading makes it light weight
and gives it a fine texture.)
- Cover the pan with a dish towel and let it rise for 30 minutes.
- Knead the dough again until all the air is kneaded out.
- Put dusting of flour on your hands so dough won't stick.
- Form into a loaf. Shape carefully.
- Butter the bread pan and put the dough in it. Let it rise for 15
minutes.
- Ask them, "What type of change is this? Why? (Physical
change--the ingredients are just mixed together.)
- Weigh the dough. Compare it with the weight of the
ingredients.
- Have the students write down on the activity sheet what kind of
a change it is, and tell why.
Baking the Bread Dough
- Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.
- Put the pan into the oven when the oven has preheated. Bake
for 20 to 30 minutes or until the bread is well browned.
- Take out the bread and turn the pan upside down to get the
bread out.
- What type of change did the bread go through? Why? (Physical
change because it was heated and a new product was made.)
- Weigh the bread and compare it to the weight of the dough.
Why did it change? (It lost moisture.)
- Have the students write down the uses of the bread dough by
the colonists.
- Have them write down any special observations and thoughts
while they were making the candles.
- Have the students write down on the activity sheet what kind of
a change it is, and tell why.
- For safety reasons, have store bought bread for the students to
eat.
- Can have jam and butter available if desired.
Activity Two Group--Making Butter--Physical Change
Pre-activity
- Have students take out their journals for the review.
- Review what the students learned of how colonists made butter.
- Discuss how colonists found the materials for making butter.
- Show a picture of the butter churn, cream bucket, butter
bowl, butter mold. Have a discussion about them.
- Pass out the activity sheet Making _____________. (Have
them put Butter on the line.)
- Have the students write the tools needed to make butter.
Explain why each is needed and have them write the reasons.
a. Pint jar with lid (used to shake the cream)
b. Wooden spoon (to take the butter out of the jar)
c. Butter plate (to put the butter on)
- Have the students write down the ingredients needed to make
soap. Explain why each is needed and have them write the
reasons. Weigh out each ingredient and record the weight.
a. 1⁄2 pint (liquid) whipping cream (main substance to
making butter)
b. Salt (to preserve the butter and give it flavor)
c. Cold water (to separate the buttermilk from the butter).
Making the Butter (To be done in a clean area.)
- Wash hands.
- Break up the students into groups of 4 to 6
- Pour the 1⁄2 pint of the liquid whipping cream into a pint jar.
Screw on the lid.
- Group of students take turns in shaking the jar (20 time each
student until done).
- It takes quite a while for the liquid whipping cream to turn into
butter. The liquid whipping cream will first turn into whipped
cream. This is the stage right before it turns into butter. The
students may think this is the end. But, they have to keep
shaking a little longer for the whipped cream to turn into
butter.
- It has turned into butter when the whipped cream has turned
into liquid (buttermilk) and a glob of butter in the jar.
- Pour the buttermilk out of the jar and into a cup. (Hold the
lid of the jar over the opening, leaving a gap to pour out the
buttermilk but keep the butter in the jar.)
- Add cold water to the jar. Press the cold water into the butter
with the wooden spoon to flush out the remaining buttermilk in
the butter so the butter doesn't go rancid. Pour the water out in
the sink as described in #7.
- Add a pinch of salt to the butter and stir it with the wooden
spoon. This will prevent it from going rancid and will add
flavor.
- Take the butter out of the jar with the wooden spoon and put it
on a butter plate.
- Weigh the butter and buttermilk and compare it to the weight
of the cream. Did it change? Explain.
- Ask the students what type of change did it go through?
Explain. (Physical, because the butter only changed form but is
made up of cream in another form.)
- Have the students write down the uses of the butter by the
colonists.
- Have them write down any special observations and thoughts
they had while they were making the butter.
- Have the students write down on the activity sheet what kind of
a change it is, and tell why.
Extensions
Curriculum Extensions/Adaptations/
Integration
- The advanced learners can learn more about how cooking most
things is a chemical change.
- The advanced learners can learn more about the tools used in
the activities and about how they were made.
- The advanced learners can learn more about the physical and
chemical reactions of each of the activities.
- The advanced learners can learn about other products that were
made by colonists--how they are made and if the product is a
result of physical or chemical change.
- For learners with special needs, there are many easy reader
books in the library that tell about colonial living. After they
read them, have them write if the product is a physical or
chemical change.
Family Connections
- Send home the instruction sheets about how to make bread and
butter. Have them make them at home with their family. The
student can then explain if the products are chemical changes
or physical changes and explain why to their family members.
Assessment Plan
- Review the students' activity sheets. Check for accuracy and
completeness.
- Take pictures of the students at each of the activities. As the
pictures are shown, have the students relate what is happening
at each station. Have them relate whether it was a physical
change or a chemical change.
- Make an assessment with each of the products of the two
stations with pictures. Have the students tell if each product is
a result of a physical change or a chemical change. Have them
explain why.
Bibliography
Research Basis
Armstrong, T. (1994). Multiple intelligences in the classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Multiple intelligences let students choose a method of learning in
connecting one subject to other subjects to their world. The integration
of instructional methods focuses on teaching a standard in one
curricular area and matching it to a standard in another curricular area
such as integrating science with language arts, math, math, or social
studies. As educators teach with this idea in mind it helps students
see a connection between subjects relating to the real world. It helps
students understand their world better to see how subjects relate to
each other. This method puts into practice the teaching of multiple
intelligences.
Ketch, A. (2005). Conversation: the comprehension connection. The Reading Teacher,
Vol. 59, No. 1, pp. 8-18.
Students who engage in conversation in the classroom become
reflective thinkers. Conversation brings meaning to students as they
contemplate to understand our complex world. Conversation is the
comprehension connection. There are literature circles, book clubs,
whole-class discussions, pair-share, small-group discussion, and
individual conferences that help in conversation comprehension.