2nd Grade NGSS Mystery Science Materials Unit at Sherman Oaks

The 2nd graders at Sherman Oaks Elementary school are hard at work learning about materials and their properties, one of their new NGSS performance expectations! Their teacher, Maria Guevara, is one of our new NGSS Teacher Leaders, and invited me to try out a Mystery Science Lesson with her. All 2nd - 5th grade units are currently available for a free trial on https://mysteryscience.com/ K - 1st grade units should also be available in the fall.
The students started by watching a few short videos and discussing the guiding question: Why do we wear clothes? Students were introduced to different material properties like, light, heavy, hard, soft, stretch, and staff.

Students were then given the challenge of designing a hat using different materials. They first tested all of the materials for softness, stiffness, and sweat-soaking (water).

They then used what they had learned about each material to design and create a hat that they could wear outside. We added that they should think about all of the reasons why people wear hats, and if their hat was providing protection from the sunlight and rain and was comfortable!


The second graders can't wait to test their hats outside!


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