Science and Your Second Grader
By the time your child reaches the second grade, they are likely to be used to going to the big school already. They will have settled in well and have made trusted friends. Their science class will progress to slightly more complicated material, but it will build on what they discussed the year before in the first grade.
Under life sciences, your child will learn more about living things and their habitats. The food web or food chains will be discussed with your child. This is meant to show children how animals are interdependent and how all living things are connected, including human beings. Along with this discussion, a discussion on energy and how it affects ecosystems will also be talked about.
Life science in the second grade becomes more specific in the subject of life as it discusses the basics of cells, life cycles, and genetics. Life cycles and genetics are related to the first discussion on the food web because they illustrate the different ways life can begin and end for animals, and it also shows how each animal fulfills its role in the earth's giant ecosystem.
Apart from understanding the living beings on earth, your second grader will advance their earth science studies by learning about the sun and time and how the observed motion of the sun is connected to the movement of the earth. The basics of solar power or energy from the sun will also be discussed as part of the discussion on alternative energy for the earth and conservation of natural resources.
Importantly, though, earth science in the second grade will begin to discuss the materials that form our home planet. It will talk about the rocks and minerals found on earth as well as how each layer is made of a different material. There will also be an introduction to the earth's atmospheric layers, though most second grade classes will not go into this subject in depth.
Finally, in the world of physical science, your second grade child will learn more about measurements and basic tools, specifically weight. They will start learning different systems of measurement and be taught how to measure distance and other properties of objects. This leads to a discussion on matter and its phases. By the time the second grade ends, your child will be an expert at recognizing the different states and phases of matter.
Physical science will end with the introduction to the strange forces of nature, starting with magnets and their history. Magnets and how they work will be discussed. Your child will also get an introduction on how to use magnets and how they affect us. The concept of energy harnessed from magnets will be introduced.
Next Article: Second Grade Questions: Inductive Reasoning
