Wind Detection Devices

Our latest Science design project was to build a Wind Detection Device.  Students had two days to plan and build something that would move or make noise in the wind.  It had to be made of at least 3 different kinds of material and be sturdy and neat.  A checklist was provided to make sure it met the criteria.

We use the online link to the weather station on top of our school every day during calendar time to record the wind speed and today we found it was 14 kilometers/hour.  We decided that would be enough to test our devices.  

The students did a great job and showed their ability to use the design process once again. 

Science Design Project

The Grade Twos finished off their Position and Motion Science unit with a project to design a vehicle that met certain criteria.  It has to have at least 4 wheels and 2 axles, have room for a driver and cargo and also roll down an incline plane.  The kids showed lots of creativity and determination to keep going when the wheels fell off and the tape kept sticking to itself! 

Plasticine Boats

With our States of Matter unit coming to an end, the students were given a challenge to design a boat from Plasticine that could float and  hold the most pennies. It took trial and error and determination to be successful!

McKenna's boat held 22 pennies so it was declared the winner of the challenge.  Students used the design process (see posters below) and needed to rethink their design after testing it.  They were thinking like scientists!
 

Liquids Experiment

Today the Grade Twos learned how to use eye droppers and then tested how different liquids move.  There was lots of excitement and trying different variables to drive the drop around the racetrack!
What happens if you use 2 drops?  How about if you hold the racetrack straight down?  What happens if you try to blow the liquid?

Mixing Liquids

The new Grade Two class of 2017-2018 started the year off with learning about Solids, Liquids and Gases in Science Class.  Investigating and comparing properties of liquids is one of the outcomes for this unit and to work on our Scientific Literacy,  students completed a hands-on activity.  They were able to choose two liquids from the row pictured above to mix and then stir.  They observed the result and took turns describing what they saw to their classmates.

Open House happened to be the evening after so families were able to see our mixtures.  Students noticed some differences in some of the mixtures since they had left them at 3:30!

Science Design Project

The Grade Twos have been learning about Position and Motion as part of the Grade 2 Science curriculum.    They had doing some experiments to find out about friction, incline planes and wheel & axles.  As a final design project, they were given the challenge to create a vehicle with wheels and axles that could roll down a ramp.  It needed to have a place for a driver and cargo.  You can read their task below and see the criteria checklist in the second picture.  Materials were gathered and the students went to work!  

Woody was the able driver assigned to the challenge and Pikachu was the cargo!  

  After lots of practise and trial and error, it was time to show off the vehicles and test to see if they met the criteria.  

Following the Cardboard Challenge, the students had already practise in planning and then adapting the plan as needed.  It was a successful project and hopefully inspired the budding designers in the class!

Friction in Science Class

The Grade twos experimented with different materials on inclined planes today to help learn about fiction.  

The pictures below show the scientists in progress. 

 The students also tried shaving cream and oil on their ramps!  Ask them about their results.

Dinosaurs

The Grade Two class has begun a theme all about dinosaurs! This card game is like "Go Fish" but with dinosaurs.  It takes great phonics skills to try to say those names correctly!

 We have an amazing app for the Ipads that brings 3D dinosaurs to life from a piece of paper.  It is so hard to capture it with a photo but have a look at the video below that describes similar augmented reality.

Links to videos and educational sites that we use our desktop computers and Chromebooks to view can be found linked to our classroom web page here.

We also have an amazing collection of both fiction and non fiction books on the theme.  Some of the students have even brought their own books from home to share with their classmates.  Lots of literacy skills are going on around the theme and that's what it's all about!