I am STEM Lesson Library for Grade 2

All lessons align to Grade-Level ELA Standards

Lessons at a Glance

Full Lessons

Grade 2 • The Most Magnificent Thing

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The Most Magnificent Thing

Christina Katerina and The Box book cover

Lesson Summary

The main character loves to invent, design, and build. She has an idea for a magnificent invention and spends the whole day building and redesigning this invention. All of her hard work and iterations lead her to her final design of a sidecar that attaches to her scooter so that she can travel with her dog.

Challenge: You have to take a pet to the vet, but there isn’t enough room in your family’s vehicle. Design and build an addition/ pet carrier to the vehicle that will transport the pet safely down the hill to the vet. Explore various surfaces of the wheels, ramp, and/or floor that will slow down the vehicle/pet carrier so everyone arrives safely.

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ELA Standards

  • Comprehension and Collaboration

Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).

Build on others’ talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others.

Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under discussion

STE or Math Standards/Practices

  • 2-PS3-1(MA). Design and conduct an experiment to show the effects of friction on the relative temperature and speed of objects that rub against each other. 

    Clarification Statements: • Examples could include an object sliding on rough vs. smooth surfaces. • Observations of temperature and speed should be qualitative.

Video

The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

Grade 2 • Christina Katerina and the Box

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Christina Katerina and the Box

Christina Katerina and The Box book cover

Lesson Summary

Protect a cardboard box from getting wet

Christina Katerina loves boxes. She makes them into cars, ships, and ballrooms. When the dancing floor was mopped with water, the cardboard disintegrated and the game was over.

In this challenge students will help Christina Katerina protect her box and make it waterproof. They will test different materials for the property of water absorbency, analyze data, and create a waterproof cardboard.

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ELA Standards

  • Writing
    W.2.5. With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.

STE or Math Standards/Practices

  • Matter and Its Interactions:
    2.PS1.1. Describe and classify different kinds of materials by observable properties of color, flexibility, hardness, texture, and absorbency. 
    2.PS1.2. Test different materials and analyze the data obtained to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.* 

Video

Christina Katerina and the Box by Patricia Lee Gauch

Grade 2 • Help! A Story of Friendship

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Help! A Story of Friendship

Design A Way To Get Mouse Out Of The Hole

A mouse is friends with other animals.  One friend tells Mouse to be careful of Snake, because snakes eat mice.  Mouse becomes afraid of his friend, Snake.  He becomes so upset when he is out walking he doesn’t notice a large hole in the ground and falls in.  How can his friends get him out of the hole?  In this challenge the students will design and build a different way to get Mouse out of the hole.

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STE or Math Standards

  • Engineering Design:2.K.2.ETS1.3. Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same design problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each object performs.*

ELA Standards

  • Comprehension and Collaboration
    CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
    CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1.A. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions.
    CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1.B. Build on others’ talk in conversations by linking their comments to the remarks of others.
    CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.2.1.C. Ask for clarification and further explanation as needed about the topics and texts under discussion

Video

Help! A Story of Friendship by Holly Keller

Grade 2 • Hello Lighthouse

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Hello Lighthouse

Lesson Summary

Design a Room

This book tells the story of a family that lives in an unusual building: a lighthouse. How do you accommodate regular furniture in a round room? Students will be taking the role of interior designers to design the family’s bedroom after the baby arrives. They will be sketching and organizing furniture in the circular room, and then building a 3-D model of the room. Students will be comparing multiple solutions to compare the strengths and weaknesses of each one.

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Reading Standards for Literature (RL):

  • Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
    7. Use the information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate an understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
  • Knowledge of Language
    3. Use knowledge of the language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

STE or Math Standards/Practices

  • Reason with shapes and their attributes
    1. Recognize and draw shapes having specified attributes, such as a given number of angles or a given number of equal faces.12 Identify triangles, squares, rectangles, rhombuses, trapezoids, pentagons, hexagons, and cubes.
    2. Partition circles and rectangles into two, three, or four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, thirds, half of, a third of, etc., and describe the whole as two halves, three thirds, four fourths. Recognize that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape.

Video

Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall