States of Matter Cotton Ball Experiment

We started off our week exploring the different states of matter... solid, liquid, and gas. During our science lab, I filled Ziploc bags with a solid object (toy car), a liquid (water) and a gas (air). We talked about how a solid object keeps its shape, a liquid takes the shape of its container, and a gas fills the space it is in. We passed the bags around and the students got to feel each of he bags, compare each of the states of matter, and turn and talk about the properties of matter they were exploring and observing.

As we continued our exploration on the different states of matter, I decided to let the students have some fun with this cotton ball experiment.

First, we filled one glass to the tippy-top with water, and filled another glass to the tippy-top with 30 cotton balls. Next, we made a prediction of how many cotton balls we could put in the glass of water before the water would begin to spill over the top of the glass. To show the students how easily the water could be displaced, I filled a smaller cup with water and put my fingers in it while the students watched the water spill over the top. After careful consideration, the class decided that we would only be able to put 8 cotton balls in the glass before the water would spill over.

Then the fun started... as I placed each cotton ball in the glass, the students started counting. It was so awesome to hear the disbelief in their voices as they got closer and closer to using all 30 cotton balls. When we put the 30th cotton ball in the glass, I swear I thought that our principal was going to come down to my classroom to see what all the screaming was about... lol! The students could not believe their eyes! All 30 cotton balls were in the glass of water and it never spilled over!

While we were putting the cotton balls in the glass, I made a quick video of our observations. The students got to observe that as the cotton ball was going in the water, air bubbles were coming up out of the water. The water was taking the place of the air that was in the cotton balls. We were then able to conclude that because the cotton balls were made mostly of air, and the air was being replaced by the water, that is why we were able to put all 30 cotton balls in the glass without having any water spill over.

To add a little visual learning to this experiment, I took a cup and filled it with toy dinosaurs. Then I slowly poured the water left in the cup I used to show the students how water gets displaced into the cup of dinosaur toys. The students watched the water fill all the spaces of air in between the dinosaurs. I heard about a dozen students say, "I get it now, Mrs. Kearson"... it was AHH-SOME!!

No dinosaurs were harmed while conducting this experiment... LOL!

The Great Celery Experiment

The second week of this school year we got to start our first science experiment... YAY! While exploring our Big Idea on the Process of Science, we learned all about what a scientist does... and the most important thing a scientist does is ask questions. After reading about how scientists asked the question, "How do we grow plants in space without soil?", we decided that for our first science question we would ask, "How do we regrow plants in space without seeds?". We hoped to be able to regrow celery from the head of the celery. 

As we began the experiment, we were a class divided... half the class thought we could do it, while the other half thought the celery would rot before it regrows. We observed and documented our experiment over 10 days, and then celebrated our first scientific process of the school year by eating *Ants on a Log* (celery with peanut butter and raisins)... YUM!

Check out our pictures and journal entries to see our hypothesis, materials we used, our procedure, and just how successful our Great Celery Experiment was...

Skittles Science... Reversible & Irreversible Change

We had a "sweet" time in science today with our big idea on the properties of matter and exploration of reversible and irreversible change. After talking about all the things that represent reversible change, and all the things that represent irreversible change, I decided to surprise the students with a  sweet science treat.

REVERSIBLE CHANGE...

First, I brought out a container filled with Skittles and we made our observations. We noticed that the Skittles were arranged and layered by color. We talked about the pattern of colors in the mason jar. After finishing our observations, I picked up the mason jar, flashed the class my best evil smile, and gave the jar a really good shake... GASP! All that hard work of separating two big bags of Skittles by color, and then carefully layering them in the mason jar for today's science was gone! Now, we had a hot mess of Skittles without any color pattern whatsoever. I asked the students if this was reversible or irreversible change. The answer was unanimous... REVERSIBLE CHANGE! The students explained to me that I could pour the Skittles out, separate them by color (again), and then layer them in the mason jar. They were absolutely correct!

IRREVERSIBLE CHANGE...

Next, I took a few of the Skittles and dropped them into a glass of water. We observed what happened to the Skittles over the next several minutes. The colors from the Skittles were beginning to spread out into the water, and the Skittles were turning white as the colors dissolved away from them. Once again, I asked the students if this was reversible or irreversible change... and once again, the answer was unanimous... IRREVERSIBLE CHANGE! The students explained to me that I could not remove the colors from the water, put the colors back on the Skittles, and then make the Skittles and water like they were before I dropped the Skittles into the glass of water. Spot on! I couldn't be prouder of my second grade scientists.

Of course, once we were done with our exploration of reversible and irreversible change, we got to enjoy our sweet science treat... the Skittles.

Force and Motion Catapults

WE'RE HAVING FUN WITH FORCE & MOTION!

What better way to experiment with force and motion than with popsicle stick catapults and pom poms! 

*AND*... why make a single launcher when we can make a DOUBLE launcher to DOUBLE our fun!! This was literally the most fun we have had in science lab so far this year... and we have had some crazy major fun.

We used popsicle sticks, bottle caps, glue, rubber bands, and pom poms. We made our catapults during science lab yesterday, and got to spend all of today's science lab launching pom poms and having an absolute total blast.

I ain't afraid of no ghost!

My second graders had an absolute blast making ghost rockets on Mad Scientist Day!

First... we used black Sharpies to decorated our film canisters to look like ghosts. SPOOKY!

Then... we mixed some water (about 1/3 of the film canister) and cornstarch (about 1/2 tsp) together in the ghost film canisters.

Last... we went outside (very important to do this outside), put a 1/4 piece of an Alka Seltzer tab in the film canister, put the top on the canister, and turned it top side down onto the ground.

... and now let's see all the fun!

It Was So Gross, It Was Awesome!

We got to see the most amazing thing happen in our classroom today... our monarch butterfly caterpillar formed a chrysalis... and we got to see the whole thing happen! It was so gross, it was awesome!! Here is the video we made of the whole thing...

14 Eggs? On One Plant??

Just when I thought our butterfly life cycle unit study couldn't get any more awesome... this happens!

I bought a couple more milkweed plants to make sure we would have enough food for our current *very hungry caterpillars*... and I noticed when I picked them out that one of the plants had a few monarch butterfly caterpillar eggs on it... BONUS! When I got home and took a closer look at the milkweed plants, I discovered that one plant already had a caterpillar, and the other plant had 14 EGGS ON IT! CRAZY!! 14 EGGS!!

We are REALLY going to have some fun in the classroom now!

We Have Caterpillars!

That's right! We have monarch butterfly caterpillars in the classroom... three of them!

What an amazing way to start our butterfly life cycle unit. The class is so excited. We got to watch one of the caterpillars form a chrysalis last week. It truly was simply an AHH-MAZING thing to get to watch firsthand! 

So far we have one caterpillar that has already formed a chrysalis, one caterpillar that is HUGE and about to form a chrysalis, and one little caterpillar that just came out of the egg. 

This is my favorite time of year... and I was super lucky to have found a milkweed plant with so many caterpillar eggs on it. I cannot wait for our first monarch butterfly to emerge from the chrysalis. I know the students are counting the days until we set our beautiful butterfly free in the school courtyard.

Learning Force & Motion with Punkin Chunkin

The class had so much fun continuing our unit on Force & Motion today with the help of the Science Channel's Punkin Chunkin show. There were some amazing "chunkin" moments, and the students could not believe that some of the pumpkins were traveling 650 miles per hour!

The students learned how gravity and force affect motion... and got see pumpkins flying through the air and "smash landing" at the same time! This was such a great way for the students to get to see how to use engineering with science. Hopefully this will get the students excited about making our own catapults next week!

Our First Week Back ROCKED!

We made it through our first week back in school... and what a GREAT first week back it was! 

The students worked so hard this week, that you would never know they just had an entire summer off. We worked on reviewing our math and literacy skills in our centers, and I have to say that I la-la-loved hearing the students say, "Ms. Kearson - this is so easy". I just love my second grade smartie-pants!! :)

We worked on story sequencing, characters, and setting with the story, "Lost and Found". The students did a most excellent job with their story comprehension, and I *know* they breezed right through the story skills test they had on Friday.

We also spent time this past week talking about, exploring, and using math and science tools in the classroom. Here are the journal entries we made this week to help remind us what tools we will be using in second grade, as well as how to use them...

Under each one of the "flaps", the students wrote how or why they would use these tools. This will be a great resource for the students to refer back to throughout the school year.

Friday we had our first Panther Pride day in Kearson's classroom. Each Friday we spend the first five minutes of recess picking up trash, bits, and what-nots around the playground area to show our Panther Pride at Crown Point Elementary. The students are really proud of the difference they are making... and I couldn't be prouder of them!

This upcoming week we will continue to review mastered skills in centers, and introduce new skills in the classroom. We will also begin having homework this week... YAY! ;)

I'm looking forward to another great week with my awesome second graders... I know they will continue to amaze me!!

Can You Teach An Old Rabbit New Tricks?

The Crown Point Elementary Science Fair is starting this week . . . and my students had a blast with our class science project, "Can you teach an old rabbit new tricks?".

After deciding to use Bailey in our science project, we spent a week researching fun facts and common myths about rabbits. Next we brainstormed several possible experiments . . . and teaching Bailey to go through a maze without making any mistakes was the clear winner! Based on our research on rabbits, and what we knew about Bailey, we recorded how many tries each of us thought it would take Bailey to get through the maze without making any mistakes. 

Our results . . .

The Lion Whisperer

We watched an amazing video for Science in the classroom today. Although my original plan for Science was to have the children go on a nature walk around the school campus and record their observations of plants and other living things in their Science journals, the non-stop rain kept us indoors and called for me to break out *Science Lesson Plan B*... which was showing the children one of the most amazing videos on lions and hyenas that I have had the joy to watch. 

The children loved it!! We talked about the habitat of lions, conservation, what kind of environment the African Plains are made up of, what it means for an animal to be endangered, and how we can make a difference. It was an inspiring lesson, and captured the minds and hearts of all 22 of my first graders. Not only did they applaud at the end of the video, but they talked about how learning that there may not be any lions living in the wild within the next 20 years made them sad and want to do something to ensure that the lions and their habitat are protected.

Here is the 15 minute video we watched in class today...

Kevin Richardson is truly an awe-inspiring individual... you can see more of his videos, read about his conservations efforts, and learn more about the plight of lions at www.lionwhisperer.co.za.

Let's Make a Snowman!

Click here to visit my TpT store and download this product

This 36 page snowman and winter themed unit has a little bit of everything… math, literacy, science, and crafts. It includes fun worksheets, activities, and center games to compliment your winter lesson plans.

Activities included…

Math

- All About the Number 9 Worksheet

- Roll It, Write It, and Add 6 More Worksheet

- Write 1 less and 1 More Worksheet

- Count How Many Worksheet

- Let's Make 10 Worksheet

- Roll It, Write It, Tally It, Show It Worksheet

Literacy

- Match the Beginning Sounds Worksheet

- Letter “S” Cut and Paste Worksheet

- Rhyming, Labeling & Letter Writing Worksheet

- Match the Compound Words

- Write the Compound Words

- Snowman Writing Word Bank

- "How To" Writing Worksheet

- Opinion Writing Worksheet

- "If I was a snowman in spring I would..." Writing Worksheet

- Snowball Poem

Math Centers

- Winter themed dice for center games

- "Connect 4" Worksheet

- Snowman Game Board

- Snowman Game Pieces / Math counters / Manipulatives

Science

- Fun Facts About Snow and Snowflakes

- Snowflakes “Can-Have-Are” Worksheet

- Make a Snowflake Science Experiment "how to" and materials list

- “What’s Happening?” Follow-up Sheet for the science experiment

- Make a Snowman Craftivity with patterns for your students to make their own snowman

These worksheets and activities can also be used as morning work or in your Math & Literacy Centers.

Enjoy!

The Science of Origami

We had an amazingly fun time learning all about the art of origami. As part of our science unit on the properties of matter (SC.K.P.9.1), we transformed the shape of our paper into..... PUPPIES (she said in her best Cruella De Vil voice)!!

At the beginning of the lesson, my little kinder-scientists were saying, "But, Mrs. Kearson, we don't know how to do origami"... however, once all was said and done, they were so proud of their origami creations -- and I was too!!

Look at my kinder-scientists' origami creations...

Some of the other activities I have planned for this science unit are coffee filter flowers and coffee filter snowflakes. After completing the two coffee filter activities, we will compare and contrast the different ways that we changed the shape of our coffee filters... one by crumpling and one by folding and cutting. FUN!