South Lake Elementary School

Media Center → Second Grade Learning Zone

Second Grade Learning Zone

Math
Reading
Science
Social Studies

Math

Math Games

• Weekly Brain Teasers- Choose your grade level for weekly challenges; solutions are posted the following week, with archives of past puzzles. Students can submit answers directly.
• Elementary Math Problem of the Week- Printable problems for elementary math classes; you can submit your class answers online or wait for the solutions.
• Math Magic Challenges- Archives of Math Magic Challenges by grade level.
• Interactive Math Website- Impressive content and features are well organized and useful for both teachers and students.
• FunBrain Games-Test your skills at different levels. A great mind exercise.
• Math Mania- Clink on a book to see student-generated questions and book summaries!
• Mathematics Lessons that are Fun! Fun! Fun!- Advanced activities for Grades 3 -5.

Reading

Reading is Fun!

• Primary Links for Kids!!- MCPS Early Childhood Technology Literacy Project.
• Little Explorers Alphabet  Learn the alphabet by exploring the web.
• Enchanted Learning-  Picture Dictionary with Links
• Online Children's Stories-Stories available on the Internet to read.
• Children's Literature Authors and Illustrators- Web sites links to authors and illustrators.
• 700+ Great Sites- Amazing, Spectacular, Mysterious, Wonderful Web Sites for Kids.
• Cool Sites for Kids- READING AND WRITING, FACTS AND LEARNING, and JUST FOR FUN!

Science

Balancing and Weighing
Balancing and Weighing: Children explore the relationship between balance and weight and learn strategies for making comparisons. They explore by manipulating objects on a beam balance, building mobiles, and by using an equal-arm balance. The relationship of density, weight, and volume among different foods is explored. Balancing and Weighing was developed by the National Science Resources Center with support from the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution.

The Life Cycle of Butterflies
The Life Cycle of Butterflies: Children observe and record the changes of painted lady butterfly larvae from caterpillar to adult. As they observe the changes, children learn about stages of development and structure of the organisms. Misconceptions they may have held are challenged through observation and discussion. The Life Cycle of Butterflies was developed by the National Science Resources Center with support from the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution.

•  Lesson Plan: Butterflies and Moths

Liquids
Liquids: Children investigate substances that are dissolved and returned to their original form. They make solutions, observe evaporation, and discover how some solutions crystallize. They explore properties of liquids which include surface tension, miscibility, and density. This unit combines two GEMS (Great Explorations in Math and Science), publications, Liquid Explorations and Involving Dissolving. They were developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley.

• Involving Dissolving/Liquid ExplorationGreat website for teachers and students after doing lessons "Raindrops and Oil Drops", "Ocean in a Bottle", and "Secret Salad Dressing." Don't miss the extention activity where the students can do their own liquid layering!

Worms Project  

• Wild About Wiggly Worms!
• Full Worm Moon
• Squirmy Wormy Research

Social Studies

Unit I: Our Community

• Pathfinder- Here are the Places in Our Neighborhood
• Lesson Plan: A Walking Map of our Community
• Montgomery County The web site of the Montgomery County Government
• Montgomery County Planning Board  A lot of great information about Montgomery County.

Unit II: Many Kinds of Communities

• Pennsylvania Dutch  A look at this rural community.
• Gaithersburg, Maryland  A local suburban community's web site.
• New York, New York The web site for "The Capital of the World." Lots of information about this urban community.
• Washington, DC  The official web site for our nation's capital.

Unit III: Many Communities - One Nation

• Lesson Plan: Discovering the USA - Many Communities: One Nation
• Landform Maps of the United States  A Huge collection of maps of The United States.
• The History of Labor Day  The US Department of Labor's History of Labor Day.
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day A very complete site about the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr Day.
• The First Thanksgiving  Read the story behind why we celebrate Thanksgiving Day.
• Happy Birthday America  A multimedia explanation of why we celebrate the Fourth of July.

Multicultural Activities

• Women on the Web- Lesson Plan
• The Multicultural Holiday Calendar  KidLink site organizes holidays by months, country, and name.
• Hispanic-American History Month Websites
• MCPS Thanksgiving Websites
• MCPS Winter Holiday Websites
• Martin Luther King Holiday/Black History Month Websites
• President's Day Websites
• Earth Day Bookmarks