Matter vs Not Matter Card Sort Activity

My chemistry students are currently working with basic definitions that form the crucial foundation of the subject. One of these words that must be defined is matter. Before giving students a specific definition, I decided to let them play with the concept themselves through a matter vs not matter card sort.

To make my card sort, I used a bank of words from the margins of the teacher’s edition of Holt’s Chemistry.

There weren’t quite enough words to fit my template, so I had my husband suggest a couple more.

Here’s what I came up with:

And, here are some action shots from when I used the matter vs not matter card sort with my chemistry class: