Does Air Exist if We Can't See It?

This week, we did some exploring with solids and liquids in order to learn about some gases. We were exploring the question: does air really exist if we cannot see it?

We set out to find some answers by looking for evidence of air at four different science stations:

At our first center, we had to race rubber duckies across a tub of water without touching them with any part of our body. We found we were able get them moving by taking a deep breath and using the air in our lungs to blow them across!

At our second center, we looked out our classroom window to look for evidence of air outside. We saw branches moving in the breeze, leaves blowing across the sidewalk, and some of us could even hear a strong gust of wind coming through the window!

At our third center, we felt like magicians when we put a tissue into a cup that we submerged in water. We thought the tissue would get soaked, but an air bubble got trapped in the cup when we stuck it in, protecting the tissue from the water!

Finally, we found a bit more evidence at our fourth center when we got to see air under water in the form of bubbles

After finding lots and lots of evidence, we concluded that air does indeed exist--while we can't exactly see it, we are certainly able to find evidence of it everywhere! 

Exploring Matter

Over the last few weeks, we began learning all about matter: solids, liquids, and gases! 

Last week we began our exploration with a Science Talk about Matter. After we talked about what we knew and came up with a list of questions we wanted to explore, we were able to do some exploring with shaving cream!

While we were having fun with our shaving cream, we were using our knowledge of matter to try and determine whether it was a solid, liquid, or a gas. 

Even though the shaving cream held its shape like a solid, we decided it was either a gas or a liquid because it disappeared after we worked with it for a while. It turns out both our liquid and gas guessers were correct: shaving cream is a liquid soap filled with lots and lots of tiny gas bubbles to help it hold its shape! 

This week, we had a science talk about another matter concept: dissolving vs. melting. We agreed that dissolving was when a solid became a liquid after being in a liquid, and melting happened when a solid was exposed to heat. We tried out a dissolving experiment with M & Ms, and we made predictions about how the M &M would dissolve in the water. 

We left our M & Ms in the water while we went out to recess and lunch, and when we returned we discovered the color was gone but the candy coating and chocolate were still there!

We chose 4 different colors to keep on the windowsill overnight to see if they would dissolve. When we checked them on Friday, the candy coating had dissolved but the chocolate was still a solid. We decided to leave the cups over the weekend to see what would happen with the chocolate. Do you think it will dissolve??

We will continue exploring matter over the next several weeks, and soon we will even have the opportunity to visit the other second grade classrooms for weekly matter experiments!

Mystery Science: What Can Magnets Do?

This week, we continued our exploration of magnets through our first Mystery Science experience! Mystery Science is a great classroom resource that leads us through some of the "mysteries" of science with inquiry-based questions and explorations connected to our Next Generation Science Standards. This was our first time using Mystery Science, and we loved every minute we spent exploring the question: 

What Can Magnets Do?

We used our Science Talk norms to discuss our question, and after watching the first Mystery Science video, we got to work exploring! 

we figured out how to use magnets to make a paperclip float

We also figured out how to "magnetize" other objects so they became magnets themselves!

While we explored, we wrote about our thinking and drew pictures of our explorations to keep in our Science Folders

Mr. Fosher even joined us for some magnet fun!

Did you know magnets can even make other magnets float?

After our exploration, we watched the rest of our Mystery Science videos to learn more about what we experienced during our exploration. We noticed that not all metal objects are magnetic, and we learned from the video that metal objects that are magnetic contain iron, and metals that are not magnetic do not. We also learned that only opposite poles of a magnet are attracted to each other, and same poles will repel one another. 

We learned that engineers used the science of repelling magnets to create a train (called a maglev train) that floats along guideways instead of running on a track, creating a friction-less (and VERY fast!) ride. We brainstormed a list of things we could try to invent or create using magnets, and on Friday we broke up into 3 groups to try out our ideas:

Magnetic Paperclip Racetrack

Magnetic Towers

Magnetic Train Model

We were each able to choose one idea we wanted to explore, and we had a 30 minutes to come up with a plan and try it out using the materials we had in our classroom. 

The Magnetic Paperclip Racetrack was made using poster board that we drew a racetrack on. We made the paperclips race around the track by pulling magnets underneath the poster board to guide the paperclip around the track. 

To make our towers, we tested objects around the room to see which objects could be magnetized (objects with iron in them) and we used the largest magnetized items to make our tower and some cool magnetized designs!

For our version of a magnet train, we made a model of a small train connected to 2 magnets and a track. Without touching the train, we used repelling magnets to push the magnet train across the track. 

It was so cool to check out each other's work and think of more ideas for creating with magnets. While we are now finished with our exploration of magnets in the classroom, I hope the giraffes will continue to create new magnet inventions at home and during our choice times! 

Rockin' Out

This week, we started our exploration of rocks for science. At the beginning of the week, we wrote about and shared what we already knew about rocks:

Did you know...

• rocks can be very big or very small
• sand is made of tiny pieces of rock
• some rocks are smooth and some are bumpy
• some rocks have crystals inside
• there are different types of rock--igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock (we learned this in our nonfiction reading!)
• some rocks have Micah
• lots of things are made with rocks

We also came up with a list of questions we still had about them:

We are wondering...

• Are some rocks harder than others?
• How do rocks get smooth?
• What kinds of rocks have crystals?
• What kinds of rocks are shiny?
• How many years does it take for a rock to become clay?
• What kinds of rocks have fossils?
• How far into the ground do you need to dig to find rocks with fossils of dinosaurs?
• What are rocks made of?
• How far do you need to dig to find diamonds?
• What kinds of crystals are in rocks?
• How many types of rocks are there?

While we can find many of the answers to these questions by looking in our nonfiction books and doing a bit of online research, we can also find some answers by doing a bit of exploring ourselves! We went on at rock hunt outside of our classroom to begin collecting some specimens on Wednesday:

On Thursday, we talked about different ways we could sort our rocks. After brainstorming lots of ideas for how we could sort our rocks, we each chose our own sorting method and came up with categories to sort our rocks into. After sorting our rocks, we went around the room to see how others chose to sort theirs:

We will continue to do some more exploring with our rocks and other rocks next week!