Measuring and Comparing

Dear Parents,

This week your child will be learning how to measure and compare organisms and objects using standard and nonstandard units. As part of our TEKS, your child should be able to use age-appropriate tools and models to verify that organisms and objects can be observed, described, and measured.

Standard Units include such tools as rulers, meter sticks, measuring cups, thermometers, balances, measuring tape, and computers just to name a few.

Nonstandard units would include tools such as noodles, cotton balls, yarn, pens, shoes,etc.

http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/firstgarden/fundamentals/index.html

This talks about planting a garden. It has link to directions on measuring different parts of the garden. There is a journal as well as other activities that would be involved in starting a journal including when to start planning for the garden. This is something so fun and hands-on that you and your child can do together. This is something ongoing that your child can be proud of and the memories will last a lifetime.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=33

This website lets your child practice using an online balance and putting shapes on each side. At the same time, they will be able to see if two items are equal or not and therefore compare the objects.

http://www.brainpopjr.com/math/measurement/inchesandfeet/grownups.weml#parents

This website has activities to do with your child. The first one is to use nonstandard units to measure and record your child's height. The other is to use footsteps to make a map of your neighborhood. I think you and your child will have fun together doing these activities.

These activities will be fun for you and your child and can be ongoing over an extended period of time. I hope you enjoy this special time with your child learning together.

Mrs. Hudson

Changes in the Weather

Dear Parents,

We will be learning about changes in the weather next week. Again, this is part of our second grade Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Your child is expected to observe, measure, and record changes in the weather.

Some of the changes we will be looking at are:

1. air pressure.
2. jet streams.
3. fronts.
4. precipitation.
5. squall lines.
6. the sun.
7. air density.
8. winds.
9. when water changes forms.

Here are some Internet sites that you and your child can learn and explore together. All of these sites will help your child to learn about what causes the weather to change.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/basics/wworks0.htm

This is a very useful website. It is a list of resources of just about anything you would ever want to know about the weather and more! It is very interesting and you and your child can learn together.

http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/weather/index.html

This would be a good website for kids who are very curious. It goes through the research process and gives them the resources to use to answer a simple question. It also includes questions that will enable students to think critically. This is something you can help your child with and give them good practice on how to do research.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/wwatch/investigate/weather_maker.htm

This website gives instructions on how to make an interactive weather maker and another activity is included on how to investigate weather using the weather maker. This is a hands-on activity that your child will enjoy doing with you as they learn about changes in the weather.

Enjoy learning about the weather and how certain factors affect the changes in the weather.

Mrs. Hudson

The Water Cycle

Dear Parents,

This week, we are learning about the water cycle. The processes that we are learning about include:

1. evaporation.
2. condensation.
3. transpiration.
4. precipitation.
5. collection.

We are also discussing where all of our water comes from such as the oceans, groundwater, etc. There is a lot of information about the water cycle and lots of fun websites. Below are just a few. If you put "the water cycle" into google.com, it will bring up thousands of websites.

Learning about the water cycle is part of the second Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Your child should be able to describe and illustrate the water cycle.

I hope you enjoy these activities and websites with your children.

http://www.kidzone.ws/water/

This website gives you and your children a great overview with diagrams and pictures. There are also coloring pages or the pages can be used as posters.

http://www.tomsnyder.com/products/productextras/SCISCI/watercycle.html

This website asks the question, "Is there water in our air?" It is followed by two simple experiments. One is an experiment on condensation and the other a way to make it rain in your kitchen. At the bottom, there is a link to answer the question. These are very simple hands-on activities that you can do with your child.

http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/kids/kids_k-3.html

This one has games and activities as your child learns about the water cycle including an interactive water cycle and how to build your own water cycle with everyday items.

http://www.gma.org/tidings/drop/index.html

This is an interesting one. It talks about watershed maps. There is also an activity that I really like. It is an activity to figure out how much water your family uses.

http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/games/

Here is a website with all kinds of games about water. There are puzzles, a quiz, a map game, and coloring pages.

Enjoy learning about our water and the water cycle together with these hours of fun-filled activities! Let me know how it went...

Mrs. Hudson

Living and Nonliving Things

Dear Parents,

We are learning about living and nonliving things in science. The characteristics of living things are that they:

1. grow.
2. breathe.
3. reproduce.
4. respond to stimuli.
5. have basic needs such as nourishment.

Being able to identify characteristics of living and nonliving things as well as distinguish between living and nonliving are part of the second grade Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).

I have put together some websites that you and your child can visit to learn more about living and nonliving things. They are filled with activities that you and your child can do together.


http://www.scaquarium.org/curriculum/activities/k_two/liv_nonliv/forest1.htm

At this website, your child can choose different habitats and click on the items and it will tell them if an item is living or nonliving. It also gives them characteristics of why it is or isn't living. This is something fun you can sit with your child and talk about the different items. You can extend beyond what the website offers by asking your child questions about other items around the house.



http://www.funology.com/games/detail.cfm?go=80&type=games

This website has instructions for fun games. This particular one is called Alphabet Animals. It is a game to be played with two or more people. It can be modified to practice naming living or non living things. It is a fun way to learn with your children. If they get one wrong, you can have a discussion with your child why they think that and explain to them why that is not correct.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/kids/bookmarkfactory/

This website is through National Geographic for kids. This is a bookmark activity. Bookmarks can be used in reading and they can type in words for the bookmarks so this activity integrates other subjects also. The objects that can be put on the bookmark are a mixture of living and nonliving things. I don't think this activity was originally geared towards living and nonliving, but I can easily see how this can be a fun activity to reinforce this concept by making bookmarks about living and nonliving items.

I hope you enjoy these activities with your child. Let me hear from you. I would love to hear about what you and your child did together.

Welcome!

Welcome to Science for Families edublog. At this edublog, you will find activities, resources, and links that families can do together at home. These blogs will support science instruction and are based on the Texas Education Standards. I hope you find the information fun and useful. Enjoy!

Mrs. Hudson