Studying Matter

Our science research has shifted from a study of islands, rocks, and the Earth to a study of the structure and properties of matter. Matter is the "stuff" that everything is made of, and second graders spend a lot of time testing out different materials to determine their properties. In the future, we will be applying our understanding of various properties to design a couple of inventions. For now, however, we will be working on designing experiments to test a few different materials.

Our initial experiment compared water and a wooden block. These two different materials underwent the same tests. Scientists always need to make sure they are doing fair tests - comparing results of the same experiment with only one variable changed. 

We put a block and water through a funnel. We put each into a cup. We put a foam block on top of each one. Finally, we put our fingers on top of each material. Mr. MacLellan tested them with two other experiments, as well. He poured each material onto his hand. He hit each material with a hammer. We made sure we were always doing a fair test by making sure that the test happened exactly the same way with each new material.

Materials we want to test in the future include:

Banana

Metal

Obsidian

The earth

Air

Curvy metal

Smoke

Ice

Water

Ink

A pin

Wood

A basketball

A racket

Mac and cheese

Hair

Pizza

Rubber

A can

Slime

A hard covered book

A bean bag

A light bulb

A rock

Cardboard

A crayon

Plastic

We might now test all of those, and we might test others that aren't on this list!

We also came up with a list of ways to test materials:

Hammer

Try to break with our hands

Put ice on it

Put into a tank of water

Try to cut it

Put mentos on it

We will definitely conduct some of these tests, conduct some that aren't on this list, and not conduct some from here. We are very excited for this unit!

Sewing Project

The students of room 204 have been working on a sewing project. We started by working with a material called "plastic canvas", where we practiced the whip stitch and the running stitch. Then, we worked on making bean bags with felt and yarn. Our last project is to make our own stuffed animals! We are very excited.

The Little Old Trixie Who Was Not Afraid of Anything: The Movie

We performed our play on December 5th. After we performed the play, we filmed some scenes to make a movie of the play. Our movie is finally done! Watch it here:



The Little Old Trixie Who Was Not Afraid of Anything from Stephen MacLellan on Vimeo.

To see the script we wrote, visit our Mo Willems website.

The Play!

We have our play tomorrow, Thursday December 5th, at 8:30am. Families are invited to attend, but we will also be making a video of the play for those who aren't able to be there.

We are very excited!

--
Stephen MacLellan
Lowell Elementary School
Watertown, MA
stephen.maclellan@watertown.k12.ma.us

Play Project

At the end of our author study of Mo Willems, we started a play project.

First, we read a book called The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything, by Linda Williams.

Next, we chose characters from Mo Willems's books that we could use in our play. We wrote a script with these characters, and the new lines they would say.

We did a table read of the script, all sitting around the circle instead of standing up and acting. We did a number of table reads to help familiarize us with the script, our lines, and our cues.

Now, we are dividing up into working groups to tackle some of the details we need to attend to before we can perform the play.

We have a costume group. These students made a list of all the characters, and are designing a costume for each character.

We have a set group. These students are designing the set, and will direct others when we construct it.

We have an invitation, ticket, and promotion group. These students will choose who to invite, will design the invitations, the promotional material, and any handouts. They also had to choose what kind of tickets we would use. A big question was whether or not we needed to have a barcode on each ticket. If we don't have a barcode, some of us are worried that people who want to see the show could just make their own tickets out of paper at home. We will have to figure this problem out.

We have a prop group. These students read through the play and are deciding what props we need to have in the play. They need to get very specific. What kind of basket should Trixie carry with her on her walk in the forest? How will we get a basket?

Finally, we have a movie group. These students are developing the movie version of the play. They will make a shot list and conduct the necessary video recordings.

We have a lot of work, and not much time to do it! Like all performances, we might make a mistake, but the show must go on!

A copy of our script is attached at the bottom of this page on our class website.

Bean Taste Test

We had our bean taste test today! We shared the beans that we picked from the garden with Ms. Bean's class. 

Some of us love rice and beans. Some of us do not. Some of us only like beans a little. It is ok to have different foods that you like and don't like! We were all brave, and even students who do not like beans tried at least one bean.

When you talk to your family about our bean taste test, ask them if they had foods that they didn't like when they were little. Did their tastes change when they grew up?

--
Stephen MacLellan
Lowell Elementary School
Watertown, MA
stephen.maclellan@watertown.k12.ma.us

How do you cook beans?

Different people have different ways of cooking beans. Here's a video to show how I cook beans at my house. Your family might do it differently, and that's okay.