Science
Regional Prioritized Curriculum
Grade 2
Physical Setting
Standard 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.Key Idea 1: The Earth and celestial phenomena can be described by principles of relative motion and perspective.
Background:
The universe is made up of many different objects. Students should observe and describe the motions of the Sun, moon, and stars. The movement of these objects through space can be traced and measured over various time segments.
By keeping daily records, students will learn to identify sequences of changes and look for patterns; this skill will be useful throughout their study of the natural world. Younger students should draw what they see. Older students should be encouraged to keep journals and use instruments to measure and record their observations.
Note: Students at this age are concrete thinkers. Drawing models that show size and position and discussing phenomena based on gravity are too abstract and may lead to misconceptions
Grade 2 Vocabulary / celestial
minute
second
Guiding Questions:
What are the patterns of time used in our daily life?
Standard 4: Key Idea 1: Performance Indicator1.1: Describe patterns of daily, monthly, and seasonal changes in their environment.
/Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings) / Classroom Ideas / Assessment Ideas /Time/Notes
/1.1a Natural cycles and patterns include:
- Earth spinning around once every 24 hrs. (rotation), resulting in day and night
- Earth moving in path around the Sun (revolutions) resulting in 1 Earth year
- The length of daylight & darkness varying with season
- Weather changing from day to day & through seasons
- Appearance of Moon changing as it moves in path around Earth to complete a single cycle
1.1b Humans organize time into units based on natural motions of Earth
- second, minute, hour
- week, month (2nd grade also deals with “year”) / · Make a clock showing minutes in 5-minute intervals.
- 60 min = 1 hour
- 60 sec = 1 minute
· Practice estimating how long a minute is. Brainstorm what you could do in a minute. Ex. How many jumping jacks? Recitations of the ABC’s? etc.
· Have students bring in devices that show time: Egg timer, digital clock, hour glass, pendulum, stop watch, timer, conventional clock, etc.
· Compare and contrast different devices that tell/show time
· Say “It is 12:05, time to get ready for lunch.” Not “It is time to get ready for lunch.” Encourages students to look at clock.
· Survey class on how many clocks with hands they have in their homes. In weekly or monthly parent newsletter, encourage parents to have at least 1 clock with hands in the house.
· Work with the Phys. Ed. teacher to record times of students running or walking the mile or ½ mile. Using teacher prepared graph sheets, plot the times.
· Estimate and check how long it takes to walk to gym, library, etc.
· How long does it take class to get ready to go to recess?
· Have students keep track for a weekend of when they get up, go to bed, eat meals, etc. by drawing in the hands on clocks and writing the times in both digital and standard forms.
· Create schedules to plan time / · Teacher observations
· Student responses
· Journal entries
· Student demonstrations
· Lab reports/summaries
· Teacher-developed and student-developed rubrics for performance tasks and projects
Ex. Assess records of weekend times and clocks for understanding of time and its representation on clocks.
Standard 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.
Key Idea 2: Many of the phenomena that we observe on Earth involve interactions among components of air, water, and land on Earth.
Background:
The water cycle, weather, erosion, deposition, and extreme natural events involve interactions among air, water, and land. Students should observe and describe naturally occurring changes in their world involving these phenomena. They can also investigate these phenomena in classroom experiments.
Young students should be engaged in observation of their immediate surroundings with emphasis on recognizing change around them. As students mature, they can begin to recognize cycles and identify the processes and natural events that are causing the changes they are observing.
Grade 2 Vocabulary / evaporation water cycle
moisture interactions
water salt water
water vapor constant volume
condensation fresh water
condense precipitation
fresh water
Guiding Questions:
How do land, air, and water interact with each other?
Standard 4: Key Idea 2: Performance Indicator 2.1: Describe the relationships among air, water, and land.
/Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings) / Classroom Ideas / Assessment Ideas /Time/Notes
2.1a Weather is the condition of the outside air at a particular time.2.1b Weather can be described and measured by:
- temperature
- wind speed and direction
- form and amount of precipitation
- general sky conditions (cloudy, sunny, partly cloudy)
2.1c Water is recycled by natural processes on Earth.
- Evaporation: changing of water(liquid) into water vapor(gas)
- Condensation: changing of water vapor(gas) into water(liquid)
- Precipitation: rain, sleet, snow
- Runoff: water flowing on Earth’s surface
- Groundwater: water that moves downward into the ground / · Daily: A weather helper could use real/pretend binoculars to see what the weather is. Child gives description of what they SEE and another child uses a weather wheel/chart to indicate what was reported.
· See suggested books in 1.1b.
· Perfume Activity - spray a small amount of perfume in one corner of the room, students raise their hands as they detect the odor. Place a fan in room and predict effects.
· Make a convection box
· Evaporating Activity #1 – pour equal amounts of water in 2 plastic tumblers. Place one at room temperature out of the direct sun and the other directly in the sun. Predict what will happen. Observe and record changes for one week.
· Evaporation Activity #2 – pour equal amounts of water in 4 different sized containers. Place in same location. Predict what will happen. Observe and record evaporation rates. Explore how light reacts with water by making a rainbow. Need sunlight and sprinklers.
· Observe a puddle of water after a rain storm, on a return visit after the puddle has disappeared, students describe where the water came from and possible locations now. Observe how long it takes puddle to dry up.
· Look at a diagram of the water cycle. Track the complete route of a single drop of water.
· Write a story "The Life of a Drop of Water"
· Research school's water source using maps of the area to help.
· Using a blank world map, color in all major fresh water sources blue and all salt-water sources orange. Compare. / · Teacher observations
· Student responses
· Journal entries
· Student demonstrations
· Lab reports/summaries
· Teacher-developed and student-developed rubrics for performance tasks and projects
Ex. Students make predictions in journals. Assess reasoning used to explain results.
Ex. Assess water cycle stories using rubric to evaluate content and story sense.
Standard 4: Key Idea 2: Performance Indicator 2.1: Describe the relationships among air, water, and land.
/Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings) / Classroom Ideas / Assessment Ideas /Time/Notes
2.1e Extreme natural events (floods, fires, earthquakes, etc.) may have positive or negative impacts on living things. / · List current event disasters and explore the consequences. Are they always negative? / · Teacher observations· Student responses
· Journal entries
· Student demonstrations
· Lab reports/summaries
· Teacher-developed and student-developed rubrics for performance tasks and projects
Ex. Observe students’ responses in discussions to assess understanding that these disasters have both positive and negative impacts.
Standard 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.
Key Idea 3: Matter is made up of particles whose properties determine the observable characteristics of matter and its reactivity.
Background:
Students should describe, categorize, and measure observable properties of matter and objects. Students’ initial efforts in performing these processes may yield simple descriptions and sketches, which may lead to increasingly more detailed drawings and richer verbal descriptions. Things can be done to materials to change their properties, but not all materials respond in the same way to what is done to them. Younger students emphasize physical properties while older students will recognize chemical changes. Appropriate tools can aid students in their effort.
Note: At this level, students should observe and describe physical properties of matter.
Grade 2 Vocabulary /matter balance scales
particles condense
properties mass
volume displacement
standard non-standard
texture luster
solids liquids
gases
Guiding Questions:
What are the properties of matter?
Knowing the properties of matter, what tools do we need to measure matter?
Standard 4: Key Idea 3: Performance Indicator 3.1: Observe and describe properties of materials using appropriate tools.
Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings) / Classroom Ideas / Assessment Ideas /Time/Notes
3.1a Matter takes up space and has mass. / Provide the following for the children’s exploration and discovery:· Sand and Water table with containers, scoopers, measuring cups, measuring spoons, colander, water wheel
· Science Table with playdoh, knives (plastic), rollers and cutters, scissors, magnets of varying sizes, box of trinkets to check for magnetism, sorting
· dishes, paper and pencils, rulers, tape measures,
feely box, smelling jars, texture blocks, counting bears/dinosaurs, hand lenses, scales
These items should be changed throughout the year and organized in an appropriate manner to fit the classroom make-up. Be sure to label and seriate when possible. / · Teacher observations
· Student responses
· Journal entries
· Student demonstrations
· Lab reports/summaries
· Teacher-developed and student-developed rubrics for performance tasks and projects
Ex. Observe students’ use of measurement tools. Is appropriate tool used? Is it used correctly? Is information recorded appropriately?
3.1b Matter has properties (color, hardness, odor, sound, taste) that can be observed through the senses.
3.1c Objects have properties (length, width, volume, size, shape, mass or weight, temperature, texture, reflectiveness) that can be observed and measured. Two objects cannot occupy the same place at the same time.
3.1d Measurements can be made with standard and nonstandard units / · Use measurement tools to find lengths, volume, mass and magnetism.
· Have students group miscellaneous objects according to properties identified by students and record.
· Math Their Way Summary Newsletter; measurement activities pp. 7.1 - 7.20.
· Use metric unit tools - meter stick, tape measure - centimeter, meter to measure classroom objects. Record in science journals.
· Use non-standard units to measure and compare to standard measurement data.
· Explore concept of mass using balance scales, displacement of water activities, etc.
· Use appropriate measurement tools to find length, volume, mass, etc. of miscellaneous objects
Standard 4: Key Idea 3: Performance Indicator 3.1: Observe and describe properties of materials using appropriate tools.
/Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings) / Classroom Ideas / Assessment Ideas /Time/Notes
3.1e The material(s) an object is made up of determines some specific properties of the object (sink/float, conductivity, magnetism). Properties can be observed or measured with tools such as hand lenses, metric rulers, thermometers, balances, magnets, circuit testers and graduated cylinders.(Underlined knowledge covered in 2nd grade) / · Provide class with metric rulers, scales, thermometers, etc. and set up appropriate stations to use these tools and record data in science journal (use ESPET as a model)
· Explore concept of mass using balance scales, displacement of water activities, etc.
· Use appropriate measurement tools to find length, volume, mass, etc. of miscellaneous objects / · Teacher observations
· Student responses
· Journal entries
· Student demonstrations
· Lab reports/summaries
· Teacher-developed and student-developed rubrics for performance tasks and projects
Ex. Observe students’ use of measurement tools. Is appropriate tool used? Is it used correctly? Is information recorded appropriately?
Ex. Assess journal recordings for accuracy and clarity of recordings.
3.1f Objects and/or materials can be sorted or classified according to their properties.
3.1g Some properties of an object are dependent on the conditions of the present surroundings in which the object exists. For example:
- temperature – hot or cold
- lighting – shadows, color
- moisture – wet or dry / · Display a variety of objects for students to group according to common properties they have identified
· Math Their Way Summary Newsletter; organizing information chapter, sorting activities pp. 8.1 – 8.7.
· Mathematics Their Way manual; sorting chapter pp. 74 - 85.
Standard 4: Key Idea 3: Performance Indicator3.2: Describe chemical and physical changes, including changes in states of matter.
/Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings) / Classroom Ideas / Assessment Ideas /Time/Notes
3.2a Matter exists in three states: solid, liquid, gas.- Solids have a definite shape and volume
- Liquids do not have a definite shape but have a definite volume
- Gases do not hold their shape or volume
3.2b Temperature can affect the state of matter of a substance.
3.2c Changes in the properties or materials of objects can be observed and described. / · Compare 3 balloons the same size:
#1 filled with plaster of paris, #2 filled with water,
and #3 filled with air, compare/contrast – record in
journals.
· Using water as a constant, observe it as a solid, liquid, gas (change to water by having it condense on cold glass)
· Direct the students to place a tennis ball in one bag, put water in the second bag and blow air in the third bag. Students will run three tests on each filled bag to determine whether it contains a solid, liquid, or gas.
1. - Look at the contents of the bag.
2. - Determine if the contents change shape easily.
3. - Try to pass a craft stick through the contents of the bags
· Give small groups of students an ice cube. They are to observe and record at hour intervals for a school day any changes in states of matter and explain the changes in relationship to heating or cooling
· Use water as a constant:
heat - observe - boils – gas
cool - liquid - freeze – solid / · Teacher observations
· Student responses
· Journal entries
· Student demonstrations
· Lab reports/summaries
· Teacher-developed and student-developed rubrics for performance tasks and projects
Standard 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science.
Key Idea 4: Energy exists in many forms, and when these forms change, energy is conserved.
Background:
Students should understand that energy exists in a variety of forms. Students should observe the results of simple energy transformations from one form to another in their physical environment. The safe use and respect of various energy forms should be stressed in the classroom.
Note: Attempting to understand heat and its difference from temperature is too abstract a concept for elementary students. Energy is a subject that is difficult for children to understand. Students cannot hold it in their hands and, with the exception of light they cannot see it.
Guiding Questions:
What is energy?
What does it mean when someone says “I have no energy today”?
Standard 4: Key Idea 4: Performance Indicator 4.1: Describe a variety of forms of energy (light, chemical, light) and changes that occur in objects when they interact with those forms of energy.
/Essential Knowledge/Skills
(Major Understandings) / Classroom Ideas / Assessment Ideas /Time/Notes