2nd Grade

In this lesson, students were given one of six Native American house styles to construct. Students could only use recycled materials, and only had one class period to build. They only had one drawing to build off. It was really entertaining to see how creative the students were and how unique each house was!

With this lesson, the second grade was studying the effect of wind energy. We built sailboats out of LEGOs and tested two different types of sails (skinny and wide) to see what boat would travel faster. I introduced the students to the concepts of independent and dependent variables, as well as constants. Our independent variables were the sizes of the sails, the dependent variable was the time it took to travel, and the constants were the wind speed (we used a box fan to control the speed) and that everyone built the same raft. On the last day of the lesson, everyone was able to take what they had learned and design their own sail. We then tested their sails to see if they met the challenge. In the far picture, we didn't have the fan, so students were testing to see if they could get their boat to move!

A good unit, just done at the wrong time if the year! I didn't get any pictures of this one. The students were investigating heat, and how to keep a surface cool. This should have been done in September, not November...it was a bit cold outside! They did observe how shade can keep an area cooler by taking and recording the temperature in a sunny area and a shady area. They then concluded the different surfaces (grass, concrete, asphalt, and rubber) heat and cool at different rates.

One of my favorite units I have done with the students! 2nd grade was studying matter and reactions. With this lesson, we read the story Ada Twist - Scientist and learn what it takes to be a scientist. Then, we looked at the properties of 4 different substances: baking soda, salt, sand, and cornstarch. We looked closely at their particle size using hand lenses, felt them between our fingers, and saw how they reacted when combined with water and finally vinegar. Their reactions to the baking soda and vinegar were priceless. Finally, I combined two of the substances together and made a mystery substance. The students had to investigate and use their clues to identify what substances were in the mystery. It was a lot of fun, and a great intro into scientific reasoning!

Sadly, no pictures from this lab. Students learned about matter, and how materials can go from a solid to a liquid and back to a solid. We read The Day the Crayons Came Home and learned that with heat, crayons can change shape, and the different colors can be combined into one. We then watched a video clip about how crayons are made. Finally, we made our own crayons using pieces from old crayons. Students tested these crayons to see how one crayon shape could contain multiple colors.

The STEM Classic. The task is simple: in eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top. The trick it that the more you think about it, the more challenging it becomes. Students learn to try new ideas, and that just because one person has an idea does not make it perfect. Students learn to take and multiple ideas, think "outside the box", and come up with the best design.