Second Grade Social Studies
People Working Together
Unit
August-November
UNIT 1: Citizenship
and Government:
Welcome to School
(What Does It Take
to Get People
Working Together?)
Big Idea:
Working together
makes solving
problems easier.
Rules are made so
that everyone is
treated fairly.
Essential Questions:
1. How can people
work together
more
effectively?
2. Why are rules
necessary?
3. What are traits
of good
citizens?
Expectations for
Learning
Government
10. Demonstrate personal
accountability, including
making responsible
choices and taking
responsibility
for personal actions and
respecting others.
11. Work effectively in a
group to complete a task
or solve a problem for
which the group is held
accountable.
12. Demonstrate an
understanding of the
different rules in different
settings.
History: (Ongoing)
1. Measure calendar time
by days, weeks,
months and years.
Place a series of related
events in chronological
order on a timeline
Instructional Strategies
Suggestions from State:
 Develop classroom
rules/consequences
 Develop monthly goals-chart progress
 IMS Lesson-Follow the Leader
 Design public service announcements
that demonstrate respect and
responsibility.
 Use graphic organizer to compare and
contrast rules in different settings.
 Offer various scenarios for class
discussion, such as What would you
do if you found a dollar on the floor?
Talk about how an individual’s choice
often impacts others.
 Introduce a talking stick into the
classroom. Students hold the stick
when it is their turn to speak in class.
Allow students to make the rules
about behavior of those who do not
have the talking stick.
 Read Cinderella. Discuss questions
such as “What if the stepsisters had
been kind to Cinderella? What if
everyone was treated equally”
Connect to treating others with
respect.

Assessments/
Resources

IMS Lesson –
Follow the
Leader
Citizenship Booklet
Government Booklet
Unit
Expectations for
December-January
Learning
History
UNIT 2:
1. Measure calendar
History/People in
time by days,
Societies: How do
weeks, months
we work
and years. Place a
together?
series of related
events in
Big Idea:
chronological order
Contributions of
on a time line.
different cultures
2. Use artifacts,
have made us who
maps and
we are today.
photographs to
describe how daily
life has changed
Essential
over time.
Questions:
3. Describe how
What makes a
science and
culture?
technology have
How can I make a
changed daily life.
difference in the
4. Use information
world?
from a biography
How has science and
to describe how
technology changed
the actions of
daily life?
individuals have
impacted in the
world today.
Instructional Strategies
Suggestions from State
 Use a calendar to determine
the day, week, month and
year.
 Use dates and events from
biographies and place them in
chronological order on a time
line.
 Focus on a current event and
have students place related
events on a timeline.
 Create a classroom mural of
events depicting the school
year.
 Read biographies that relate
stories of people from diverse
backgrounds who have
contributed to our heritage.
 Organize scrapbooks of
photos related to activities in
daily life and representing
past and present time periods
in different places.
 Create a classroom museum
of artifacts that reflect change
over time regarding a certain
topic.
 Create a multimedia
presentation that describes
how science and technology
have changed communication
and travel over time.
 Create a baseball card about a
historic person. Include
pictures and stats.
 Investigate current event
Assessments/Resources
IMS Lessons:
 Making a Difference
 Inventions
 Living History
Museum: Jobs of the
Past
 Something Old,
Something New,
Something Changed
Geography
6: Explain the
connection between the
work people do and the
human and physical
characteristics of the
place where they live.
7. Describe positive and
negative results of
human changes to the
physical environment.


8. Describe how cultures
are influenced by their
physical environments to
meet basic needs.
9. Describe examples of
cultural sharing with
respect to food,
language and customs.



issue such as an oil spill or
air/water pollution and have
students describe the positive
and negative effects of these
activities.
Research the cultural
characteristics of a selfselected group of people
(culture) and use the
information to make a doll,
shelter, recipe, tool or other
product that represents the
culture.
Design a multi-media
presentation that
demonstrates the food,
clothing, shelter, language
and artistic expressions of a
specific culture. Guide
students to make inferences
about the influence of the
physical environment on the
way people meet their needs.
Look at pictures of various
kinds of shelters and
determine what they used
from the physical
environment o construct
them.
Bring guest speakers from
various cultures into the
classroom to talk about their
way of life.
Use take out menus that
reflect different cultures to
have students compare the
different foods.
Unit
February-March
UNIT 3:
Geography:
Where Are We?
Big Idea:
Symbols and
cardinal directions
are used to
determine where
objects and places
are located on maps
and globes.
Location, climate
and physical
surroundings affect
the way people live.
Essential
Questions:
1. Why is
knowing
“where”
important?
2. How does
knowing
about
geography
help me?
Expectations for
Learning
Geography
5.
Describe the
information provided
on print and electronic
maps using the map
and its symbols.
Construct a map that
includes a map and a
key.
6.
Explain the
connection between
the work people do and
the human and
physical characteristics
of the place where they
live.
7.
Describe positive
and negative results of
human changes to the
physical environment.
History
2: Use artifacts, maps
and photographs to
describe how daily life
has changed over time.
Instructional Strategies
Suggestions from State
 Create own island and make a map with a key to
it. Students can write questions for other
students to answer using the map and its
symbols.
 Use a treasure map of classroom, school or
playground and find a “prize.”
 Play “spin the globe”. One student closes his/her
eyes, spins and points. Discuss land/water,
mountains, country, oceans.
 Using pen pals or Skype, communicate with
students in distant locations to get information
about the human and physical characteristics of
that place and the kinds of jobs performed there.
Using what they have learned, have students
make inferences about the impact of the physical
characteristics of the work that the people do.
 Provide students with photographs of various
places and people doing various types of jobs.
Ask students to match the worker or job to the
place where the job would be performed. Have
students explain reasoning behind their matches.
 Investigate current-event issues such as an oil
spill or air/water pollution and have students
describe the positive and negative effects of
these activities.
Content Elaboration
People depend upon the physical environment to
survive, and modify the physical environment to suit
their needs. Adaptations have both positive and
negative consequences. Examples of physical
environment modifications include: Dams help
control flooding and provide areas for recreation, but
also destroy animal habitats; a new highway
improves transportation, but valuable farmland may
be destroyed.
Assessments/
Resources
Unit
April-May
UNIT 4:
Economics: How
do we work
together to get
what we want?
Big Idea:
Urban, suburban and
rural communities are
influenced by
geographic,
environmental and
economic factors.
Economic choices,
based upon the
scarcity of resources,
affect the goods and
services provided by
different societies.
Essential
Questions:
1. How do people
get what they
want/need?
2. How do we
make choices
about what we
buy, and how
do these
Expectations for
Learning
Economics
13. Construct a bar
graph to compare
quantities.
14. Describe various
uses for a resource.
15. Explain why most
people work in jobs
where specific goods
and services are
produced.
16. Explain how
people buy and sell
goods and services
using money.
17. Explain how
people earn income.
Geography
6. Explain the
connection between
the work people do
and the human and
physical
characteristics of the
Instructional Strategies
Suggestions from State
 Create human bar graphs
and compare lengths of
lines.
 Create bar graphs based on
the questions and
responses in a studentdesigned survey.
 Using Penpals or Skype,
communicate with students
in different locations to get
information about the
human and physical
characteristics of that place
and the kinds of jobs that
are done there.
 Provide students with
photographs of various
places and people doing
various types of jobs. Ask
students to match worker
or job to the place where
the job would be done.
Have students explain the
reasoning behind their
matches.
 Use a graphic organizer to
illustrate all the ways a
specific resource can be
used.
 Give students a list of
resources and they can
brainstorm multiple uses for
each resource. (e.g., trees,
used for houses, fuel,
paper, pencils or furniture)
 As an introduction to goods
and services, have students
participate in a classroom
Assessments/Resources
Economics Book
IMS Lessons:







A Place, A Job, A Product
Environments
Jobs Produce Goods and
Services
Money Matters
Using Resources
People and Jobs: Work That
Makes a Difference
choices affect
production?
3. How does
something
acquire value?
place where they live.

History
3: Describe how
science and
technology have
changed daily life.



goods and services market.
Role play situations where
students use play money to
purchase goods and
services they want.
Start a discussion about
what it would be like to live
in a world without money.
Ask students “What makes
money a good way to buy
things? Does currency
make our life simpler?”
Career Day: Invite
community members to talk
about how they earn money
in the work that they do.
Create a multimedia
presentation that describes
how science and technology
have changed
communication and travel
over time (e.g., rotary
phones to cell phones;
books to Kindles, radios to
ipod)