Constellations

We have just begun a unit about Outer Space!  Our first order of business was learning about stars and constellations.  We have learned many exciting facts about stars.  Did you know that most stars live for billions of years?  Stars may also be yellow, orange, white, red or blue.  As stars get older they get bigger. They are huge fireballs of gases in outer space.  Ancient astronomers studied the night sky and many of the constellations we see in the sky today were named by them.

Matter is a Poppin' in Second Grade!

Currently we are studying the three most common states of matter: solids, liquids and gases.  Today we were focusing on gases.  We did an experiment from Hope King's As a Matter of Fact science unit.  We filled balloons with different amounts of pop rocks.  Balloon 1 = 1 bag of Pop Rocks, Balloon 2 = 1 1/2 bags of Pop Rocks and Balloon 3 = 2 bags of Pop Rocks!!!!! Which balloon do you think filled with the most gas?

Yes! It was balloon number 3.  Pop rocks have pressurized carbon dioxide gas in them.  When they dissolve in your mouth (from your saliva) or from the liquid of a soda the gas is released (which is the fun popping noise you hear). The soda also contains pressurized carbon dioxide gas.  When the Pop Rocks are dropped into the soda some of the carbon dioxide escapes, inflating the balloon.  Balloon number 3 became the largest because it had the most gas released. You can find more information about this experiment by clicking here.

Tomorrow we will write up our lab reports and then take a closer look at all three states of matter interacting at one time on Wednesday. Stay tuned!

Christmas Around the World

Yes, the holiday season has long passed but we went to some amazing places (virtually of course) and we wanted to share a little bit of the art we created during our travels.  It wasn't all about art though.  We learned about many interesting traditions and found that our families have adopted many traditions from other countries!

We "Elfed" ourselves before we began our travels around the world.

While visiting Mexico we learned about the significance of the poinsettia and then created some paper poinsettias.

Beginning our painted Peruvian textiles using warm and cool colors.

While visiting Peru we learned they weave beautiful textiles.  We were short on time so we created "painted" textiles. Artists had to begin with a rectangle, ask to paint in another artists space and added on to each others creations to make beautiful painted paper.  After the paint dried we cut the paper into smaller rectangles and tied yarn to the ends.  Our final products were beautiful but somehow we forgot to get a picture of them.  Next time!

In Germany many families cut and bring a tannenbaum into their homes to decorate during the holidays.  Did you know that traditionally the Germans would put REAL candles on their trees?  This is a torn paper representation of a tannenbaum (Christmas Tree)

We Met Jan Brett!!!

Blogging has been tough for me this year  for some reason! I have set a goal to catch up and make sure to post at least once a week.

On December 11th we were incredibly surprised with a visit from the Author, Jan Brett. Our local library entered a contest to have her visit our little town on her book tour for the Animal's Santa. She is amazing...to say the least!!!!!

Little Free Library

This morning our second grade class went to Mrs. Van Nice's house.  She had a Little Free Library in front of her house.  We got to pick out a book for FREE and keep it!  After we finish reading our book we can take it back and trade for a different one.  If we love it and want to keep it that is okay too.  We can also get another book from her if we visit again with our family. 

SD and RD choose a book from the Little Library.

After choosing books we took a picture of everyone with their books.

Mrs. Van Nice spoiled us rotten with books, bookmarks and yummy treats.
Thank you Mrs. Van Nice! Happy Thanksgiving Mrs. Van Nice!

Turkey-ish Drawings

After reading this wonderful book, Ish by Peter H. Reynolds, students drew Turkey-ish Turkeys!  If you are looking for a way to help your child or children you work with be confident when they draw this is the book for you.  It is a wonderful story about a little boy whose brother makes fun of his drawing.  A surprise awaits him as he chases his little sister into her room after she grabs one of his crumpled drawings.  This book will be on everyone's favorites list!

Students used oil pastels to create these masterpieces!

Sand! Comparing and Contrasting Pacific and Atlantic Sand

Today we have been comparing and contrasting sand from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  We observed each specimen with the naked eye, by touch and beneath a microscope.  Here are some of the things we noticed:

Pacific Sand is:

-fine
-colorful: yellow, orange, red, silver-gray and clear grains
-sparkly
-hard
-sticky

    

Atlantic Sand is:

-coarse
-hard
-colorful: gold, red, dark brown, orange, gray and clear grains
-sticky
-sparkly

We give looking at sand under a microscope two thumbs up!

S.D. discovers that a book he was reading had a picture that looked similar to what he was seeing under the microscope.

Second grader's feel the difference between Atlantic and Pacific Ocean sand.