Science Grade 2 Student Monitoring Plan

Name:

School Year:

 

Skills and Processes: Students will demonstrate the thinking and acting inherent in the practice of science.

Constructing Knowledge

Raise questions about the world around them and be willing to seek answers to some of them by making careful observations and trying things out.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Describe what can be learned about things by just observing those things carefully and adding information by sometimes doing something to the things and noting what happens.             Seek information through reading, observation, exploration, and investigations.             Use tools such as thermometers, magnifiers, rulers, or balances to extend their senses and gather data.             Explain that when a science investigation is done the way it was done before, we expect to get a very similar result.             Participate in multiple experiences to verify that science investigations generally work the same way in different places.             Suggest things that you could do to find answers to questions raised by observing objects and/or phenomena (events such as, water disappearing from the classroom aquarium or a pet's water bowl).             Use whole numbers and simple, everyday fractions in ordering, counting, identifying, measuring, and describing things and experiences.

Applying Evidence and Reasoning

People are more likely to believe your ideas if you can give good reasons for them.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Provide reasons for accepting or rejecting ideas examined.             Develop reasonable explanations for observations made, investigations completed, and information gained by sharing ideas and listening to others' ideas.             Explain why it is important to make some fresh observations when people give different descriptions of the same thing.

Communicating Scientific Information

Ask, "How do you know?" in appropriate situations and attempt reasonable answers when others ask them the same question.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Describe things as accurately as possible and compare observations with those of others.             Describe and compare things in terms of number, shape, texture, size, weight, color, and motion.             Draw pictures that correctly portray at least some features of the thing being described and sequence events (seasons, seed growth).             Have opportunities to work with a team, share findings with others, and recognize that all team members should reach their own conclusions about what the findings mean.             Recognize that everybody can do science and invent things and ideas.

Technology

Design and make things with simple tools and a variety of materials.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Make something out of paper, cardboard, wood, plastic, metal, or existing objects that can actually be used to perform a task.             Recognize that tools are used to do things better or more easily and to do some things that could not otherwise be done at all.             Assemble, describe, take apart and reassemble constructions using interlocking blocks, erector sets and the like.             Recognize that some kinds of materials are better than others for making any particular thing, for example, materials that are better in some ways (such as stronger and cheaper) may be worse in other ways (such as heavier and harder to cut).             Explain that sometimes it is not possible to make or do everything that is designed.

Practice identifying the parts of things and how one part connects to and affects another.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Investigate a variety of objects to identify that most things are made of parts             Explain that something may not work if some of its parts are missing.             Explain that when parts are put together, they can do things that they couldn't do by themselves.

Examine a variety of physical models and describe what they teach about the real things they are meant to resemble.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Explain that a model of something is different from the real thing but can be used to learn something about the real thing.             Realize that one way to describe something is to say how it is like something else.

January 2008

 

Science Grade 2 Student Monitoring Plan

Name:

School Year:

 

Earth/Space Science: Students will use scientific skills and processes to explain the chemical and physical interactions (i.e., natural forces and cycles, transfer of energy) of the environment, Earth, and the universe that occur over time.

Materials and Processes That Shape A Planet

Describe and compare properties of a variety of Earth materials.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Classify a collection of rocks based on the properties that distinguish one type from another.             Collect soil from different locations and compare the properties of the samples. Color Texture Reaction to water Remains of living things             Use examples of observations from places around the school and neighborhood to describe ways Earth materials can change. Changes caused by humans and other animals Changes caused by water, wind, etc.

Astronomy

Observe and describe changes over time in the properties, location, and motion of celestial objects.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Identify and record observable properties of the sun, moon, and stars.             Identify and record the apparent visible changes in the shape of the moon over two months of observations.             Observe and record changes in the location of the sun and moon in the sky over time.             Describe and compare the patterns of change that occur in the sun and the moon.

Interactions of Hydrosphere and Atmosphere

Recognize and describe that the surface of Earth is more than half covered with water.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Identify the many locations where water is found.             Describe the changes that occur to water found anywhere.

January 2008

 

Science Grade 2 Student Monitoring Plan

Name:

School Year:

 

Life Science: The students will use scientific skills and processes to explain the dynamic nature of living things, their interactions, and the results from the interactions that occur over time.

Genetics

Explain that there are identifiable stages in the life cycles (growth, reproduction, and death) of plants and animals.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Investigate and describe that seeds change and grow into plants.             Compare and describe the changes that occur in humans during their life cycle (birth, newborn, child, adolescent, adult, elder).             Given pictures of stages in the life cycle of a plant or an animal, determine the sequence of the stages in the life cycle.             Provide examples, using observations and information from readings that life cycles differ from species to species.

Evolution

Observe and describe examples of variation (differences) among individuals of one kind within a population.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Observe and describe individuals in familiar animal populations, such as cats or dogs, to identify how they look alike and how they are different.             Examine pictures of organisms that lived long ago, such as dinosaurs, and describe how they resemble organisms that are alive today.             Recognize that some kinds of organisms have completely disappeared.

Ecology

Explain that organisms can grow and survive in many very different habitats.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Investigate a variety of familiar and unfamiliar habitats and describe how animals and plants found there maintain their lives and survive to reproduce.             Explain that organisms live in habitats that provide their basic needs. Food Water Air Shelter             Explain that animals and plants sometimes cause changes in their environments.

January 2008

 

Science Grade 2 Student Monitoring Plan

Name:

School Year:

 

Chemistry: Students will use scientific skills and processes to explain the composition, structure, and interactions of matter in order to support the predictability of structure and energy transformations.

Structure of Matter

Cite evidence from investigations that most things are made of parts.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Examine a variety of objects, such as toys, objects made from Legos or Tinker Toys to identify and describe the parts from which they are made.             Take objects apart and rearrange the parts to identify and describe the ways the parts work together.             Ask and seek answers to "What if" questions about the changes made to the objects and how they affect the way objects work, for example, if a part were left out of the object would it make a difference in how the object works?

Conservation of Matter

Provide evidence from investigations that things can be done to materials to change some of their properties.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Based on evidence from investigations describe that materials, such as clay are not changed by certain actions, such as reshaping or breaking into pieces.             Ask and seek answers to questions about what happened to the materials if other things were done to them, such as being placed in a freezer, heated, etc.

Physical and Chemical Changes

Provide evidence from investigations to identify processes that can be used to change physical properties of materials.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Based on investigations, describe what changes occur to the observable properties of various materials when they are subjected to the processes of wetting, cutting, bending, and mixing.             Compare the observable properties of objects before and after they have been subjected to various processes.             Ask and seek answers to "What if" questions about what might happen to the materials if different processes, such as heating, freezing, and dissolving were used to change them.

January 2008

 

Science Grade 2 Student Monitoring Plan

Name:

School Year:

 

Physics: Students will use scientific skills and processes to explain the interactions of matter and energy and the energy transformations that occur

Thermodynamics

Identify and describe ways in which heat can be produced.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Recognize that things that give off light also give off heat.             Describe methods of producing heat. Burning Friction between surfaces Electricity in wires             Identify fuels that are used to produce light and heat in homes and schools.

Electricity and Magnetism

Identify and describe the sources and uses of electricity in daily life.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Identify sources of electricity. Electrical outlets Batteries             Identify the devices that use electricity to produce light, heat, and sound. (Students should be cautioned not to experiment with sources of electricity without adult supervision.)

January 2008

 

Science Grade 2 Student Monitoring Plan

Name:

School Year:

 

Environmental Science: Students will use scientific skills and processes to explain the interactions of environmental factors (living and non-living) and analyze their impact from a local to a global perspective.

Natural Resources and Human Needs

Recognize and explain how Earth's natural resources from the natural environment are used to meet human needs.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Describe natural resources as something from the natural environment that is used to meet one's needs.             Identify water, air, soil, minerals, animals, and plants as basic natural resources.             Explain that food, fuels, and fibers are produced from basic natural resources.             Identify ways that humans use Earth's natural resources to meet their needs.             Explain that some natural resources are limited and need to be used wisely.

Environmental Issues

Recognize and describe that the activities of individuals or groups of individuals can affect the environment.

Objective(s) Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Date/ Level Comments Identify and describe that individual and group actions, such as turning off lights, conserving water, recycling, picking up litter, or joining an organization can extend the natural resources of the environment.             Identify and describe that individual and group actions, such as leaving lights on, wasting water, or throwing away recyclables, can limit the natural resources of the environment.

January 2008