Glass is made from sand. First the sand is scooped out of the ground
and loaded into trucks.
The trucks take the sand to a glass factory. At the glass factory the sand
is poured into huge furnaces with soda, lime, and cullet. Cullet is recycled glass
that has been broken into tiny pieces.
Then the furnace is turned on.
Inside the furnace the temperature gets very hot. The sand mixture melts together.
It becomes soft and gooey like honey. This mixture is called molten glass. The
molten glass will harden into glass as it cools off.
Before it has hardened, the molten glass must be shaped.
Now the glass is ready to be shipped. It might be shipped to a construction
company or to a car manufacturer or to any business that depends on glass.
Look around you. What is made of glass? The windows in your room, glass bowls and
your reading glasses!
Isn’t it amazing that all of it started out as sand!

A) Vocabulary
Please make sentences with the words below to show that you know what they mean.
Scoop (verb) – to dig
Scoop (noun) – a tool like a spoon with a deep bowl used for digging or serving
Load (verb) – to lift and carry
Pour (verb) – flow, fall heavily
Recycle – Reuse, use again, convert into something
Furnace – a container that is heated to a very high temperature
Gooey – soft and sticky
Molten – liquid and flowing especially metals and glass

B) Discussion Points
1. Did you know that glass is made from sand?
2. Can you describe the process of making glass in four or five simple steps?
3. What is sugar made from?
4. What is jam made from?
5. What is achhar made from?
6. What is ice cream made from?
7. Can you describe how wheat becomes bread or roti?
8. How can you recycle glass bottles?
9. How can you recycle old newspaper or a pair of old jeans?
10.Why is recycling a good thing?

C) Name 2 things made from each of the following materials:
1. Glass
2. Plastic
3. Rubber
4. Cotton
5. Metal

Revised July 2020

Audio courtesy Tara Kriplani: