Lower School
Curious Scientists
If your child likes mysteries, she’ll love second grade science! Alongside faith, science is our attempt to understand the longest-running mystery we know: how the universe came to be and how we as humans fit into it. In Earth science, second graders will investigate what different rocks are made of. Your child will play the “animal, mineral, vegetable” game that was a staple of family road trips long before the iPad. She will cast fossil-like molds and examine petrified bones.
To explore the properties of matter, your child will concoct quicksand with cornstarch and water and test different objects to see if they sink or float. He will ponder how wind and water can change the shape of the land and discover whether the stick and paper house he builds can withstand a landslide. What kind of simple machine is an ax, a nutcracker, or a jar lid? Second grade scientists will embark on a scavenger hunt for real-life examples of wedges, levers, screws, and other simple machines, then construct one out of recycled materials. Books like The Tiny Seed and The Carrot Seed will introduce your child to the characteristics of plants—what they need to grow and how they depend on animals to pollinate them and disperse their seeds. Then your child will get his hands dirty in our garden getting a close-up look at how tomatoes, carrots, and beans grow. And all along, your child is adding to an ever-growing list of clues about the mystery and miracle of life.
