Grade 2 Science Experiments

We mixed hot chocolate.

1. Everybody put in two scoops of sugar and one scoop of cocoa.
2. We got to stir it for 5 seconds.
3. We added water.
4. We mixed the water and the cocoa and the sugar together.
5. We put it into the pot of hot milk.
6. We mixed it.
7. We poured it into cups.
8. Everybody got 5 marshmallows in their cup.
9. We drank it.

We made magic mud.

1. We got the ingredients.
2. We put in water and cornstarch.
3. We stirred it.
4. We put our hands in it.
5. We had to wash our hands really well!

Written by the grade two students in Mrs. James's class.

Legoland Stories

At Legoland there was a pitch dark slide and then it turned into an orange slide and there was a jungle gym too.

When I went on the pitch dark slide it turned red and then I was screaming in the slide and then I got out.

There was this ride where you had to shoot the bad guys and there was points at the end too and I won in my group.

In the movie theatre, when they raced in the winter, snow came down onto people and when it rained, rain came down on people.

To get onto the laser slide, you had to go through this tunnel and it has a waterfall in it and all this Lego and then you have to press buttons if you want to move them, but if you press one it turns on the propellers and it spins really fast.

We were building really really tall towers and the teacher said you have to build it really strong. The girls' tower fell down because it was too skinny. Our tower was really really strong because my smacked it by accident and it never broke. We put the pieces on really tight.

We had a really big base and then we made it bigger. At the top we made it skinnier. We put a roof on top and a door at the bottom.

-Written by the grade one students in Mrs. James's class

Inquiry-Based Learning

 

If you google "inquiry-based learning" you will find a lot of very current information. It is currently a focus in many York Region schools. It involves giving students freedom to explore objects, books and environments and develop their own questions.

This week one student brought in a wooden fan for sharing. It allowed us to ask a lot of questions about how the fan works and we noticed that it works like some of the simple machines the grade two's were learning about with Scientist in Schools.

This fan reminded one student of a peacocks feathers and this lead us to a great discussion and debate about peacocks. We have recorded what students already know or think they know as well as many questions and we have begun to research our questions.

At home, you can do some more research on peacocks... or any other animal... or any other thing your child has questions about. Some of the best learning happens when students are working to answer THEIR OWN questions!

Creating a Story

 

 

Ideas for stories can come from all sorts of interesting places. One way we have been developing our ideas is through dramatic play. You can ask your child what he/she was playing in the gym. Maybe he/she was running from a dragon, fishing, helping to save wildlife or playing on a professional hockey team. Through play, students develop characters, setting and plot. Their imaginations run wild!

Following play in the gym, students made audio recordings of their stories on ipads. This was a chance to record their ideas without worrying about conventions (e.g., spelling).

Now we are working on listening to the stories and writing them on paper. This is a chance for students to focus on printing and spelling, with the ideas already in place.

Mickey Eves

As you know, today we were fortunate enough to have author and illustrator, Mickey Eves, visit our school. She gave a captivating presentation to the primary students and really motivated them to use their imaginations and (continue to be) creative story tellers.

Ask your child about the story with a girl who got bubble gum stuck in her hair.

Ask them to show you an ordinary object (e.g., a cup, a broom, a towel), and use their imagination to tell you what it could be and to make up an interesting story about it. It would be fun to write the story down for them, write it together or have them write it and include pictures. Publish your own book just like Mickey Eves!

Kids Playing in the Snow and Watching it Melt

We put snow in our sand table. We put a thermometer in to see what temperature it was. We guessed how cold the snow was. The classroom was 19 degrees. The snow was zero degrees. We played with the snow and we waited for it to melt. We were watching the snow melt. We got ideas on the Smart Board for how long it would take to melt. We don't know how long it took to melt because we were at home on the weekend.

When the snow melted it turned into water. We kept the water for a little while and now it's our water table. This morning it turned all dirty. The water is 12 degrees. 

Written by Mrs. James's Grade One and Two Students