Here comes the sun...

Second grade has been studying orbits: of the sun throughout the day and year, the moon throughout the month, and the constellations through the seasons. For their engineering challenge they had to created a model playground that provided shade for the students (UV pony beads) after first determining what direction the sun would be coming from at recess time.

Cervi:

Waters:

Teuchert:

Fleming:

Smith:

Ames:

Happy Spring Equinox!

What a wonderful day! Happy SPRING EQUINOX! Today we have “equal” lengths of day and night, or at least, that is what the word equinox means, and it is pretty darn close.

Our 2nd and 4th graders both studied astronomy earlier this year! Ask the former about their playground experiment and the latter about indirect sunlight and seasonal changes!

This is a great video to share with our elementary school students:

This video get into the real deal if you are curious, but it might confuse our kiddos:

Here comes the sun... doo-doo-doo-doo.

Second grade has been studying orbits and astronomy in the Science Lab! We built our own sundials, learned about the phases of the moon, studied the constellations, and observed the affects of UV light. Then the students designed / built / tested playgrounds with components that allowed for shade during recess (10:30AM, sun from the southeast).

Cervi:

Fleming:

Lupiani:

Smith:

Teuchert:

Waters:

Second Grade is keeping it COOL!

Second Grade has been studying states and properties of matter. We examined reversible and irreversible changes, solids / liquids / gases, and conductors and insulators. They students designed and built coolers out of everyday items. They had to keep ice pops frozen for 30 minutes. The control ice pop measured ~7mm of liquid after time was up, and most students only measured 1-3mm of liquid. Great job!

Fleming:

Cervi:

Lupiani:

Waters:

Smith:

Teuchert:

Happy Fall Y'all

Autumn is finally here! It sure doesn’t feel like Fall, but September 23rd was the Autumnal Equinox. The amount of night and daylight we experienced in that 24 hour day was 12 hours each, or equal! Every day for the next 3 months will experience a couple minutes less of daylight than the day before it.

Here is a great article with more details: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/9/20/20874986/fall-equinox-2019-september-23.

Take a look at this video for further explanation!

2nd Grade's future is so bright...

They have to BUILD shade! For the playground that is! Students have been studying the seasons, our sun, the moon and the stars. They figured out that the sun comes from the southeast during recess, and they designed shade covers for a place of respite.

Wiggins:

Waters:

Toomey:

Teuchert:

Smith:

Cervi:

Baer:

2nd grade is keeping it cool!

Our 2nd graders are wrapping a 9-week unit on the properties of matter. We looked at the three states (solid, liquid, gas), reversibility and irreversibility, and conductors and insulators. We capped off the quarter by designing / building / testing our own coolers made from household items!

Baer:

Cervi:

Smith:

Teuchert:

Toomey:

Waters:

Wiggins:

Here comes the sun!

Second grade is wrapping up a Project Lead The Way STEM project on how our sun moves through the sky! Students built shadow sticks (sundials), tracked the direction of sunlight using the Skyview app on our iPads, studied the effects of UV light (and made fun color changing bracelets), and then designed, built, tested and evaluated models of different ways to shade our playground from the midday sun. 

Waters: 

Cervi: 

Toomey: 

Wiggins: 

Teuchert: 

Smith: 

Baer: 

 

Brain Freeze!

Earlier this semester the 2nd graders tested the temperatures of different materials around the Science Lab trying to find out which made the best insulators or conductors. They used that knowledge to create homemade coolers that had to keep ice pops frozen for 40 minutes. If they succeeded, then they got to eat the ice pop! 

Wiggins:

Teuchert:

Smith:

Baer:

Waters:

Cervi:

Toomey: 

Cervi-ng up Legumes: #farmtoschool

Mrs. Cervi's 2nd graders recently harvested green beans from our gardens on Post Oak Tritt Road. Not only did they plant these beans 2 months ago, they've been caring for them with the rest of the 2nd grade team every since! The students helped wash and prep the beans, while Mrs. Cervi did all the cooking on our Mobile Cooking Cart from the Captain Planet Foundation. The beans were flavored with chives (also from the gardens) and salt & pepper. The lemonade was flavored by spearmint from the garden. 

We've got our toes in the (kinetic) sand.

Well, not our toes, but with as messy as the Lab was we might as well have used our toes! We've been covering properties of matter in 2nd grade, and this week we are trying to change the properties of sand! This field, "materials science", is fascinating! Here Mrs. Teuchert's class demonstrates: 

Here you can check out a video on "materials science" by the folks at Crash Course Kids: 

Our ingredients: mix 1 oz water with a teaspoon of dish soap and some food coloring. In a separate bowl combine 2 oz play sand and 1 oz corn starch. Combine both bowls and mix to desired consistency! 

"The Rise Of The Slime Economy" - NPR

From NPR: "It has become a social media sensation and even led to a run on glue sales. We're talking slime — and not the green liquid Nickelodeon famously dumps on celebrities. And for many young people on YouTube, Instagram and Etsy, it's a moneymaker.

Of the more than 5 million posts on Instagram tagged with #slime, most depict brightly colored stuff filled with glitter and pigments of all kinds. So the slime of today is far more viscous and elaborate than that green liquid on Nickelodeon. Slime has become so popular that the American Chemical Society recently published a fact sheet about it including a detailed scientific explanation for how the magic happens." Check out the rest of NPR's story about the escalating popularity of goo here. 

This week in 5th Grade we are using goo to learn about variables as a part of the scientific method. I'm partial to this recipe from the YouTube channel Get Crafty Crafty: 

Throwing Shade in 2nd Grade!

When visiting the Science Lab, Second Grade spent a lot of time this semester studying astronomy. We examined the rotation of the Earth and the affect on seasons; the sun's movement across by tracking shadows; the phases of the moon; the movement of the Big Dipper and other stars; and even learned about exoplanets and Trappist-1. 

Our engineering challenge came when we decided to add shade to a model of our playgrounds. Students had to track the sun during their recess time and determine where to add walls/trees/roofs/screens. You can take a look at their creative ideas below!

Why yes, the world does revolve around me.

Second graders (pictured: Mrs. Woolley's class) are investigating how the Sun's position changes throughout the day. How do you do that in a 45 minute class? You use the Skyview app on the iPads to track the Sun's orbit throughout the day and use flashlights to create your shadows! After an all-class example, students worked in groups to gather data that we'll graph next week to use to help Mylo/Suzi/Angelina solve a problem about shade at the playground.