Grade 2 Social Studies

Communities of learners rely on everyone's responsible participation.

Groups of people (families, classrooms, institutions, etc.) make rules to create responsibilities and protect freedoms.

People benefit from and are challenged by working together.

Model ACS Citizens demonstrate core values and approaches to learning when interacting with one another.

Identify purpose, create and adopt classroom rules

Review and demonstrate classroom routines (bathroom, transitions, lining up, walking in the hallway, raising a hand to ask a question, active listening)

Follow the sequence of a morning meeting (greeting, sharing, group activity, morning message)

Follow the sequence of a closing circle (quick share, song or chant)

Use deliberative processes when making decisions or reaching judgements as a group

Identify ACS Core Values and develop scenarios that demonstrate them

Identify ACS Approaches to Learning and develop scenarios that demonstrate them

Identify "if...then" scenarios and actions that reflect core values and approaches to learning

Social scientists study people and how they interact with one another and their world.

Geographers, political scientists, historians, cultural anthropologists, and economists are all social scientists.

Social scientists study sources and ask questions.

Collect artifacts (pictures) to be used as sources

Ask discipline-specific questions related to the artifacts

Identify tools that social scientists use

Make a claim related to themselves as a social scientist

Give reasons for how they can demonstrate social science processes

Continuities and changes over time in communities can be examined by interpreting evidence such as maps, population charts, photographs, newspapers, biographies, artifacts, and other historical materials.

Cause-and-effect relationships help us understand the changes in communities.

Create a T-chart with causes and effects

Analyze before and after pictures of ACS and of Abu Dhabi, highlighting cause and effect

Determine cause and effects of rapid development in the UAE and in Abu Dhabi

Analyze the positive and negative effects of a local community problem

Analyze possible solutions to a local community problem

Identify ways that Abu Dhabi and the UAE are solving problems from the past

Make a claim about a solution and provide multi-disciplinary evidence

Provide reasoning for possible solutions

Create an action plan for a local problem

Communities face different challenges in meeting their needs and wants.

A community requires the interdependence of many people performing a variety of jobs and services to provide for basic needs and wants.

Scarcity, the price of goods and services, and choice all influence economic decisions made by individuals and communities.

At times, neighboring communities share resources and workers to support multiple communities.

Sort goods and services

Analyze sources to draw conclusions

Identify the basic needs of all people.

Define the term philanthropy and philanthropist.

Brainstorm ways to help others who don’t get their basic needs met.

Analyze acts of philanthropy by sorting in different ways.

Identify challenges to meeting wants and needs

Make a claim about how communities work together to help and support with evidence

Identify local community problems

Plan and carry out a service project in the community

An urban community, or city, is characterized by dense population and land primarily occupied by buildings and structures used for residential and business purposes.

Suburban communities are on the outskirts of cities, where human population is less dense, and buildings and homes are spaced farther apart.

Rural communities are characterized by large expanses of open land and significantly lower populations than urban or suburban areas.

Activities available for people living in urban, suburban, and rural communities are different. The type of community a person grows up in will affect a person’s development and identity.

Different types of communities rely on trade to meet their citizens' wants and needs.

Brainstorm ways that life would be different in another place

Identify location and characteristics of urban, suburban, and rural communities

Sort characteristics of urban, suburban, and rural communities

Compare and contrast urban, suburban, and rural communities in regard to population, land use, space and transportation

Discuss how different communities meet their citizens' wants and needs

Explore and communicate advantages and disadvantages of living in urban, suburban and rural communities

Construct an evidence-based explanation to answer the question, “How would our lives be different if we lived in a different kind of community?”

Ask and answer questions about evidence-based explanations

Construct two and three-dimensional community maps with features

The location of physical features and natural resources often affects where people settle and may affect how those people sustain themselves.

Humans modify the environment of their communities through housing, transportation systems, schools, marketplaces, and recreation areas.

Discuss causes and effects of community development

Identify ways that humans modify their environments

Define and compare/contrast residential, industrial, commercial, and recreational developments in communities

Analyze positive and negative impacts of community developments

Use Google maps to analyze local communities

Create maps of local communities with titles, directions (compass rose), symbols, keys/legends

Research a local community development and create a pictorial essay

Develop an evidence-based explanation about community development