Science
Grade 2
Unit: PLANTS & ANIMALS
Learning Standards / Essential Knowledge
Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things
1: Recognize that animals (including humans) and plants are living
things that grow, reproduce, and need food, air, and water. (Master)
Concepts and Skills
Essential Questions
Recognize that animals (including humans) and plants need food,
air, and water to grow.
What do plants and animals need in order to grow?
Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things
2: Distinguish between living and non-living things.
Distinguish between living and non-living.
Recognize and identify insects, birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, and
amphibians.
What are the different classifications of animals?
Life Science: Characteristics of Living Things
3: Recognize that plants and animals have life cycles and that life
cycles vary for different living things.
Identify the stages of a life cycle.
What is a life cycle?
Earth & Space: The Sun as a Source of Light and Heat
4: Recognize that the sun supplies heat and light to the earth and is
necessary for life. (Master)
Explain that the sun supplies heat and light to the earth.
Explain how the sun is necessary in order to survive.
Why do we need the sun?
Life Science: Living Things and Their Environment
7: Recognize changes in appearance that animals and plants go
through as the seasons change. (Master)
Observe and record seasonal changes in plants and animals.
How do animals and plants change as the seasons change?
Life Science: Living Things and Their Environment
8: Identify the ways in which an organism’s habitat provides for its
basic needs (plants require air, nutrients, and light; animals require
food, water, air, and shelter). (Master)
Place plants/animals in appropriate habitats: prehistoric earth,
woodlands.
How does an organism’s habitat provides for its basic needs?
Life Science: Evolution and Biodiversity
5: Recognize that fossils provide us with information about living
things that inhabited the earth years ago. (Introduce and reinforce)
Recognize that fossils tell us about life long ago including extinct
species
Recognize a fossil.
Explain the formation of a fossil.
What is a fossil? What information do fossils provide?
Science
Grade 2
Unit: PROPERTIES OF OBJECTS
Learning Standards / Essential Knowledge
Physical Science: States of Matter
2: Identify objects and materials as solid, liquid, or gas. Recognize
that solids have a definite shape and that liquids and gases take the
shape of their container. (Reinforce)
Concepts and Skills
Essential Questions
Identify solids, liquids, and gasses.
Explain the difference between them.
What are the three states of matter?
Physical Science: Observable Properties of Objects
1: Sort objects by observable properties such as size, shape, color,
weight, and texture. (Reinforce)
Sort, compare, record objects by two or more attributes.
Identify the different properties of an object. Classify objects
according to these properties.
What are properties and how can we use them to identify objects?
Physical Science: Position and Motion of Objects
4: Demonstrate that the way to change the motion of an object is
to apply a force (give it a push or pull). The greater the force, the
greater the change in the motion of the object. (Reinforce)
Explore the properties of magnetic poles.
Explain how they can make an object move.
How can we change the motion of an object?
Physical Science: Position and Motion of Objects
5 :Recognize that under some conditions objects can be balanced.
(Master)
Use a balance scale correctly.
How are objects balanced?
Tech/Engineering: Engineering Design
2.1 Identify tools and simple machines used for a specific purpose
(ramp, wheel, pulley, lever).
(Reinforce)
Demonstrate and identify tools and simple machines.
What are tools and simple machines? How can we use simple machines?
Unit: WEATHER
Learning Standards / Essential Knowledge
Earth & Space: Weather
2.3 Describe the weather changes from day to day and over seasons.
(Master)
(covered mainly in math)
Concepts and Skills
Identify and use Weather words: precipitation, cloud formations,
Fahrenheit, Celsius.
Read thermometers and graphs.
Describe changes in the weather
Essential Questions
How does the weather change?
Science
Earth & Space: Periodic Phenomena
2.5 Identify some events around us that have repeating patterns,
including the seasons of the year, day and night. (Master)
(covered mainly in math)
Earth & Space: Earth’s Materials
2.1 Recognize that water, rocks, soil, and living organisms are found
on the earth’s surface. (Master)
Learning Standards / Essential Knowledge
Tech & Engineering: Engineering Design
1.1 Identify, describe, compare and contrast characteristics and uses
of natural materials (eg., wood, cotton, fur, wool) and human made
materials (eg., plastic, Styrofoam).
Tech & Engineering: Engineering Design
1.3 Identify and describe the safe and proper use of tools and
materials (glue, scissors, tape, ruler, paper, toothpicks, straws,
spools) to construct simple structures.
Grade 2
Recognize months in seasons, hours in a day, minutes in an hour,
seconds in a minute, days in a year.
What are some events around us that have repeating patterns?
Identify things found on the earth’s surface.
Distinguish between natural and man-made materials.
What is found on the earth’s surface?
Unit: SOUND
Concepts and Skills
Create a musical instrument.
Essential Questions
How is sound made?
How can we use the Engineering Design Process to solve a problem?
Craft and construct simple structures.