Welcome to Ms. Cobon's second grade Class!

Welcome to our classroom website! I hope this website serves as a connection between our classroom and your homes. Science is so important for students to learn in a hands on manner and it is great practice for students to bring home what they learn and experience. Now parents can be involved in our science unit and for all other general purposes throughout the school year! During the school year we will be doing three main science topics: the solar system in the Fall, the water cycle during the winter, and composting in the Spring. Each of these units will last approximately 6 weeks long. For each of these units there are a few activities that I am asking students to do at home with their families. I feel that the students will be excited to share what they are learning at school with their families, and by sharing their science experiences they will form a deeper understanding of what science really is. Along with these at home science activities parents may need to purchase some materials. I appreciate in advance your support with our classroom science!

The Water Cycle

Our class will be learning about the water cycle and the many different forms and paths that the water molecule takes.

Here is the water cycle lesson that we will be doing:

Title: The Water Cycle

Grade: 2

Next Generation Science Standards:

Brain Compatibility: Memory from page 94 of Brain Rules. If students are able to create the graphic organizer for the four types of precipitation as well as play computer games about the water cycle it is more than likely they will remember that information, as well as retain it.

6E’s

Engagement: Read to the whole class the book, “The Incredible Water Show” by Debra Frasier. Ask them inferential and critical questions about the book to get them interested as well as to see what they already know. Such as, “how old can a water molecule be?”

Exploration: Students will make a graphic organizer in their science journals about the four different kinds of precipitation: hail, rain, snow, and sleet. The teacher will place a completed form on the smart board so the class can create their and write down the exact temperatures that each of the four kinds of precipitation need in order to occur.

Explanation: The teacher will show the students the water cycle diagram and go over each step in the cycle: condensation, precipitation, surface run-off and evaporation. Students will then get into groups of two or three and will work on completing their own water cycle diagram.  http://www.neok12.com/video/Water-Cycle/zX050f737b727e69637c5106.htm

Elaboration: Students will watch the video titled “The Water Cycle by Ecogeeks.” They will ask questions here and add notes to their science journals.

Electronic Resources: The quiz that the class will be taking in the computer lab after the lesson: http://www.neok12.com/quiz/WATCYC01.htm

Safety Concerns: None

Materials needed: Science journals, pens, paper, The Incredible Water Show book, Water cycle diagram, Water cycle video, water cycle quiz online, vocabulary posted on cards.

Teacher content background: For precipitation, a book about the different types of water was read to the students as an introduction. After, the students were to draw the four different types of precipitation: hail, sleet, rain and snow. After the concepts were taught there would be an in depth lesson and discussion about the water cycle and how precipitation, condensation and evaporation are used in the water cycle. The teacher must understand that the water molecule takes many forms and also shows up on earth in many different places: lakes, streams, ocean, ground water, run-off, glaciers, animal urine, plants, clouds, and rain. The water molecule is forever on a journey and is constantly changing.

It is also important for the teacher to know the temperature in degrees necessary for water to change from sleet to snow and then again to rain. To have hail it must be colder than 32 degrees and the cold air meet with warmer air that is warmer than 32 degrees. To get rain the air and the cloud must be warmer than 32 degrees. To have snow the condensation and air must be colder than 32 degrees. To have sleet the freezing air must push up into a cloud that was warmer than 32 degrees.

Adaptations: This lesson can be adapted for ESL students by scaffolding the language in tiers 1-3. For example, the vocabulary in this lesson are: precipitation, condensation, evaporation. Those are tier 3 words that can be difficult for ELLs so a way to teach the vocabulary would be to use tier 1 words to replace those difficult ones. Precipitation would become water or rain, condensation would become moisture or wet, and evaporation would become dry or disappear. Have the students write down all the levels of vocabulary in their science journals.

SOLAR SYSTEM    

During the fall we will be learning about the solar system.Students will be learning about the order of the planets from the sun and the mass of each planet. Students will be asked to create a representation of the solar system using any materials that they wish. This representation can be a poster board, a mobile, a flip chart, or a model.

Here is a fun video song we will watching as a class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvx-G8dr2t8

Here is a link to a fun solar system activity:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKKzIoJgMSQ

Here is an interactive website for students and parents to visit:

http://www.planetsforkids.org/

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COMPOSTING                    

During the spring we will be doing a unit on composting. During this unit we will be working in the school garden. Students will grow a vegetable of choice indoors until it is ready to transplant outside in our school garden. Once the vegetable is transplanted the students will take care of the garden which also entails composting and creating a compost pile. I am encouraging students to share this idea at home and create a family garden and compost pile.

Here is a video for parents to watch about composting and what we will be learning as a class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRXNo7Ieky8

Here is a website that is great for kids planting vegetables:

http://kidsinthegarden.co.uk/plants-for-kids/growing-vegetables-with-children/

Here is the lesson that we are doing as a class on composting and creating a compost pile.

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/swfa/kidspage/compost.html

April 2014

May 2014

June 2014