Second graders have continued studying force and have recently explored gravity. They learned that gravity is a force that pulls objects with mass toward the Earth. Students used their knowledge of matter, physical properties, and gravity to create a structure that would protect an egg that would be dropped from the playground bridge. STEM Fridays are always full of learning and teamwork. All the eggs broke but the girls’ team was declared most successful because their egg only cracked unlike the boys’ teams eggs that busted open completely.

Second grade students partnered with first grade students to clean up the ground along the St. James driveway. Students at SJDS learn from an early age the importance of helping in the community.

Leadership is very important in the development and growth of a St. James Spartan. Students showed their leadership skills this week when they read to the first grade class. First and second graders were put into groups and second graders read the weekly story to their group and even answered comprehension questions.

What is a force? Second grade is learning all about force! A push is a force that moves an object away and a pull moves an object closer. We put this knowledge into action with laundry basket races! Students figured out quickly it takes more force to move objects with more mass.

A recent math application problem our class solved was: “Mr. Hernandez’s second grade class has 400 ten rods and wants to exchange them for hundred flats. How many hundred flats will they have if they exchange all 400 ten rods.”We used the recent beautiful weather as an opportunity to solve this problem in a hands on way. Students knew that 10 ten rods was equal to 1 hundred flat. So they worked together bundling piles of 10 tens with chalk squares. Once all 400 ten rods were bundled into 100, they were able to count their bundles and discover the answer was 40! Mr. Hernandez could exchange his 400 tens for 40 hundreds.

Middle school students invited second grade to visit their International Fair. Students learned about different cultures, customs, food and geographical locations of countries all over the world. They even got to sample food that middle school students prepared. Nice job students!

Second grade received some amazing classroom items from last year’s Scholastic Book Fair and we are so thankful! Some of the items included a Bluetooth speaker, five tablets, magnetic letters and some math center games. We have used these items to listen to our weekly story, practice spelling words, and building upon math skills.

Second grade counted to 1,000! Every year the class works together to count a giant pile of straws. They work together and share strategies on how to efficiently make count the straws. This activity gives hands on experience in learning place value and units like ones, tens, and hundreds. Once the straws are “bundled” into units of 10, they bundle units of 100 and then count by 100s all the way to 1,000. Each time students make a new unit they reinforce and build upon their place value knowledge.

Students also got to use Chromebooks for the first time this year. This moment is always very anticipated. Recently, the class wrote their first opinion essay on the best food in the world. Once final drafts were complete students used their Chromebooks to draw the food they wrote about.

Second grade is also very smart! Our first reading unit covers teamwork. Students are learning that everyone can have different strengths and weaknesses. Each teammate, student, or family member has something to offer. In a classroom setting we love to share our ideas, strategies, and work product to help others learn.

Second graders have learned all about measurement lately. They used standard units like centimeters and non-standard units like paperclips to measure and compare length units.

Music class was very fun this week! Students were able to use hand drums to play a hide and seek game with each other. The closer a student got to finding the hidden object the louder and faster the class drummed.

Students also investigated changes in matter when heat is added or removed. They learned that heat is energy and can come from different sources. They also learned that changes from heat can be reversible like freezing and melting water or irreversible like microwaving a Peep or cooking an egg. Being the incredible scientists they are, they also sampled the matter after thorough investigation.

We’re off to a great start in second grade! Our first day of school was full of fun and learning!

Last week we got to know more about each other and completed a collaboration project. Students were challenged to “Save Fred”. They worked together to get Fred the worm back in his life jacket and back into his canoe that tipped over. They had 2 paper clips as tools and 1 rule: don’t touch or injure Fred. This was a fun and relaxed opportunity to work with peers and collaborate to solve a problem.

Students began to participate in workshop this week as well. Workshop is an opportunity to work independently on previously learned skills. The students get to listen to our weekly story, work with math manipulatives, read independently in our classroom library and work with me on specific skills .

We like to call Fridays “STEM Friday” here in second grade. We took a virtual field trip to the ocean, but on our trip we shipwrecked! Thankfully we swam to a nearby island. The island was very hot and sunny, so we used what washed ashore from our lunches to design and create hats. We knew our hats needed to provide shade and protection from the sun and also be comfortable enough to wear. Students performed softness, absorbency, and stiffness tests on the materials to see how they could best be used.