Smart Play Home School Group

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2007

2ND GRADE HISTORY - learned about the Roman style of government: 2 consuls and 300 senators who advise them. "republic" is "rule by the people." we did discuss that those who could vote were rich men, so "the people" didn't really include everyone. made a diagram of the government as their summary page for the lesson. 2nd lesson taught about how the Romans borrowed from the Greeks their style of architecture, science, government and religion. the Romans renamed the Greek gods and goddesses (many are planets names.) there are cards in their folders that can be used to play Concentration with Greek and Roman names for the gods and goddesses.

2ND GRADE SCIENCE - learned about the scientific method. reviewed what they learned about this last year and added steps for doing an experiment. experiment - 1) gather materials 2) procedures 3) collect data. they got these steps confused with the steps in the scientific method itself (1. question 2. hypothesis 3. experiment 4. conclusion). they had great ideas for doing experiments of their own - they want to see what would happen if we put a balloon in the oven, hypothesis being "it would melt, blow up or catch fire." I told them we'd do this when it cools off enough to use the oven :) did an experiment comparing 2 balls. emphasized that scientists want to find out the truth, that they don't feel like a failure if their hypothesis is incorrect. did an experiment dissolving salt in hot and cold water. interesting results. there is a crossword puzzle in their folders that they should do this week to review the scientific method. on the assessment they had the concepts even if they couldn't remember the exact words.

don't forget about the balances and cubes for tomorrow....Rachelle