Students learn about seasonal changes and how the Moon changes throughout the month. They discover the changes that occur when different solids are mixed with water, how materials change state, what happens when objects are "charged," and what changes magnets can cause.
Lesson 1: Things Can Change in a Month
Lesson 1 -Things Can Change in a Month
OBJECTIVE
Students will observe the changes that occur in the Moon’s appearance over a month
AAAS BENCHMARKS COVERED*
Tools such as thermometers, magnifiers, rulers, or balances often give more information about things than can be obtained by just observing things without their help. There are more stars in the sky than anyone can easily count, but they are not scattered evenly, and they are not all the same in brightness or color.The sun can be seen only in the daytime, but the moon can be seen sometimes at night and sometimes during the day. The sun, moon, and stars all appear to move slowly across the sky. The moon looks a little different every day, but looks the same again about every four weeks.
NGSS STANDARDS COVERED: 2-ESS1-1
COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS COVERED:
“Things can change in a month-Let’s draw the Moon” (Students are led in a discussion about the night sky- what they see, how bright it is etc.They are instructed to record their observations on the bottom of the moon page in their student booklets and to practice drawing the moon on the top of the page) — 2.SL.1:Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups; 2.SL.1a: Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under dis-cussion); 2.SL.1b: Build on others’ talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others;2.SL.1c: Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under discussion;2.SL.5: Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or re-counts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.The Moon book (This book is handed out to students so that they can record their observations of the moon each night) — 2.W.7: Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report; record science observations).
“Starshine/Sunshine” story and questions (Students are instructed to read the story (or it can be read out loud in class) and answer questions) — 2.RF.4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension; 2.RF.4a: Read on-level text with purpose and understanding; 2.RF.4c: Use context to confirm orself-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary; 2.RL.1: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
“Phases of the Moon” short text and questions — 2.RF.4, 2.RF.4a, 2.RF.4c: (see above); 2.RI.1: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text; 2.RI.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area; 2.RI.10: By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding asneeded at the high end of the range.
Vocabulary – 2.L.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 2 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies; 2.L.5: Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
COMMON CORE MATH STANDARDS COVERED:
Moon Book – Mathematical Practices: 4, 7, 8 (see above).
“Reading a Calendar” — 2.OA.1: Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
Lesson Outline
Discuss students' knowledge of the night sky.
Record on the newsprint what students have seen in the night sky. Have students record the information in Student Booklet.
Discuss the objects'relative brightness.
Instruct students to use crayons to draw and color a picture of their house on the bottom half of black construction paper.
Instruct students to paint the entire paper with the black paint. Sprinkle salt over the wet paint. Set aside to dry.
Display the Moon Poster and discuss the major features.Explain that the Moon appears to change shape and that they're going to make observations to learn how it changes.
Practice drawing the Moon using Student Booklet.
Hand out The Moon booklets and instruct students to make observations at the same time in the evening, as often as they can. Extra "The Moon" booklets are provided so that children who make more observations can have a second booklet to continue their observations. Alternatively, have students record the Moon's phase in class using either the Moon Phase Cards or the internet.Discuss the Sun. Remind students that they should never look directly at the Sun.
Explain that the Sun is a star that is much closer than the ones we see at night.Read Sunshine, Starshine, in Student Booklet.
When the night pictures have dried, you should use the glow-in-the-dark markers to make a quarter sized circle Moon in the upper corner of each student's picture.
Hand back the night pictures when they have dried. Discuss where the sparkling crystals came from. Remind students that they dissolved the salt in water and then the water evaporated and the salt was left behind —another interesting change.
Lesson 2: Things Can Change in a Year
Lesson 2 -Things Can Change in a Year
OBJECTIVE
Students sort and classify pictures of different seasons.
AAAS BENCHMARKS COVERED*
Some events in nature have a repeating pattern.The weather changes some from day to day, but things such as temperature and rain (or snow) tend to be high, low, or medium in the same months every year. Change is something that happens to many things.
COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS COVERED:
My Season Album worksheets 1 & 2 (Students are asked to discuss their observations of the Moon; they are then divided into groups and each group is assigned a season with instructions to keep the name of the season secret as they are going to act out their season and the other students will have to guess which one they were assigned.As a class they will then read the captions under the pictures on worksheets # 1 & 2 ; colored pictures will be distributed ; students will cut and glue them into the appropriate boxes matching the seasonal caption) — 2.SL 1., 2.SL.1a, 2.SL.1b, 2.SL.1c, 2.SL.5, 2.RF.4a: (see above); 2.RF.4b: Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings; 2RF.c: (see above).“The Seasons” text and questions (Short review text that can be read together in class or assigned in student booklet ; fill in the blank questions that they find directly in the text writing answers to reinforce prominent points in lesson) — 2.RF.4, 2.RF.4a, 2.RF.4c, 2.RI.1 ; 2.RI.4, 2.RI.10: (see above).
“In Summer” poem and questions — 2.RL.1, 2.L.4 (see above).Vocabulary – 2.L.4, 2.L.5: (see above); 2.L.5a: Identify real-life connections between words and their use(e.g., describe foods that are spicy or juicy).
COMMON CORE MATH STANDARDS COVERED:
“Reading a Calendar” — 2.OA.1: (see above).
Lesson Outline
Discuss Moon observations.
Divide the class into eight (or so) groups.Assign each group one of the four seasons. You do not necessarily have to have the same number of groups acting out each season.
Have groups work together for a few minutes to decide how they want to act out their season without talking.
Allow each group to pantomime their season while the rest of the class guesses which season they are acting out.
Discuss what each group included in their season.Read the captions on Student Booklet pages 2 and 3.Hand out the color pictures. Instruct students to cut out the pictures and glue them on Student Booklet pages 2 and 3. Have students read the clues on Student Booklet pages 2 and 3 and match the description with the correct picture.Compare the seasons in your area with seasons in other places in the United States.
If Harvard grads can't tell you why we have seasons, what hope is there for second graders?
Lesson 3: Mixing Can Change Things
Lesson 3 - Mixing Can Change Things
OBJECTIVE
Students investigate dissolving different materials in water.
AAAS BENCHMARKS COVERED*
Describing things as accurately as possible is important in science because it enables people to compare their observations with those of others. People can often learn about things around them by just observing those things carefully, but sometimes they can learn more by doing something to the things and noting what happens. Change is something that happens to many things.Objects can be described in terms of the materials they are made of (clay, cloth, paper, etc.) and their physical properties (color, size, shape, weight, texture, flexibility, etc.).Things can be done to materials to change some of their properties, but not all materials respond the same way to what is done to them.
NGSS STANDARDS COVERED: 2-PS1-3
COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS COVERED:
Mixing Can Change Things worksheet#1 (Students are given their growing toy capsules, cups and lids. Before they begin the experiment they will trace the capsule on the top of the worksheet; cups are filled with water, capsules dropped in, covers put on top. Now the cup is put on one side of the balance scale. On the other side of the balance scale is another cup. Students are instructed to fill this cup with washers until the scale balances and record the number of washers necessary. The next day students are asked to check and see if the same number of washers is still balancing the scale. They are then to open the cup and discover what happened to the capsule. They will record all findings and finally trace the “new toy” they have discovered in their cups in their student workbooks also adding their findings and observations) — 2.W.7: (see above).
Mixing Can Change Things worksheets 2 & 3 (Students will be conducting a series of experiments where different substances will be mixed with water and their observations and conclusions will be recorded in their student workbooks) — 2.W.2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use factsand denitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section; 2.W.7: (see above); 2.RI.3:Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.
“Getting Ready for a New School Year” (This is a Math story followed by a number of questions, satisfying ELA and Math standards. Review the story to see if this works for your students) — 2.RI.3, 2.RI.4, 2.RI.10:(see above).
Vocabulary – 2.L.4: (see above); 2.L.6: Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts, including using adjectives and adverbs to describe (e.g.,When other kids are happy that makes me happy).
COMMON CORE MATH STANDARDS COVERED:
Mixing can Change Things worksheets 1, 2, 3 — Mathematical Practices 1 through 8
Getting Ready for a New School Year math worksheet — 2.NBT.5: Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction 2; NBT.9: Explain why addition and subtraction strategies work, using place value and the proper-ties of operations.
Lesson Outline
Hand out growing toy capsules, cups, and lids. Have students trace around the capsule in Student Workbook. Explain that students are going to fill their cup with water, put in the capsule, put on the cover, and find how many washers balance the filled cup. After a day or two, they'll check to see if the mass has changed then open the container and see if the capsule has changed.
Explain that they are going to be mixing substances and water. Their responsibility is to make careful observations.
Review the questions that are on Student Booklet pages 4 and 5.Distribute substances in paper portion cups. Identify each one. Remind students that they are not to eat anything in science class.
Distribute water in clear plastic cups. Use foam trays to ease material distribution.Distribute stirring sticks.
Allow students to mix substances and water and to make observations.
Lesson 4: Heating/Cooling Can Change Things
Lesson 4 - Heating & Cooling Can Change Things
OBJECTIVE
Students explore the changes that occur when substances are heated or cooled.
AAAS BENCHMARKS COVERED*
Describing things as accurately as possible is important in science because it enables people to compare their observations with those of others.People can often learn about things around them by just observing those things carefully, but sometimes they can learn more by doing something to the things and noting what happens.Water can be a liquid or a solid and can go back and forth from one form to the other. If water is turned into ice and then the ice is allowed to melt, the amount of water is the same as it was before freezing.Objects can be described in terms of the materials they are made of (clay, cloth, paper, etc.) and their physical properties (color, size, shape, weight, texture, flexibility, etc.).Things can be done to materials to change some of their properties, but not all materials respond the same way to what is done to them.
NGSS STANDARDS COVERED: 2-PS1-4
COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS COVERED:
Heating and Cooling Can Change Things worksheets 1, 2, 3 (Students discuss the appearance of sugar and salt solutions from Lesson 3.Students are shown ice cubes made out of plain water, sugar water and salt wa-ter...food dye is used to tell them apart .They will observe and record the differences as cubes melt and they conduct other experiments. Melting, evaporation, and water vapor are also discussed) — 2.SL.1, 2.SL.1a,2.SL.1b, 2.SL.1c: (see above); 2.SL.6: Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarication; 2.W.2, 2.W.7: (see above).
Heating and Cooling Can Change Things worksheet 4 (Students are given coffee filters and eye droppers.They are asked to put 4 drops each of oil, water and rubbing alcohol on the filters; they discuss and record observations including the different rates of evaporation and their conclusions regarding causes) — 2.SL.1,2.SL.1a, 2.SL.1b, 2.SL.1c, 2.SL.6, 2.W.2, 2.W.7: (see above).
Things Change review text and fill in the blank questions (Text can be read together in class or assigned;answers can be found in text and written in blanks for review) — 2.RF.4, 2.RF.4a, 2.RF.4c, 2.RI.1, 2.RI.4,2.RI.10: (see above).Vocabulary – 2.L.4, 2.L.5: (see above).
COMMON CORE MATH STANDARDS COVERED:
Heating and Cooling Can Change Things worksheets 1, 2, 3, 4 — Mathematical Principles 1 thru 8
Addition Basic Facts worksheet — 2.NBT.3: Read and write numbers to 1000 using base-ten numerals, number names, and expanded form; 2.NBT.5: (see above).
Lesson Outline
Discuss the appearance of the sugar and salt solutions from Lesson 3.
Discuss how the students could tell them apart.
Explain that you have frozen sugar water, salt water, and plain water.
Review Student Booklet pages on this lesson.
Distribute ice cubes in plastic cups and pieces of sandpaper and have students complete Student Booklet pages.
Discuss findings.
Review Student Booklet page.
Hand out filters. Have students prepare the filters according to the instructions on Student Booklet page.
Put four drops of water on each filter. Have students record their observations on Student Booklet page.
Put four drops of oil on each filter. Have students record their observations on Student Booklet page.
Put four drops of rubbing alcohol on each filter. Have students record their observations on Student Booklet page.
Discuss findings.
Lesson 5: Magnets Can Change Things
Lesson 5 - Magnets Can Change Things
OBJECTIVE
Students explore magnets.
AAAS BENCHMARKS COVERED*
Magnets can be used to make some things move without being touched. Numbers can be used to count any collection of things.
COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS COVERED:
Magnets Can Change Things worksheet1 (Discuss the “NO MAGNET ZONES” (computers, televisions etc.). Distribute magnets and washers and let students explore them discussing what they discover. Discuss how magnets can attract or repel each other and why. Discuss magnetic poles.Tell students about the objects in the object bag and have them predict which objects the magnets will attract and record their predictions on the worksheet. Distribute the object bags and again let students discover which objects were attracted and why, recording those findings and checking them against their predictions) — 2.SL.1, 2.SL.1a, 2.SL.b,2.SL.2c, 2.SL.5, 2.SL.6, 2.W.2, 2.W.7: (see above).
“Magnets Can Change Things”(Review text and ll in the blank questions ; text can be read together in class or assigned in student booklet; answers are easily found referring to the text and written in the blanks for reinforcement) — 2RF.4, 2.RF.4a, 2.RF.4c, 2.RI.1, 2.RI.4, 2.RI.10: (see above).
COMMON CORE MATH STANDARDS COVERED:
Magnets Can Change Things worksheet1 — Mathematical Principles 1 thru 8
Magnets Can Change Things worksheet2 — Mathematical Principles 1 thru 8; 2.MD.10: Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph. Bar Graph worksheet: 2.MD.10: (see above).
Lesson Outline
Discuss the "No Magnet Zones." (Computer monitors, television screens, magnetic media such as cassette or VCR tapes)
Distribute magnets and washers. Allow time for exploration.
Discuss what students have discovered.Discuss when the magnets repel each other and when they attract each other.
Discuss a magnet's poles.Have students use Student Booklet to predict which of the objects in the object bags will be attracted to the magnets.Distribute object bags. Have students check their predictions.
Discuss which objects were attracted and why.
Have students gather data on how many washers one, two, and four magnets can hold.
Have students predict how many washers three magnets will hold.
Graph data.
Lesson 6: Charge Imbalance Can Change Things
Lesson 6 - Charge Imbalance Can Change Things
OBJECTIVE
Students explore charged materials.
AAAS BENCHMARKS COVERED*
Describing things as accurately as possible is important in science because it enables people to compare their observations with those of others.People can often learn about things around them by just observing those things carefully, but sometimes theycan learn more by doing something to the things and noting what happens.Things can be done to materials to change some of their properties, but not all materials respond the same way to what is done to them.
NGSS STANDARDS COVERED: 2-ESS1-1
COMMON CORE ELA STANDARDS COVERED:
Charge Imbalance Can Change Things worksheet(Each student is given a balloon with a string attached; pairs share a piece of wool fabric ; students are encouraged to explore rubbing the balloons against each other; against the wool fabric and discuss their observations. If they experience a little shock it’s because rubbing the balloons charged them. Students will record the results of their experiments in their student booklets) —2.SL.1, 2.SL.1a, 2.SL.1b, .SL.1c, 2.W.2, 2.W.7: (see above).
“Static Electricity” review text and questions (Text can be read aloud in class or assigned in their student workbooks; questions can easily be answered by referring to the text and written in the blanks for reinforcement) — 2.RF.4, 2.RF.4a, 2.RF.4c, 2.RI.1, 2.RI.4, 2.RI.10: (see above).
Vocabulary – 2.RF.4, 2.RF.4c, 2.RI.10: (see above).
COMMON CORE MATH STANDARDS COVERED:
Charge Imbalance Can Change Things worksheet — Mathematical Principles 2, 3, 7 & 8
Lesson Outline
Review the results of Lesson 5.
Give each student a blown up balloon with a string attached. Allow pairs to share a piece of wool fabric.
Allow time for exploration. Be sure students try rubbing their balloon on another student's balloon.
Students may want to tape the string on their balloon to a desk or table and bring another balloon and then the wool toward it. When students rub the balloon with the wool, suggest they rub in only one direction, not back and forth.
Discuss observations.
Explain that shocks occur because of an electrostatic charge.
Explain that rubbing the balloons charged them. Explain that charged objects repel or attract each other.
Have students record observations in Student Booklet.
Hand out thread to each student. Students will observe that the thread is sometimes attracted and sometimes repelled. Suggest that they tape the middle of the thread to their desk so that both ends hang down. One end will be repelled and the other end attracted.
Distribute spoon and oatmeal when students reach that activity.
Share discoveries.
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