Grade 2
Social Studies
Unit: 05
Lesson: 03
Suggested Duration: 4 Days
Recursos, estado del tiempo y peligros
Lesson Synopsis:
Students look at the weather and seasonal patterns, natural resources, and natural hazards of different regions and
consider how these physical characteristics affect settlement patterns.
TEKS:
2.7
Geography. The student understands how physical characteristics of places and regions affect people's activities
and settlement patterns. The student is expected to:
2.7A
Describe how weather patterns and seasonal patterns affect activities and settlement patterns.
2.7B
Describe how natural resources and natural hazards affect activities and settlement patterns.
2.7C
Explain how people depend on the physical environment and natural resources to meet basic needs.
Social Studies Skills TEKS:
2.18
2.18B
2.19
2.19B
Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a
variety of sources including electronic technology. The student is expected to:
Obtain information about a topic using a variety of valid visual sources such as pictures, maps, electronic sources,
literature, reference sources, and artifacts.
Social studies skills. The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms. The student is expected to:
Create written and visual material such as stories, poems, maps, and graphic organizers to express ideas.
GETTING READY FOR INSTRUCTION
Performance Indicator(s):

Given a choice of regions, choose a region you think would be best to live in. Write a poem about the region
justifying your choice and providing information on natural resources, natural hazards, and weather patterns; how
the physical characteristics of the region affect people's activities; and how people use the physical environment
and natural resources to meet basic needs. (2.7A, 2.7B, 2.7C; 2.19B; 2.20B)
5B
Key Understandings and Guiding Questions:

La disponibilidad de los recursos naturales, los efectos de los peligros naturales y los patrones del estado del
tiempo determinan las actividades de las personas y los patrones de asentamiento.
— ¿Cómo los patrones del estado del tiempo y los patrones de las estaciones afectan a las actividades y los
patrones de asentamiento?
— ¿Cómo los recursos naturales y los peligros naturales afectan las actividades y los patrones de
asentamiento?
— ¿Cómo dependen las personas del medio ambiente físico y de sus recursos naturales para satisfacer sus
necesidades básicas?
Vocabulary of Instruction:


patrón del estado del
tiempo
patrón de estaciones



patrón de asentamiento
medio ambiente físico
recurso natural

peligro natural
Materials:

Refer to the Notes for Teacher section for materials.
Attachments:


Handout: Regions of Texas Map (optional, 1 per student)
Handout: Natural Resources in Texas (1 per student)
©2013, TESCCC
05/06/13
page 1 of 7
Grade 2
Social Studies
Unit: 05 Lesson: 03
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
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Handout: Weather Matching (1 per student)
Handout: Natural Hazards (1 per student)
Teacher Resource: Natural Hazards KEY
Resources and References:





Information on natural resources in Texas, including oil and gas
http://www.beg.utexas.edu/UTopia/images/pagesizemaps/oilgas.pdf
Information on ecology regions of Texas (trees) http://texastreeid.tamu.edu/content/texasEcoRegions/
Information on water in Texas http://tx.usgs.gov/
Possible optional poems about the weather, seasons, where people live, natural hazards, natural resources.
o Deserted Island by Kristen Otto
o Desert Island by Jim O’Donnell
o Water of Life by Reinette J. Rensburg
o Who has seen the Wind by Christina Rosetti
o Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
o Rain, Rain, Go Away
U.S. Geological Survey website: http://www.usgs.gov/natural_hazards/
Advance Preparation:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Become familiar with content and procedures for the lesson.
Refer to the Instructional Focus Document for specific content to include in the lesson.
Select appropriate sections of the textbook and other classroom materials that support the learning for this lesson.
Preview available resources and websites according to district guidelines.
Collect information about natural hazards from books and websites.
Prepare materials and handouts as needed.
Background Information:
Natural hazards, natural resources, weather and seasonal patterns affect communities and peoples’ settlement patterns.



region – areas of the Earth’s surface that have similar physical or human characteristics distinctive from the
characteristics of neighboring areas
settlement pattern – distribution of human activities across the landscape and the spatial relationship between these
activities and features of the natural and social environment
weather pattern – the state of wind, temperature, and precipitation; a geographic factor that is a physical characteristic
of place
GETTING READY FOR INSTRUCTION SUPPLEMENTAL PLANNING DOCUMENT
Instructors are encouraged to supplement and substitute resources, materials, and activities to differentiate instruction to address the needs of learners.
The Exemplar Lessons are one approach to teaching and reaching the Performance Indicators and Specificity in the Instructional Focus
Document for this unit. Instructors are encouraged to create original lessons using the Content Creator in the Tools Tab located at the top of the page.
All originally authored lessons can be saved in the “My CSCOPE” Tab within the “My Content” area.
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
ENGAGE – Basic Needs
1. Show a picture of a deserted island, or read a poem about a
deserted island. Ask:
 If you were on a deserted island, what would you
need?
2. In triads, students brainstorm a list of items they would need,
placing them in three categories – Food, Clothing, and Shelter
(i.e., an axe to build a shelter.)
3. Students share their ideas with the class.
©2013, TESCCC
05/06/13
NOTE: 1 Day = 50 minutes
Suggested Day 1 – 10 minutes
Materials:
 poem about a deserted island (optional)
 picture of a deserted island (optional)
 chart paper
 pictures of an island
Attachments:
 Handout: Regions of Texas Map (optional, 1
per student)
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Grade 2
Social Studies
Unit: 05 Lesson: 03
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
4. Continue the discussion by asking students to think about the
food, shelter and clothing that are typical in the local
community. Ask questions such as:
 Where do these things come from?
 What are they made of?
5. Divide students into three groups. The first group brainstorms
where the food they eat comes from (other than the grocery
store). The second group brainstorms what the shelters they
live in are made of. The third group brainstorms what their
clothing is made from. (Some groups may speculate on how
those things get to be the products they use.)
6. Facilitate a discussion where student share their ideas and
begin to see a relationship between products they use and
basic needs. They also see that the products come from
somewhere and are made from natural resources. After they
compile their list, students circle any of the items on their list
that might come from the local community.
Purpose:
Explore the idea that people use the natural
resources in their community to meet their needs.
TEKS: 2.7B, 2.7C
Instructional Notes:
Poems and pictures can be found through an
Internet search. The library or classroom materials
may contain resources that could be used.
Students need to think about how the physical
characteristics of a place affect how we live. Near
the ocean, fresh fish is readily available. People play
at the beach. In Ft. Worth, fish has to be trucked or
flown in. When people want to swim, they have to go
to a pool or water park.
7. Show students a map of Texas. If desired, use the Handout:
Regions of Texas Map.
8. Ask students what kinds of fresh foods might be found more
easily in one area than in another. (For example, you may
more readily find fish and citrus in Corpus Christi than in Ft.
Worth, excluding grocery stores.)
9. Set the goal of the lesson by using words such as:
 Many things in the physical environment affect our
lives.
 Natural resources help people meet their needs.
People depend on natural resources and other
features of the physical environment to meet basic
needs.
 Weather and the seasons are features of the physical
environment. They affect the activities of people in an
area/community. They affect where people live.
 How do the seasons and weather affect how people
meet their basic needs?
 How might the seasons and weather affect where
people settle?
 How might the seasons and weather affect activities
of people?
EXPLORE – Natural Resources
1. Students brainstorm (recall) the meaning of the term Natural
Resources and give examples.
2. Display maps showing the location of some resources in
Texas (see Materials in Notes for Teacher). Students interpret
the maps to make inferences about Texas natural resources
such as oil and gas, trees, and water.
3. Students consider how the natural resources of a place
©2013, TESCCC
05/06/13
Suggested Day 1 continued – 30 minutes
Materials:
 information on natural resources in Texas,
including oil and gas:
http://www.beg.utexas.edu/UTopia/images/page
sizemaps/oilgas.pdf
 information on ecology regions of Texas (trees):
http://texastreeid.tamu.edu/content/texasEcoRe
gions/
 information on water in Texas:
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Grade 2
Social Studies
Unit: 05 Lesson: 03
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
affect the people that live there, including where they choose
to live and the activities they perform as a result of the natural
resources (i.e., natural resources provide raw materials for
products; people make a living as a result of natural
resources; natural resources help meet basic needs; and
people live where natural resources are available).
4. Facilitate a discussion where students share their ideas and
the teacher provides or corrects information. Highlight natural
resources in the local area and contrast them with natural
resources in another region of the state. (Regions of the state
include the following: Mountains and Basins, Great Plains,
North Central Plains, Coastal Plains). Pose questions such as:
 What are natural resources?
 What are some examples of natural resources found
in Texas?
 What are some examples of natural resources found
in our area?
 How do these natural resources affect the activities of
people in the area?
http://tx.usgs.gov/
Instructional Notes:
In Kindergarten (TEKS K.5A) and Grade 1 (TEKS
1.6AB), students were introduced to natural
resources.
Natural resources are items provided by nature from
which people produce goods and provide services.
Some examples of natural resources include water,
soil, trees, and oil as well as minerals and metals
such as gold and iron ore. Even abundant fish can
be a natural resource.
5. Use the textbook and other classroom materials to provide
further background on the regions of Texas and their natural
resources, landforms, and other physical characteristics.
EXPLAIN – Natural Resources
1. Distribute the Handout: Natural Resources in Texas.
2. Students draw and label a picture of a natural resource in
each of the boxes around the map and draw lines from the
boxes to at least one area of Texas where the natural
resource is found.
Suggested Day 1 continued – 10 minutes
Attachments:
 Handout: Natural Resources in Texas (1 per
student)
3. Add a sentence or drawing to each box to tell or show how the
natural resource affects activities of people in the area.
4. Students share their maps with a partner while the teacher
circulates, probing with questions, correcting misinformation,
and providing additional information as needed.
EXPLORE – Weather and Seasons
1. If desired, read poems about the weather and seasons or
show pictures of the weather and seasons (optional).
2. Students name the four seasons, which the teacher scribes in
four quadrants of the board or chart/butcher paper.
3. Students discuss the types of weather that occurs in each of
the seasons, contributing to the list.
4. Continue the discussion, bringing in effects of the physical
environment on human activities by asking questions such as:
 Do you play differently in winter than in summer?
 What sorts of things change when you play in the
winter than when you play in the winter?
Suggested Day 2 – 35 minutes
Materials:
 poems about seasons (optional)
 pictures of the seasons (optional)
 chart/butcher paper
 construction or manila paper
 glue
 scissors
Attachments:
 Handout: Weather Matching (1 per student)
Purpose:
Weather and seasons affect the activities of people.
TEKS: 2.7A
©2013, TESCCC
05/06/13
page 4 of 7
Grade 2
Social Studies
Unit: 05 Lesson: 03
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
5. Add activities to the lists for the seasons.
6. Help students come to the conclusion that the physical
environment affects human activities. To consider how the
weather and seasons affect activities of people use questions
such as:
 We just learned about how natural resources affect
things people do. How do the seasons and weather
affect people’s activities?
Instructional Note:
Poems for the seasons can be found online or in the
library.
7. Distribute to each student the Handout: Weather Matching
and a piece of construction or manila paper.
8. Students should fold the construction or manila paper into four
equal sections.
9. As a class, using a reading strategy that is successful for your
class, read aloud the four brief passages about the weather
and seasons.
10. Students cut apart the four passages and four strips of
pictures.
11. They need to independently re-read the passages and match
each passage to the pictures that are the best match.
12. Once the students have made their matches, they should glue
one passage and one strip of pictures into each of the four
sections of the colored paper.
13. After the students have made their matches, they meet with a
partner and briefly discuss why they made their matches.
14. Display a map of Texas and discuss various regions of Texas
(Regions of the state include the following: Mountains and
Basins, Great Plains, North Central Plains, Coastal Plains).
Guide a general discussion about how the weather and
seasons differs in different regions.
15. Facilitate a discussion where students speculate on how the
weather and seasons affect people’s activities, where they
settle, and how people meet their needs for food, clothing, and
shelter (i.e., people grow different foods depending on the
weather and seasons; people dress differently in response to
the weather/seasons; houses may be different as a result of
weather patterns with more or less insulation, more or less air
conditioning, situated to take advantage of or block wind, on
stilts because of floods).
 How might the seasons and weather affect where
people settle?
 How might the seasons and weather affect activities
of people?
EXPLAIN – Weather and seasons
1. In each of the four quadrants of their manila paper, students
should write a sentence to provide an example of how weather
patterns and seasonal patterns affect activities and settlement
©2013, TESCCC
05/06/13
Suggested Day 2 continued – 15 minutes
Materials:
 completed manila paper chart from Explore
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Grade 2
Social Studies
Unit: 05 Lesson: 03
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
patterns and how people meet their basic needs (i.e., in cold
weather, people dress differently in response to their need for
shelter; they do different things – they do not swim in the lake
in the winter, some foods are not available in the winter
because they grow in the summer).
EXPLORE – Natural Hazards
1. Post the following sentences prominently in the classroom:
 Natural hazards can destroy human life and property.
 Natural hazards are not caused by people.
2. Ask students if they have heard of any natural hazards.
Students may be familiar with different natural hazards
depending on where they live and can share information.
3. Prompt students as they think.
 What things caused by nature can be dangerous for
people? (hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes,
fires, floods, insect infestations)
4. After students share their thoughts, distribute the Handout:
Natural Hazards.
5. In pairs, students read the information page and then complete
the questions independently.
6. After students have completed the questions, students meet in
pairs to check their work against the information page (see
Teacher Resource: Natural Hazards KEY).
7. Facilitate a discussion where students relate natural hazards
to settlement patterns (i.e., people may choose not to live in
areas that are prone to natural hazards; they may adapt
building techniques to build shelters that better withstand
natural hazards – build houses on stilts, use materials that will
not burn) and relate natural hazards to activities (i.e., training
on what to do in a natural hazard emergency.)
EXPLAIN – Natural Hazards
Suggested Day 3 – 20 minutes
Materials:
 pictures and information on natural hazards:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazard
s
Attachments:
 Handout: Natural Hazards (1 per student)
 Teacher Resource: Natural Hazards KEY
Purpose:
Natural hazards affect the activities of people as well
as their settlement patterns.
TEKS: 2.7B
Instructional Notes:
A natural hazard is a process or event in the
physical environment, not caused by humans and
not predictable, but which can destroy human life
and property. Natural hazards include hurricanes,
earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, fires, floods,
and insect infestations.
Fascinating information on natural hazards is
available at the U.S. Geological Survey website:
http://www.usgs.gov/natural_hazards/
Suggested Day 3 continued – 15 minutes
Materials:
 paper for drawing
1. Distribute drawing paper to students.
2. Students draw a picture of two natural hazards and tell how
the natural hazard affects people’s activities and settlement
patterns (orally or in a caption).
ELABORATE – Summarize
Suggested Day 3 continued – 15 minutes
1. Bring all learning together in a discussion where students use
academic language to explain how people depend on the
physical environment and natural resources to meet basic
needs, answering the guiding questions and supporting the
Key Understanding.
 Availability of natural resources and the effects of
natural hazards and weather patterns determine
people’s activities and settlement patterns.
 How do weather patterns and seasonal patterns
©2013, TESCCC
05/06/13
page 6 of 7
Grade 2
Social Studies
Unit: 05 Lesson: 03
Instructional Procedures
Notes for Teacher
affect activities and settlement patterns?
 How do natural resources and natural hazards
affect activities and settlement patterns?
 How do people depend on the physical
environment and its natural resources to meet
basic needs?
EVALUATE – Performance Indicator

Given a choice of regions, choose a region you think would be
best to live in. Write a poem about the region justifying your
choice and providing information on natural resources, natural
hazards and weather patterns; how the physical
characteristics of the region affect people's activities; and how
people use the physical environment and natural resources to
meet basic needs. (2.7A, 2.7B, 2.7C; 2.19B, 2.20B)
5B
1. If desired, display the Handout: Regions of Texas Map or
another map of Texas.
2. Allow students to access materials from the previous days as
they write their poem.
©2013, TESCCC
05/06/13
Suggested Day 4 – 50 minutes
Materials:
 map of Texas for display (optional)
Attachments:
 Handout: Regions of Texas Map
Instructional Notes:
Students can refer to the products they have created
in the previous days of this lesson.
Poem patterns that might be chosen include:
acrostic, alphabet poem, haiku, list poem, rhyming
couplets, limerick, diamante, and shape poem.
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