Topic 9 — The periodic table — blueprint for James

What I need from you: 5 decisions

Show the whole periodic table in every lesson and item, never a cut-down first-20 version?

the grade-8 STAAR, Florida SSA and AZSCI forms hand students a full periodic table as a reference sheet, so the full table is what the student will read on test day.

the lessons zoom in on one box, one column or the first twenty elements when a point needs it, but the backdrop is always the whole table with the three regions shaded.

My recommendation: yes, the whole table (118 elements, symbols and atomic numbers, regions shaded) on the page and in every stem; students look up, never memorize. Agree / first 20 only / other.

Does "predict a property from position" mean the staircase side plus "same column, similar properties", and nothing more?

MAT-057 asks for metal, nonmetal or metalloid from the staircase; MAT-055 asks the student to predict an unknown element's property from others in its column.

the reason columns behave alike (electron arrangement) is high school; here the student reads the column and copies its properties across.

My recommendation: yes — two moves only: read the staircase side; read the column-mates' properties from a supplied table and carry them to the unknown element. Agree / add the electron reason / narrower.

Test the metal properties by their plain words, with the TEKS terms taught as labels only?

TEKS 6.6C names luster, conductivity and malleability. The lessons say "shiny", "conducts electricity", "bends without breaking", then give each its label once.

a quiz that asks "which element has luster?" tests the word, not the sorting; the PP100 uses the TEKS words because the state tests do.

My recommendation: plain words in lessons and quizzes, the three labels coined once in L04, the PP100 stems carry both. Agree / test the labels too / plain words only.

Teach group numbers 1 to 18 and period numbers 1 to 7, with no family names?

MAT-054b needs the student to say what a column and a row are called and that column-mates share properties.

family names (alkali metals, halogens, noble gases) are extra vocabulary the register does not ask for.

My recommendation: numbers only; the three family names go in "deliberately not taught". Agree / add noble gases only / add all three.

Which lessons could do without a video?

L02 (118 cards laid out into the table), L05 (the shading and the staircase appearing) and L07 (a blank row filling in from its column) have something to watch; L01, L03, L04 and L06 are a rule, a look-up, a sort and two labels.

My recommendation: mark L01, L03, L04 and L06 "could do without a video"; all seven scripted. Agree / change.

Topic 9 at a glance — 7 lessons

	Lesson	Opens on	Format
L01	Chemical symbols: one element or two?	Two bottles sit on a shelf.	article only
L02	The periodic table: every element on one chart	Scientists know 118 elements.	video + article
L03	Find an element and read its box	A question asks for the symbol of calcium and the count of protons in one calcium atom.	article only
L04	Metals, nonmetals and metalloids	Three samples lie on a bench: a strip of copper, a lump of sulfur, a chip of silicon.	article only
L05	The staircase: where each kind sits	Look at the periodic table with the three kinds shaded.	video + article
L06	Columns and rows: groups and periods	Lithium, sodium and potassium sit one above another in the first column.	article only
L07	Predict a property from the group	Francium sits at the bottom of group 1.	video + article

What this topic is, in five lines

Seven lessons, one per atom: MAT-053, 054, 058, 056, 057, 054b, 055 (teaching order below; every prerequisite edge points backwards).

Terms coined here: chemical symbol (L01), periodic table and atomic number (L02), metal, nonmetal, metalloid (L04), group and period (L06).

Retrieved, not re-coined: element (T7), proton and the proton count naming the element (T8), conductor (T3), physical property (T3).

Deliberately not taught: electron shells and why columns behave alike, family names, atomic mass, the lanthanides and actinides as a topic, reactivity trends down a group.

Also in this topic: an intro video before L01 (under 120 words, teaches nothing: "118 elements, one chart, position tells you what an element is like") and a summary video just before the PP100 (everything taught, in teaching order, with its own easy question).

The PP100 is 20 items, easy / medium / hard by depth of reasoning, drawn from a bank of at least 50 four-option MCQs, the periodic table supplied in every item that needs it.

Chemical symbols: one element or two? L01

Two bottles sit on a shelf.

One label reads Co.

The other label reads CO.

The letters look almost the same.

Co is a hard, gray metal.

CO is a poisonous gas made of two elements.

How does one small letter tell them apart?

The point, stated first

How do you read the short name chemists give an element?

Every element has a short name of one or two letters, called its chemical symbol.

The first letter is always a capital.

The second letter, if there is one, is always small.

So Co is one element, cobalt.

CO has two capitals, so CO names two elements, carbon and oxygen.

Video: nothing a page cannot show — article only (could do without a video).

Part 1 — MAT-053 — Read a chemical symbol, applying the capitalization rule to tell one element from two; coin chemical symbol

Check: example sequence in one frame ("how many capital letters? so how many elements?"): Co → CO → Hg → HF → Ni → rule; fluency quiz: one element or two, 8 quick symbol pairs; misconception item: a student says CO is the symbol for cobalt — the key corrects: two capitals, two elements

Figure: SVG: Co and CO side by side, each capital letter ringed; table: twelve common elements, name and symbol, the eight whose symbol comes from an old Latin name flagged (Fe, Na, K, Pb, Au, Ag, Cu, Hg)

Leans on: T7 L03 (element) — one recall question

Part 1q — Fluency quiz: chemical symbol — match symbol to name from the supplied table, 6 items

Check: fluency

Figure: table supplied

Leans on: —

The periodic table: every element on one chart L02

Scientists know 118 elements.

Topic 8 said each element has its own count of protons, from 1 to 118.

Imagine 118 cards, one for each element, tipped out onto a desk.

How would you lay them out so you could find any element fast?

The point, stated first

What is the periodic table?

The periodic table is a chart of every known element, one box per element.

The boxes run in order of the count of protons, 1 to 118, left to right and then down the next row.

On the table, the count of protons is called the atomic number.

Elements that behave alike sit in the same column.

So one chart holds every element, in order, with look-alikes stacked together.

Video: the 118 cards sliding into place, row by row — video and article (definitely a video).

Part 1 — MAT-054 — State what the periodic table is and what it organizes; coin periodic table, atomic number

Check: fact → what: three two-option items (one box stands for: an element / a compound; the order runs by: atomic number / alphabet; the atomic number is: the proton count / the electron count); misconception item: a student says water has its own box on the table — the key corrects: elements only, water is a compound of two of them

Figure: SVG: the whole table drawn as empty boxes with atomic numbers, a path arrow running 1 → 2 across the top row and on down; one box (carbon, 6) enlarged beside it

Leans on: T8 L03 (the proton count names the element) — one recall question

Part 1q — Fluency quiz: periodic table, atomic number

Check: fluency

Figure: —

Leans on: —

Find an element and read its box L03

A question asks for the symbol of calcium and the count of protons in one calcium atom.

You have never memorized calcium.

The periodic table lies in front of you.

Where do you look, and what do you read?

The point, stated first

How do you find an element on the table and read its box?

Every box holds three things: the atomic number at the top, the symbol in the middle, the name underneath.

Find the name.

Read the symbol beside it: Ca.

Read the atomic number above it: 20.

The atomic number is the count of protons, so a calcium atom has 20 protons.

Video: nothing a page cannot show — article only (could do without a video).

Part 1 — MAT-058 — Find a named element on the periodic table and read off its symbol and atomic number

Check: scaffolded (type b): worked look-up of calcium → step items on magnesium (find the box; type the symbol; type the atomic number) → 8 bare fluency items, typed symbol and typed atomic number for fresh named elements, the table in every stem; two reverse items: which element has atomic number 12?

Figure: SVG: one box enlarged (20, Ca, calcium) with each line labeled; the whole table with that box ringed

Leans on: L02 (atomic number) — one recall question

Metals, nonmetals and metalloids L04

Three samples lie on a bench: a strip of copper, a lump of sulfur, a chip of silicon.

The copper is shiny, bends without breaking and conducts electricity.

The sulfur is a dull yellow solid that crumbles and does not conduct electricity.

The silicon looks shiny like the copper, but it shatters like glass and conducts electricity only a little.

How many kinds of element are on the bench?

The point, stated first

How do we sort elements by what they are like?

Elements sort into three kinds by their physical properties.

A metal is shiny, conducts electricity and heat, and bends without breaking.

A nonmetal is dull, does not conduct electricity, and is brittle or is a gas.

A metalloid has some properties of each: it looks shiny but shatters, and it conducts electricity poorly.

The copper is a metal, the sulfur is a nonmetal, and the silicon is a metalloid.

Video: nothing a page cannot show — article only (could do without a video).

Part 1 — MAT-056 — Classify an element as a metal, nonmetal or metalloid from its physical properties; coin metal, nonmetal, metalloid (labels luster, conductivity, malleability given once, per decision 3)

Check: example sequence on a three-column property table: metal (copper) → nonmetal (sulfur) → metalloid (silicon) → metal (aluminum) → nonmetal (oxygen, a gas) → rule; fluency quiz: metal / nonmetal / metalloid from a two-row property table in each stem, 8 fresh elements; misconception item: a student says every shiny element is a metal — the key corrects: silicon is shiny and shatters, so it is a metalloid

Figure: licensed photo: the copper strip, the sulfur lump, the silicon chip side by side; table: three rows of properties (shiny? conducts? bends?) for the three kinds

Leans on: T3 L01 (physical property) and T3 L05 (conductor) — one recall question each

Part 1q — Fluency quiz: metal, nonmetal, metalloid

Check: fluency

Figure: —

Leans on: —

The staircase: where each kind sits L05

Look at the periodic table with the three kinds shaded.

Metals fill the left side and the middle.

Nonmetals sit at the right.

A zigzag line runs between them like a staircase.

Where do the metalloids sit?

The point, stated first

How do you tell metal, nonmetal or metalloid with no sample to test?

Read the element's position.

Elements to the left of the staircase are metals.

Elements to the right of the staircase are nonmetals.

Elements touching the staircase are metalloids.

Hydrogen, at the top left, is the one exception: hydrogen is a nonmetal.

Video: the shading spreading across the table, then the staircase drawing itself along the edge — video and article (definitely a video).

Part 1 — MAT-057 — Classify an element as metal, nonmetal or metalloid by locating it relative to the staircase on the periodic table

Check: fluency quiz: metal / nonmetal / metalloid from a ringed box on the shaded table, 8 items; then two context items: the element is named only, the student finds it (L03) and classifies it; misconception item: a student says an element in the far-right column must be a metalloid because it is near the right edge — the key corrects: right of the staircase is nonmetal

Figure: SVG: the whole table shaded three ways, the staircase drawn as a heavy zigzag, hydrogen marked; the same table unshaded with one box ringed for the quiz

Leans on: L04 (the three kinds) — one recall question

Columns and rows: groups and periods L06

Lithium, sodium and potassium sit one above another in the first column.

All three are soft metals you can cut with a knife.

All three fizz when they are dropped into water.

Helium, neon and argon sit one above another in the last column.

All three are gases that react with nothing.

Is it a coincidence that column-mates behave alike?

The point, stated first

Why does an element's place on the table tell you what it is like?

The table was built by stacking elements that behave alike in the same column.

A column is called a group, and the groups are numbered 1 to 18 across the top.

A row is called a period, and the periods are numbered 1 to 7 down the side.

Elements in the same group share properties.

So the column an element sits in tells you how it behaves.

Video: nothing a page cannot show — article only (could do without a video).

Part 1 — MAT-054b — Explain how the position of an element in the table relates to its properties; coin group, period

Check: what: name the group and period of a ringed box, 4 quick items → why (free response: why do lithium, sodium and potassium all fizz in water? — same group, and the table stacks look-alikes) → misconception item: a student says elements in the same row share properties the way column-mates do — the key corrects: a period runs from metal to nonmetal, only a group shares properties → transfer: which of two named elements behaves more like sodium, one in its group or one in its period?

Figure: SVG: the whole table with groups numbered 1–18 along the top and periods 1–7 down the side, group 1 and group 18 shaded; table: lithium, sodium, potassium — two properties each in the identical frame

Leans on: L02 (the table) — one recall question

Part 1q — Fluency quiz: group, period

Check: fluency

Figure: —

Leans on: —

Predict a property from the group L07

Francium sits at the bottom of group 1.

Almost nobody has ever seen a lump of francium, because only specks of it have ever been made.

Yet chemists say with confidence that francium is a soft metal and that francium reacts violently with water.

How can they know that about a sample nobody has held?

The point, stated first

How can you predict what an element is like before anyone tests it?

Read its group.

Elements in the same group share properties.

Francium sits under lithium, sodium and potassium.

Those three are soft metals that react with water.

So francium should be a soft metal that reacts with water too.

Video: the group 1 column lighting up, its property table filling row by row, then francium's blank row filling in from the rows above — video and article (definitely a video).

Part 1 — MAT-055 — Predict a property of an unknown element from the properties of others in the same group

Check: scaffolded (type b): worked prediction for francium → step items on a fresh element (which group? what are its group-mates like, from the supplied table? so predict) → bare transfer items: 6 fresh cases, each stem a small table of two group-mates' properties, the student predicts the unknown's (solid or gas at room temperature? conducts electricity? reacts with water?); misconception item: a student predicts iodine's properties from its row-mates — the key corrects: read the group, not the period

Figure: SVG: the group 1 column pulled out of the table, a property table beside it with francium's row blank and a question mark; the same for group 18 as the second example set (subtitle)

Leans on: L06 (group) — one recall question; L05 (staircase side) — one recall question

Topic close

Mixed mastery practice: 10–12 items; the coined terms by typed recall; two look-ups on the table; two staircase sorts; one prediction from a group; one short written answer (why column-mates behave alike, at this grade: the table stacks look-alikes).

Then the summary video (everything taught, in order, with its own easy question).

Then the PP100: 20 items drawn from a bank of at least 50 four-option MCQs on fresh elements, tagged easy / medium / hard by depth of reasoning, at least three per atom, the periodic table supplied in every stem that needs it.

The course architecture (14 topics) — open only if you want the whole map

Skill: course-build → atomise (architecture, step 6b gate) → write-like-james @ 4c9e849

MS Chemistry — course architecture v1 (for James's approval, 25 September 2026)

Read this in five minutes. It decides the topics, their order, where every PP100 sits, and which topic pilots first. Nothing below writes a lesson sentence. The atom register stays where it is: the Matter strand of the Science Knowledge Graph (92 atoms, JM-reviewed). This document arranges those 92 atoms into a course and stops.

The takeaways

Fourteen topics, one PP100 at the end of each, 92 lessons in all. One atom, one lesson. Topics run 4 to 12 atoms; the average is 6 or 7.
The order follows the big ideas, not the TEKS list: what matter is and how particles explain it → what properties tell you → sorting matter into kinds → inside the atom and the periodic table → how matter changes → two grade-8 applications (water, acids and bases).
Topic 1 is the pilot: "Particles and the three states of matter", 12 lessons. It stresses every treatment the course will need — a two-part test taught by examples, a fact, two "explain the smell" mechanisms, three example-sequence classifications, three particle-picture why-lessons, one coined term with a ranking routine. Its blueprint is the second deliverable.
Density is its own topic. It carries the course's first two calculation routines, so it gets its own practice set and PP100 (vault ruling: a quantitative subtopic becomes its own topic).
Three checkpoint tests, at the three natural seams, anchored to the released grade-8 STAAR, Florida SSA and AZSCI forms. Grade-level slices remain derivable from the TEKS stamps if operations later want them.
Five prerequisites live in other strands and are not taught here. Each lesson that leans on one states it in a sentence and asks one recall question. Nothing is assumed (stand-alone entry rule).
Seven register observations for your atomisation pass. No atom was edited; the register is read-mostly.

Status (25 September, later the same day): you approved Topic 1 as the pilot and clarified delivery (video or article per atom, then questions). Card 5 records that. The ask now: approve or edit the Topic 1 blueprint (course_preview/review/BLUEPRINT_T01.html); lesson writing starts on your word.

Card 1 — The topics

The call: fourteen topics in the order below, a mixed mastery practice set then a PP100 at the end of every one.

#	Topic (student-facing title)	Atoms	Lessons	TEKS stamp	The big idea it serves
1	Particles and the three states of matter	MAT-001, 002, 003, 004, 016, 016b, 017, 017b, 018, 018b, 019, 019b	12	6.6A	Everything is made of moving particles; that explains solids, liquids and gases
2	Changing state	MAT-020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026, 026b	8	6.6A (NGSS MS-PS1-4)	Heating and cooling change how particles move, not what they are; mass holds
3	Physical properties	MAT-005, 006, 007, 012, 013	5	6.6D	Properties you can measure without changing the substance
4	Density	MAT-008, 009, 010, 011, 015	5	6.6D	A property that identifies a substance whatever the sample size
5	Pure substances and mixtures	MAT-027, 028, 029, 030, 032	5	6.6B	Sorting matter by how many kinds it contains
6	Solutions and separating mixtures	MAT-033, 034, 035, 036, 037, 038, 039, 040, 041	9	7.6D, 7.6E, pre-6.6B	A mixture keeps its parts' properties, so you can pull it apart
7	Atoms, elements, molecules and compounds	MAT-042, 042b, 043, 044, 045, 046, 047, 048	8	7.6A	One kind of atom or more than one: the particle-level sort
8	Inside the atom	MAT-049, 050, 051, 051b, 052	5	(NGSS MS-PS1-1; FL SC.8.P.8.7)	Protons decide which element an atom is
9	The periodic table	MAT-053, 054, 054b, 055, 056, 057, 058	7	6.6C	The table arranges elements so position predicts properties
10	Chemical formulas	MAT-059, 059b, 060, 061	4	7.6B	A formula counts atoms; change the count and you change the substance
11	Physical and chemical change	MAT-062, 063, 064, 064b, 065, 065b	6	7.6C	Did a new substance form? The one test, and its evidence
12	Chemical reactions and conservation of mass	MAT-066, 067, 068, 069, 069b, 070, 071, 072	8	8.6E, 8.6B	Reactions rearrange atoms; none appear or vanish, so mass holds
13	Water's special properties	MAT-073, 074, 075, 076	4	8.6C	Water particles pull on each other and on other surfaces
14	Acids and bases	MAT-077, 078, 079, 080, 081, 082	6	8.6D	Two families of substance, one scale, and what happens when they meet

Totals: 92 lessons, 14 practice sets, 14 PP100s (280 items), 3 checkpoint tests. Two atoms may need a second lesson once blueprinted — MAT-010 (calculate density) and MAT-061 (coefficients and parentheses) — so plan for 92 to 94.

Why this grouping

Every prerequisite edge in the register points backwards in this order. Checked atom by atom; no forward reference.
Sub-domains 2 and 3 were each split in two (Topics 3/4 and 1/2). SD-3 has 16 atoms; a 20-item PP100 over 16 atoms certifies nothing. SD-2 bundles a calculation routine with observational properties.
Topics 5 to 7 form one sort of matter in three passes: by how many substances (5), by whether it is a solution (6), by what the particles are (7). The full classification tree (MAT-047) closes Topic 7.
Topics 13 and 14 sit last. Nothing depends on them, they are the register's only pure grade-8 applications, and the checkpoint before them then covers a clean block.

What changes: the course folder gets one topicNN_build/ folder per topic; Topic 1's blueprint is written; nothing else is authored until you approve it.

Card 2 — Topic 1 is the pilot, at 12 lessons

The call: pilot "Particles and the three states of matter" end to end — 12 lessons, quiz after each, mixed practice, PP100 — before any other topic starts.

Why

The vertical-slice rule asks for a routine, a categorical concept and an explanation in the pilot. Topic 1 has all three: three example-sequence classifications (solid, liquid, gas), three why-lessons on the particle picture, a ranking routine that coins the course's first technical term, and a transformation (heating speeds particles).
It is the course's foundation. Every later topic reuses its one particle picture and its four sentences about arrangement and movement.
SD-1 alone (4 atoms) would pilot fast but would not test a PP100 worth the name, and has no routine.

The alternative is a 10/10 cut: move the two kinetic-energy atoms (MAT-019, 019b) to the front of Topic 2, where kinetic energy is the lever for melting. I kept them in Topic 1 because TEKS 6.6A names kinetic energy in the states comparison, and the ranking closes the three-box picture.

What changes: the Topic 1 blueprint is the next thing you read.

Card 3 — Density stands alone

The call: Topic 4 "Density" (5 atoms) is separate from Topic 3 "Physical properties" (5 atoms).

Why

Density carries two routines (displacement volume, MAT-008; calculate density, MAT-010) plus the sink-or-float prediction and the "same whatever the sample size" fact.
Vault ruling (AP Biology, 10 Sep 2026): a topic test that mixes a calculation routine with a content topic hides which one failed.
Solubility (MAT-012) and conductors (MAT-013) stay in Topic 3 as properties; Topic 6 retrieves solubility with a recall question.

What changes: two PP100s where the register had one sub-domain.

Card 4 — Checkpoints at three seams

The call: three static checkpoint tests, each with some free response, at the ends of Topics 6, 10 and 14; the third doubles as the end-of-course test and is anchored to released grade-8 STAAR, Florida SSA and AZSCI items.

Why

The seams are natural: Topics 1–6 are matter you can see and handle; 7–10 are the atom and its table; 11–14 are change and two applications.
No state tests middle-school science before grade 8, so there is no per-grade instrument to anchor to (HANDOFF recommendation 1). The TEKS stamps (6.x/7.x/8.x on every atom) still allow a grade-level slice later without re-atomising.
Five interchangeable forms per test is the standing ruling for topic tests; whether checkpoints also get five forms is your call.

What changes: nothing yet. Checkpoints are built after the topics they cover.

Card 5 — Delivery: video or article per atom, quiz straight after

The call: every lesson (one per atom) ships as BOTH a 40–90 second video and a short article, and the student chooses which to take; the quiz follows in the app, never inside the video. At topic end: mixed mastery practice (any format, key terms by recall), then the PP100 (20 MCQs, easy/medium/hard). No topic intro or summary videos.

Why

Your format ladder of 25 September, with your clarification the same day: each atom is a video with the option to read the article instead. The platform's learner's-choice mode carries exactly that.
When video and text are alternatives, each must teach the whole part (vault rule), so the video script (write-video-script) and the article (write-lesson) are written from the same blueprint row and reviewed against each other.
Pitched one notch up from the Grade 3 Forces pack: no title slide, open on the first example, rule stated last, everything appears on the word that names it. Middle school may carry a short "why" where Grade 3 stayed qualitative.
The ladder names no intro or summary video. AP Biology and HS Chemistry ran different intro policies; I have not inherited either.

Skills that run per lesson, in order: write-lesson (dispatching by lesson type) for the article → write-video-script for the video → design-check-sequence then write-mcqs for the quiz → review-accuracy (a reader who did not write it, against the reference) → review-figures on every rendered figure → review-lesson (blind key read, guidance read, adjudication) → blind review of every key before anything ships.

Figures: the blueprint names the figure kind per part. Particle pictures are always monochrome SVG drawings, one depiction reused everywhere. Real scenes a student should recognise (a tea bag colouring water, sand pouring into a jar) are licensed stock photos where the photo carries the point; a drawing where the point is a measurement or a label.

What changes: the blueprint carries a delivery line and an SVG-or-photo call on every figure.

Card 6 — Five prerequisites are taught in other strands

The call: the five cross-strand prerequisites below are not taught in MS Chemistry. Each lesson that leans on one states the fact in one sentence and asks one recall question before using it.

External atom	What it says	Leaned on by
ENE-020	Temperature measures average particle motion	MAT-004 (Topic 1)
ENE-021	Heat flows from hot to cold	MAT-020–023 (Topic 2)
ENE-025	Thermal conductors and insulators	MAT-013 (Topic 3)
FOR-017	Spot a magnetic force	MAT-041 (Topic 6)
LIF-073	The photosynthesis word equation	MAT-072 (Topic 12)

Why

Stand-alone entry rule: no student has taken the 3–5 courses or the sibling MS courses, so every lesson stands alone.
One loop to know about: ENE-020 (Energy) lists MAT-002 and MAT-003 as its prerequisites, and MAT-004 lists ENE-020. Inside this course MAT-004 carries the "hotter means faster particles" idea itself; the Energy course will meet it as retrieval.

What changes: the blueprint's "leans on" column names the external atom wherever it applies.

Card 7 — Register observations, no edits made

The call: seven observations for your atomisation pass. I changed nothing in the register.

MAT-013 sorts materials as thermal and electrical conductors — two property families in one behaviour (the "and" audit). Candidate split.
MAT-022 "Evaporation and boiling" — evaporation happens at the surface below the boiling point; boiling happens throughout at one temperature. Two predictions, one atom. Candidate split.
MAT-050 states the charge and location of three particles — six facts in one contrast frame. HS Chemistry kept a similar profile atom whole as an argued exception; flagging for the same argument here.
MAT-061 counts atoms with "a coefficient, parentheses, or both" — two routines, likely two lessons.
MAT-019b may not fail independently of MAT-019 in practice. Kept as its own lesson; the data decides (guide: never pre-emptively merge).
MAT-004 → MAT-016/017/018. Identifying a solid from its behaviour does not need "heating speeds particles". The edge is honoured in the order, but it looks like a sequencing edge rather than a knowledge one.
MAT-042 has no in-strand prerequisite and enters via MAT5-084 only; Topic 7 must open with the particle picture from Topic 1 as its retrieval.

What changes: nothing until you rule. Atom edits happen in the knowledge-graph repo with a log entry.

About this build (kickoff record)

Register: Science Knowledge Graph/data/atoms/06-08/matter.json, pulled 25 September 2026, 92 atoms in 13 sub-domains. Per-course choices are the register's: K-8 IDs with letter suffixes; Fact / Categorical / Transformation / Routine; bare behaviours; verdict/reason split by default.
Endpoint: grade-8 STAAR, Florida SSA and AZSCI physical-science items; NGSS MS-PS1-1/2/4/5.
Sources read: knowledge-graph HANDOFF and CLAUDE; vault CLAUDE, 00 Protocol, the PP100 and build-process-v2 rulings, the blueprint rule; the Grade 3 Forces feedback log; the chemistry misconception research (particle model area). HS Chemistry Unit 1 was opened before this document was written; under your same-day correction it is reference only, and Topic 1's scenes were chosen fresh.
Coverage check (standards mapped onto this architecture, never the other way): every Matter atom sits in exactly one topic; every TEKS 6.6/7.6/8.6 knowledge code in the register appears in at least one topic. Blank cells in the register (e.g. NGSS on solutions, TEKS on atomic structure) are register findings, not gaps in this course.

What happens next

You approve or edit the topic table. Then you read the Topic 1 blueprint. Only after that does write-lesson run on Topic 1, one lesson at a time, starting with the first of each lesson type as its exemplar.