Second Grade Videos
I hope you enjoy these videos from our school year.
2022 - 2023
On this page are videos from some of this year's science lessons. Students will be reflecting on inquiry-based observations, activities, investigations and experiments in order to increase their understanding of science instruction. Interpreting, analyzing, and interacting with science is a critical aspect in the classroom and can be seen in these videos. It is my intention that these videos spark conversations at home about science and what we are learning in the classroom.
*FYI - THIS WEB PAGE IS BEST VIEWED FROM A LAPTOP OR DESKTOP - WHEN VIEWING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE SOME IMAGES MAY APPEAR TO BE CUT OFF. Some formats that I use to create these videos give me control over the music volume when students are talking and some do not. I apologize if some students are harder to hear.
Science Topic: PLANTS
LEARNING GOAL: As a result of these lessons, students will gain an interest in learning about plants by understanding the similarities in survival needs among all living things. Students will plant 2 different kinds of plants under different growing conditions, students will dissect seeds, and make a personal greenhouse.
Our Last Day at the Creek
Today was our last visit to Kirk's Run. We had a great year exploring the creek. The girls used their senses to observe their surroundings and wrote about it in their journals which will be sent home with the girls along with their creek boots. My favorite part of the journal is when the girls explain how being at the creek makes them feel in their heart.
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.
Dissecting Seeds
Students learned about the parts of a seed by dissecting lima beans. They removed the seed coat and then looked inside the seed to observe the food source and the start of the roots and leaves.
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A Creek Day in April
Today was a beautiful day in April to go visit the creek. We went to 2 different sides of the creek to observe what is the same and different. We wrote about our observations in our creek journal that will be sent home at the end of the year.
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.
Planting Our Tomato Seeds
We planted the tomato seeds that we harvested ourselves in the fall. The seeds have been drying and now they are ready to plant. We will watch the life cycle of a plant come full circle. "Just remember, in the winter, far beneath the bitter snow, lies the seed that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes the (tomato plant)." Ha ha. When they start to grow, each of the seedlings will come home with the girls. Some of these seeds were from 3rd graders who planted tomato plants in science last year! How cool!!!!!
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.
Science Topic: SIMPLE MACHINES
LEARNING GOAL: As a result of these lessons, students will be able to identify six simple machines, explain the function of six simple machines, and create a model displaying how simple machines make work seem easier. Students will be able to explain that work is a force used to move an object a certain distance. Students will review the three types of work, Push, Pull and Lift.
CARS - Wheels and Axles
To demonstrate how wheels and axles work we made cars. The girls used hammers and a wheel and axle to put the cars together and then decorated them. The girls generously gave away the cars they worked so hard on to the Pre-K students and became a teacher when they taught the Pre-K students what we learned in science about wheels and axles. One of the stages of learning is "I can teach it." So in the process we demonstrated our understanding of this simple machine.
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.
A January Cold Day at the Creek
It is amazing to see how different the creek is at each of our visits throughout the school year. Today was a cold one! We went inside to write in our journals. We always have a great time!
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Force Rockets
The girls created force rockets today. They designed their own paper rocket and then used 2 different size straws, and the FORCE of their breath to PUSH the rocket. Well done girls!
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Force Paintings
After learning about the science of position and motion, and how a force is a push or a pull that makes something move, the girls used the FORCE of their own breath to create beautiful force paintings. They could "paint with all the colors of the wind."
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.
Science Topic: WEATHER
LEARNING GOAL: Throughout these lessons, students will learn how weather has many determining factors such as: temperature, wind, precipitation, clouds, and sunlight and that weather is changing all the time. They will learn about weather tools and how to use them such as: thermometers, anemometers, and weather vanes. At the conclusion of this unit students will be able to identify evidence of weather factors in different weather conditions.
A Beautiful Day at the Creek
What a beautiful day (but a bit chilly) to visit Kirk's Run! We noticed the differences in the different seasons that we have visited our creek and wrote about that in our science journals. We had a great day exploring!
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.
AND NOW THE WEATHER... 2nd Grade Weather Reporters
In front of the green screen!
Second grade scientists have been learning about the science of weather. As a culminating project the girls became broadcast weather reporters. The reports include many of the components of our lessons from the entire unit. In each of their reports you will hear about types of clouds they learned about, seasonal information, appropriate clothing related to the weather, the use of weather instruments, and other important weather related information. The girls were incredibly lucky to receive expert tips via Zoom from Meteorologist Guy Brown of KARE 11 in Minneapolis (and uncle to Safira Brown) as well as in person professional advice from Chief Meteorologist Cecily Tynan of 6abc news in Philadelphia, then the girls' recorded their own weather forecasts! The reports were filmed in front of a green screen in the science lab. Students wrote their own reports, chose their own locations, selected their background images, and created their own forecast. The girls also helped to put together their green screen video forecast which is available for you to watch in this section. Cecily Tynan shared, "I definitely feel like there were some future meteorologists in that room." That would be AMAZING! Congratulations girls!
A special thank you to Ms. Harmon, Ms. Keating, and Mrs. Upshaw for your help making this project run smoothly!
*If you click these videos and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy these weather reports.
FYI: There was a formatting issue with the individual forecast pages. When they were imported all of the lowercase "i" letters look like lowercase "l" letters. I'm sorry for the imperfection.
Phillies and Fishies
Today was a Phillies dress down day and what a great day to explore the creek. We had a great time and found a lot of fish!
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.
Rain Gauge
The girls each made a working rain gauge in class to measure the amount of rainfall in a given period of time. They are taking this tool home to measure the rainfall over the next couple weeks.
The second video is a tutorial about how we made the rain gauge in class and how to use it at home.
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video.
Harvesting Seeds for Spring Planting
Today we learned how to harvest seeds from tomatoes. We will let them dry and keep them packaged away for safe keeping until the Spring when we will plant our own seeds - the very same seeds that we harvested today and grow our own seedlings. How exciting!
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A Visit From Guy Brown, Meteorologist
We had a wonderful guest speaker today... Meteorologist/Author Guy Brown (and uncle to Safira and Seren Brown)! We got to take a virtual tour of his tv studio, read from his children's book, and saw how he reports the weather in front of a green screen. We learned a lot and had a great time! The first video is pictures of the day...the second video is a shortened video of our Zoom meeting together. ENJOY!
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.
Our First Day at the Creek
We had a great day exploring the creek for the first official time in our Agnes Irwin boots. We wrote about our experience in our new creek journals. There will be many more adventures at Kirk's Run to come!
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Making Clouds Rain
We experimented with shaving cream and food coloring to show what happens when clouds become too heavy with water droplets...rain falls from the cloud! We had a great time!
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.
Visiting Kirk's Run
We walked down to see the creek that we will be exploring throughout this school year. Many more adventures at Kirk's Run to come!
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First Day of Science:
Wiggle Worm Experiment
Question: How can I make a worm move? Watch and find out!!! The students made their own paper "worms" and measured against their hands how long they were. They watched as the worms they created twisted, curled, and grew as they dropped water on top. They measured the worm again to see how much it grew. Please enjoy this video from our time in science .
*If you click this video and it doesn't work, try clicking the YouTube button on the bottom right of the video. I love feedback...please let me know if you enjoy this video.