Hot and Cold

Our essential question in science this week was: How do things change when heat or cold is added to the object?  As a whole class we conducted some experiments where we relied upon the microwave and the freezer.  On Wednesday of this week the students observed different items being heated.  They observed water, butter, popcorn, crayons, and chocolate chips after they were heated in the microwave for 40 seconds.

     
  After making observations and drawings in their science journals, we discussed how heat can change things.  With the exception of the water, there was a visible change in each of the other items.

On Thursday, we continued our experiment and observed the same items after they had been in the freezer for 24 hours.  The most drastic changes here were the water that had turned to ice and the melted butter that had solidified in the bowl.

The other part to this experiment was Jello.  This one we did a little bit backwards from the rest.  I told the class how I had made the Jello the night before by adding cool water and hot water and then refrigerated it over night.  So we started the Jello with observing how it had been affected by cold. Of course, we also had to sample the Jello.... so I captured a few delicious moments!

Thursday afternoon came around for the Jello and we heated it.  The class was shocked to see the Jello they had eaten the day before become something that many of them compared to fruit punch.  Throughout this experiment we talked about the six different items and if after changing them with heat or cold, if the changes could also be reversed.  As a class we determined that the popcorn could not be reversed and there was some debate among the students if the Jello change could be reversed or not.

On Friday of this week we had our 2nd Character Trait Assembly.  This assembly was on being caring.  During the assembly we also found out that 12 of our 18 Busy Bees had 97% attendance or better (no more than one absence and no more than 2 tardies) during the last month.  We had two students from our class who received awards for being respectful (our last month's character trait) during the last month.  Congratulations to Ariana and Baileigh!

This next week is Red Ribbon Week where the students pledge to be Drug Free.  To celebrate this week we will be having dress-up spirit days each day this week.

Monday 10/24 - Sock it to Drugs Day! - wear crazy socks, clothes, or hair to school

Tuesday 10/25 - Too Cool for Drugs Day! - wear your sunglasses (at recess) and other "cool" items to school

Wednesday 10/26 - Team Up Against Drugs Day! - Wear uniforms, sports apparel, or school T-Shirts

Thursday 10/27 - Turn Your Back on Drugs Day! - Wear your clothes inside-out and backwards

Friday 10/28 - Pajama Day! - Wear your pajamas! (NO STUFFED ANIMALS---unless turning in a coupon to Mrs. Crook that day)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Demolition and Construction meet Science

This week was very exciting!  In  the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards), which California will be adopting in 2017 officially, put a large emphasis on students exploring and creating their own scientific experiences.  One of the standards in the physical sciences area for second grade is for students to disassemble something and then take the removed pieces to create a new object.  The class was using old non-functioning small appliances as their machinery to disassemble.  One group had a toaster oven, one group had a bread machine, and the last group had a printer.
On Wednesday afternoon we had our demolition day!  We did discuss that we were not trying to break things, but DISASSEMBLE them.  The classroom literally sounded like a construction zone, with screwdrivers being used as screwdrivers and also occasionally as hammers or chisels.  (I might be needing to get my husband a few new screwdrivers to replace the ones that got really buggered up --- but it was SO WORTH IT!)  Check out some of the disassembling.

 

On Thursday afternoon, the students had 10 more minutes to finish disassembling their machines.  After pieces had been removed, the students wrote in their science journals about the pieces they took off of their machines.  Then as a group the students discussed, decided, and created new items.  While the new items are not "working" items, it was great to see the students get so excited about building something new using old pieces.

The bread machine became a television.  The toaster oven became a house.  The printer became a drawing machine, with an included pencil holder.

 

 

 

This was such an amazing experience.  I  absolutely loved doing this student-led activity because the kids were the ones driving where this experiment actually ended.  Many thanks to Beth McKenna from betterlesson.com with her inspiring base for my own version of this lesson in my own classroom. This was my first year doing this lesson and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I am hoping to continue this experiment in future years and would like to request if you have any old NON-WORKING small appliances at home, I will happily take them off of your hands... all for the sake of science!

Stay dry and have a great weekend!

What a Busy Bee week...

First of all, I apologize for not getting this posted sooner.  The weekend managed to slip away from me. Our last week in class was certainly busy, but there was a lot of learning going on.

In Math: We focused on using the strategy of counting on a timeline and counting back on a timeline can be useful strategies in solving addition and subtraction problems.  We used a variety of materials, including beans, bumblebees, honeypots, and beehives.

 

Counting on beans ---- 5 in the bag + 5 on the table is 10 beans total

We also figured out the simplicity of subtracting zero and subtracting all of a given group.  The class used paper tubes to create equations and then check themselves on whether they should subtract all of that number or zero in order to get the given difference.

In Writing:  This last week we focused on writing descriptive pieces.  The students were each given a partner and a Lego piece.  The partners had to write about their Lego pieces in a descriptive way, as if the others in the room had never seen their Lego piece.  We had some very unique pieces, not just your average Lego brick.

And how could I possibly get out the Legos and not let the kids play at least for a few minutes?!?!  After the kids finished their partner descriptive writing, they were allowed to play with the Legos.  We have quite a set of builders and innovators in this group.

 

In Science: We have been focusing on different properties of different objects.  This last week, we took that one step further and used our knowledge of different properties to determine how different tools might be used.  With the tools being from multiple rooms from my own house, including the kitchen, the garage, and the sewing area, the students saw a variety of tools and how they could be put to use.  The students recorded their observations in their science journals and even drew pictures of the different tools that we were researching.

Our tools ---- do you know the use for all of these tools?

(Shown from left to right: vice grip, seam ripper, magnetic pole, avocado slicer, needle threader, apple corer, pastry blender, and bottle/can opener)

In Technology:  We began our Friday technology session with an "unplugged activity."  I pretended I was a robot that needed directions to avoid other obstacles.  The students had to "code" me and give me directions that a computer or robot would understand.  After our unplugged activity, the students had a chance to try a little bit of code and programming on their Chromebooks.  We used kodable.com and we were introduced to the Fuzzies as each of the various codes were written.  These second graders did great with programming the Fuzzies to do what they wanted them to do.

It was such a great week!  Hopefully this week, I can get the blog post up sooner.  Enjoy your week!

*Reminder: This week is Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Students are dismissed at 12:20 pm Tuesday, October 4th - Friday, October 7th.  I look forward to meeting with everyone throughout this week.*