The invertebrate labs in second grade are always favorites! Snails are one of my favorite animals, although I don’t like to see them in my garden! A snail is basically a shell and a flat foot. The shell is attached and grows with the snail. The snail’s eyes are on top of tentacles. Smaller tentacles are used for smelling and feeling. Snails produce slime to help them move easily. A snail is oviparous and lays eggs in soil. They are nocturnal and do not like hot or dry weather.

I collected some snails from my yard and my biologists observed them. Click here for a fun snail video.

Kindergarten astronomers learned that a star is a glowing ball of hot gases. Stars are different sizes and colors. The sun is a medium sized yellow star and appears larger than other stars because it is closer.

Click here to learn more about stars.

Stars twinkle because the light they produce is refracted as it travels through the atmosphere.
Click here to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We demonstrated how stars twinkle in the demonstration below:

There are 66 constellations in the sky. Constellations are groups of stars that form a picture. We looked at some familiar constellations and then made constellation cups. Click here to learn more about constellations.

Six bullfrog tadpoles arrived in the mail. We will watch them go through metamorphosis. When will we see back legs?

PreK scientists sang Five Little Speckled Frogs to kick off lab. Click here to learn the song.

We discussed how frogs absorb water and oxygen through their skin. To help my littlest scientists better understand this concept, they used pipettes to drop water on a dry sponge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also used forceps, one of our lab tools, to pick up plastic flies and tiny bugs (rice) to feed a frog. Then we switched hands and fed him again. In both activities, we learned how to use lab tools while strengthening fine motor muscles and developing eye hand coordination.

After observing Jaba, we watched him eat crickets. He was in an empty tank, so we could observe him grab the crickets with his tongue.

Our 11 duck eggs arrived in the mail!
Hopefully in 27 more days, we will have Pekin ducklings.

I purchased these mushroom kits from Back to the Roots a few months ago. I haven’t had a chance to teach a lesson about mushrooms, so they have been sitting on my cart. This week, I noticed mushrooms growing out of the top of the box! I opened the boxes and soaked the substrate to correctly begin the process.

Click here for an informative video about mushrooms that we have not watched in lab.  Click here to order plant kits for your scientist.

Pink oyster mushrooms have begun to grow.

I am also trying this mushroom farm in a greenhouse. You can see the white mycelium, the network of fungal threads, in the bottom of the container. The mycelium starts to form little buds, which will develop into mushrooms. Those little buds are called pins. Mushrooms grow from spores, not seeds.

Centripetal force holds an object in a circular path. After looking at various ways we use centripetal force, I demonstrated how this force works by swinging a tray, with water glasses on it, around my head. Click here for more information. I didn’t spill a drop!

Why is it so hard to pull these books apart? Friction is at work! Click here to learn more.

Then I placed a student in a chair and swung them around. When they outstretched their arms and legs, their speed decreased, but when they brought their hands and legs back in, their speed increased. Why? Click here for an explanation. How does this apply to figure skaters and the speed of the spinner on our playground?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week, second grade physicists worked with levers, but this lab focused on inclined planes and friction. An inclined plane, one of the six simple machines, is a flat surface with one end higher than the other used to help raise or lower a load. We changed the materials on the inclined planes and investigated how the various materials impacted the speed of the cars and the distance they traveled.

My first-grade scientists continued their study of matter with a lab about absorbency. First, we had a little fun with this water absorbing polymer. I hid the white polymer powder in a Styrofoam cup and then poured water into the cup. I turned the cup over students’ heads, but nothing spilled on them!

The liquid had become a solid. I explained that diapers are filled with the same polymer. We poured water into diapers and turned them over after we cut one open. They were much heavier, but nothing leaked out!

We tested a few items together for absorbency, and then we individually tested nine different materials for absorbency with pipettes. My scientists made discoveries about the properties of water as they worked. Why are some materials absorbent while others are not? How do scientists create absorbent and nonabsorbent materials?

We closed lab by discussing why we want some items (towel or a sponge) to be absorbent, while wanting other items (raincoat, boots, or a bathing suit) to be nonabsorbent.