Fitzgerald Park

On Monday we walked to Fitzgerald Park for a wildflower tour with Miss Jackie, a naturalist for the park.  She showed us all sort of flowers, including violets (which are called violets even if they aren't purple!)  and toothwort (we learned that "wort" in a flower name means "looks like").  We learned that our state tree, the white pine, has needles that grow in groups of five (the same number of letters as in "white").  We saw wildlife including turtles and a snake!  He seemed just as afraid of us as we seemed of him!

We also got to enjoy a beautiful morning outside.  The weather was perfect!  Our three-mile walk wore us out and many kids didn't even want to go to recess when we returned!

We can't wait to go back again to learn about Native Americans.

Here is more information about programs available at Fitzgerald Park.

http://www.eatoncounty.org/images/Departments/Parks%20Department/Newsletters_and_Brochures/NaturalistProgramBrochure.pdf

Field Trip to the Lansing Symphony

     Last Friday, March 1, the second-grade students went to the Lansing Symphony concert.  We left right away in the morning at 8:45.  We took busses to the Wharton Center at Michigan State University.  When we arrived, we went into the auditorium right away.  It was huge!  We listened to Dvorak's New World Symphony.  He was from the Czech Republic in Europe.  During the concert, we got to listen to each instrument.  The basses played Jaws.  The cellos and violins played Lady Gaga.  The piano played the Peanuts theme song!  At the end of the concert, they played When the Saints Go Marching In.  After the concert, we returned to school.

Brad said, "The first song reminded me of rain."

Arianna liked when the violins and cellos played Lady Gaga.

Camden liked the end of the concert because they played really loud!

Kari said, "I liked the Charlie Brown song."  Quinn liked that song too.

Saige enjoyed the basses playing the Jaws theme song.

Tieler noticed the spotlight in the back of the auditorium.

Faith said, "I liked it when they got loud and soft during the last song.  It was really good and kind of like a theme."

Becca liked that they started playing right away when we walked in.

Kailieonna said, "My favorite part was when the music went slow and then fast."

Ethan said, "It was very interesting how all of the instruments sounded together."

Rowan noticed that the lights on the pillars looked like eyes!  Rowan also liked watching the conductor.

Julia enjoyed watching the conductor use his stick to point to each instrument.

Leo liked the English horn solo.

Ben said, "I really liked how they played When the Saints Go Marching In at the end because I had heard it before.

Laura liked how the instruments had a good melody.

Hailiee liked how the English horn sounded.

Ryleigh enjoyed listening to the woman sing in another language.

Andrew enjoyed all the instruments playing together.

Jenna thought it was cool watching the conductor.  He was telling the instruments what to do.

Jack didn't have a favorite part.  He just liked the whole entire thing!

Kaden liked listening the to the 14-year-old boy who played a violin solo.

Comparing and Contrasting

     In reading we are comparing and contrasting stories and story elements.  Last week we read three versions of Little Red Riding Hood.  We started by making a list of the elements we thought would be in the stories.  Then, as we read each one, we checked off the elements we found.  Even though they told the same basic story, each was a very different version!  This week we are doing the same thing with Cinderella stories.

     We are also comparing and contrasting in writing.  Students are using a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast two characters from books they've read.  Next, we'll write paragraphs to compare the characters.  We've been learning about topic sentences that introduce the topic, detail sentences that tell more, and concluding sentences that "wrap it up".

     We even made a connection between our comparing and contrasting in reading and writing and our science experiment that compared and contrasted salt and sugar!

     When we thought about comparing and contrasting in social studies, we thought about ways people use resources to get or make what they need.  Depending on where you live, you use resources in different ways (even though we all need the same things- like food, clothing and shelter).

Salt versus Sugar

In science we have done a lot of things that scientists do.  We have observed, asked questions, made hypothesis, developed a method and performed experiments.  We have recorded data and check our results to see if our hypothesis was correct.

One experiment compared salt and sugar.  We noticed what happened when we tried to melt water with salt and sugar, and what happened when we tried to freeze water with salt and sugar.  Our freezing experiment began with three cups of ice.  We added a tablespoon of salt to one cup, a tablespoon of sugar to the second cup, and left the third cup with just ice.  We observed and recorded our observations over time.  As we began the experiment, one student asked "Why do they put salt down on the roads in the winter?"  We answered that question as we observed!

                                          [left to right- salted ice, sugared ice, plain ice]

As you can see, the salted ice melted the quickest.  It began to melt right away, putting holes into the ice cubes.  The sugared ice melted second.  The plain ice took the longest to melt.

This experiment helped us to predict what would happen when salt water and sugar water was frozen.  The salt water took the longest to freeze!  Scientists use their schema (past experience and knowledge they already have) to make predictions for new experiments.  We did that too!

Finding the Volume of Containers

Last week we did an experiment to find out which of two containers had a larger volume (took up more space).  We used two containers, and a gallon of water.  Our method was:

1.  Pour water into one of the two containers.
2.  Pour water from the first container into the second container.

We decided that if the second container overflowed, it had less volume than the first container (it couldn't hold all the water the first one did).  If the second container had space left, it had more volume than the first container (it held all the water the first one held, plus had room for more).

 First, we poured water into the first container.

 Then, we poured water from the first container into the second container.

The bowl overflowed!  That means it had less volume (took up less space) than the first container.

We were very surprised by some of our results!  Containers we definitely thought had a bigger volume, ended up taking up less space than the container they were paired with!

Slime!

As many of you probably heard, we made slime in class yesterday.  Our science lesson focused on observing properties.  We used our senses of sight, smell and touch to observe the properties of corn starch and water (tinted green!).  Next, we made a hypothesis for the properties of a mixture of the two.  We mixed them up, and were amazed to see what happened!  We compared our hypothesis with what actually happened during our experiment.  Unfortunately, I was so involved in slime I forgot to take pictures of our mixture, but you can make slime at home too.  It's a little messy, but cleans up easily.

To make slime, you need corn starch and water.  I used about 2 parts corn starch to 1 part water.  I added food coloring to the water before mixing with corn starch.  You may have to add more corn starch or water, a little at a time, to get the right consistency.  Corn starch slime is great, because its properties change!  You can make it into a shape if you keep moving it, but hold it still and it will ooze!  Please ask your child about his or her slime experience :-)

New Website

I have added a new website under "curriculum links".  This link connects you to the Math Fact Cafe's second grade math flashcards.  In second grade one of our math goals is to automatically recall single digit addition facts (0+0 to 9+9).  We practice these in class, but this website offers another way to practice- online!

Flashcards are sorted by strategy.  For example, the +0 problems are together, +2 problems are together, and doubles facts like 5+5 are together.  Facts are mixed together at the end of the addition and subtraction sections.  This is a great way to master similar facts before moving on to different or more difficult facts.

The website offer two ways to practice- students can interact with the site by typing in their answer, or view the facts on the computer without typing the answers.  Happy practicing!

http://www.mathfactcafe.com/view/p/2#