Second Grade Social Studies: Local Communities Unit 2: Big Picture Graphic Overarching Question: How does environment affect a community? Previous Unit: What is a Community? This Unit: Where is My Community and What is it Like There? Next Unit: How Do People Live Together in a Community? Questions To Focus Assessment and Instruction: 1. Where is our community located? 2. What are the some physical and human characteristics of our community? 3. How do people change the environment in the local community? Types of Thinking Compare/Contrast Descriptive Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 1 of 12
Graphic Organizer Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 2 of 12
Unit Abstract: In this unit students use the context of their local community to explore the five major themes of geography: location, place, human/environment interaction, movement, and region. The unit begins with an exploration of a variety of maps and a review of map skills covered in kindergarten and grade one. Using a community map, the concept of relative location is introduced. Next, students explore a map of the community and identify various regions such as residential areas and important physical features in the community. Synthesizing what they have learned, students construct a simple map of their local community. Integrating the second grade science content expectations, students learn about major landforms and bodies of water found on the Earth. Returning to the map of the community, students identify major roads and discuss how roads help to connect places and move goods and people. Using a Venn Diagram, students compare the human and physical characteristics of their community with those of another community. Human environment interaction is introduced as students explore how people interact with the environment and the consequences of changing the environment. Finally, the geographic theme of region is expanded as students learn their community is part of several larger regions including county, state, country, continent, and planet. Focus Questions 1. Where is our community located? 2. What are the important physical and human characteristics of our community? 3. How do people change the environment in our local community? Content Expectations 2 - G1.0.1: Construct maps of the local community that contain symbols, labels, and legends denoting human and natural characteristics of place. 2 - G1.0.2: Use maps to describe the spatial organization of the local community by applying concepts including relative location and using distance, direction, and scale. 2 - G2.0.1: Compare the physical and human characteristics of the local community with those of another community. 2 - G2.0.2: Describe how the local community is part of a larger region (e.g., county, metropolitan area, state. 2 - G4.0.1: Describe land use in the community (e.g., where people live, where services are provided, where products are made). 2 - G4.0.2: Describe the means people create for moving people, goods, and ideas within the local community. 2 - G5.0.1: Suggest ways people can responsibly interact with the environment in the local community. 2 - G5.0.2: Describe positive and negative consequences of changing the physical environment of the local community. Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 3 of 12
Integrated GLCEs G.LO.02.07: Find and name locations using simple coordinate systems such as maps and first quadrant grids. (Math) D.RE.02.01: Make pictographs using a scale representation, using scales where symbols equal more than one. (Math) E.SE.02.21: Describe the major landforms of the surface of the Earth (mountains, plains, plateaus, valleys, hills). (Science) E.FE.02.22: Describe the major bodies of water on the Earth s surface (lakes, ponds, oceans, rivers, streams). (Science) R.CM.02.02: Retell in sequence the major idea(s) and relevant details of grade-level narrative and informational text. (English Language Arts) R.NT.02.02 Identify and describe the basic elements and purpose of a variety of narrative genre including poetry, fantasy, legends, and drama. (English Language Arts) Key Concepts community geography human characteristics of place human/environment interaction land use location map movement physical characteristics of place region transportation Lesson Sequence Lesson 1: Exploring Maps Lesson 2: Where is Our Community? Lesson 3: Exploring a Map of Our Local Community Lesson 4: Making a Map of Our Local Community Lesson 5: Transportation and Our Local Community Lesson 6: Landforms and Bodies of Water Lesson 7: Comparing Our Community to Another Community Lesson 8: Consequences of Changing the Environment in a Community Lesson 9: To What Other Regions Does My Community Belong? Assessment Selected Response Items Constructed Response Items Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 4 of 12
Extended Response Items Performance Assessments Resources Equipment/Manipulatives Overhead Projector or Document Camera and Projector Chart Paper and Markers Student Resource *Block, Marta Segal. Mapping Your Community (first guide to Maps). New York: Heinemann, 2008 Chesanow, Neil. Where Do I Live? New York: Barron s Educational Series, 1995. *Fox, Guy. Washington D.C. Children s Map. New York: Guy Fox Publishing, 2007. Geisert, Bonnie and Arthur. Desert Town. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001 - - -. Mountain Town. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000 - - -. Prairie Town. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998 - - -. River Town. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999 *Green, Jen. Why Should I Protect Nature? New York: Barron s Educational Series, 2005 (optional book) Madden, Don. The Wartville Wizard. New York: Aladdin Books, 1993 Morris, Ann. On the Go. New York: Harper Collins, 1994. Rabe. Tish. There s a Map on My Lap: All About Maps. New York: Random House Books for Young Readers, 2002. Ritchie, Scott. Follow that Map! A First Book of Mapping Skills. New York: Kids Can Press, 2009. Takabayashi. Mari. I Live in Brooklyn. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. Teacher Resource *Ashcroft, Minnie. Marvelous Map Activities for Young Learners: Easy Reproducible Activities that Introduce Important Map and Geography Skills, and Help Kids Explore their Neighborhood, Community and Beyond. New York: Scholastic, 2002. *Block, Marta Segal. Mapping Your Community (first guide to Maps). New York: Heinemann, 2008 Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 5 of 12
Class Set-UpTool. 27 October 2009 <http://teacher.scholastic.com/tools/class_setup/\>. Classroom Map. 27 October 2009 <http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/elemsoc/images/class.gif>. Detroit Metro Airport Map. 27 October 2009 <http://www.allairports.net/images/metro-airportmcnamara-terminal.jpg>. Egbo, Carol. Supplemental Materials (Unit 2).Teacher-made material. Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum, 2009. How Communities Are Different. 27 October 2009 <http://www.lessonplanspage.com/sscommunitydifferencesvenn3.htm>. Hundred Acre Wood Map. 27 October 2009 <http://www.squidoo.com/winnie-the-pooh-coloringpictures-and-crafts>. *Kids and Community. 27 October 2009 <http://www.planning.org/kidsandcommunity>. Landforms. 27 October 2009 <http://www.edu.pe.ca/southernkings/landforms.htm>. Map Adventures. 27 October 2009 <http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/teacherspackets/mapadventures/illust1.html>. Map of Waterford, Michigan. 27 October 2009 <http://www.twp.waterford.mi.us/gis/maps/generic.pdf>. *Moore. Jo E. Beginning Geography: Landforms & Bodies of Water (Beginning Geography). New York: Evan-Moor, 1993 *Norris, Jill. My Community, A Complete Thematic Unit. Monterey, CA: Evan-Moor Educational Publishers, 1996. Outline Map of the U.S. 27 October 2009 <http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/usa_blank.jpg>. School Map: 27 October 2009 <http://natsci.edgewood.edu/wingra/watershed/watershed_examples.htm>. State of Michigan Maps. Michigan Department of Transportation website. 27 October 2009 <http://www.michigan.gov/mdot/0,1607,7-151-9622_11033_11151---,00.html>. *Wade. Mary Dodson. Map Scales (Rookie Read-About Geography). New York: Children s Press, 2003. Resources for Further Professional Knowledge Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 6 of 12
National Council for the Social Studies. 27 October 2009 <http://www.ncss.org/ >. Social Studies Lesson Plans and Resources. 27 October 2009. <http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/>. Strategies for Teaching Social Studies. 27 October 2009 <http://www.udel.edu/dssep/strategies.htm>. Teaching Social Studies. 27 October 2009 <http://www.proteacher.org/c/185_teaching_social_studies.html>. Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 7 of 12
Instructional Organization Lesson 1: Exploring Maps 2 - G1.0.2: Use maps to describe the spatial organization of the local community by applying concepts including relative location and using distance, direction, and scale. Integrated GLCEs G.LO.02.07: Find and name locations using simple coordinate systems such as maps and first quadrant grids. (Math) Key Concepts: geography, map Abstract: In this lesson students explore a variety of maps as a precursor to an exploration of a map of their local community in a later lesson. The lesson begins with a connection back to first grade as students analyze a classroom map and a school map. Students then use a simple community map to learn about significant features of maps including a title, symbols, and a legend/map key. Then, in small groups or at a learning center, they explore several maps such as a map of their school, a mall map, a map of an airport, and a map of Michigan. Lesson 2: Where is Our Community? 2 - G1.0.2: Use maps to describe the spatial organization of the local community by applying concepts including relative location and using distance, direction, and scale. Integrated GLCEs G.LO.02.07: Find and name locations using simple coordinate systems such as maps and first quadrant grids. (Math) Key Concepts: geography, location, map Abstract: In this lesson students continue to explore the concept of relative location and then use their knowledge to describe the relative location of their local community. The lesson begins with the teacher guiding students in creating a list of relative location words and then using them to describe the location of objects and people in the classroom. Students then use relative location to describe the location of different parts of the school building relative to their classroom. Then, using a map of Michigan the teacher guides students in describing the relative location of their local community. Lesson 3: Exploring a Map of Our Local Community Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 8 of 12
2 - G1.0.2: Use maps to describe the spatial organization of the local community by applying concepts including relative location and using distance, direction, and scale. 2 - G4.0.1: Describe land use in the community (e.g., where people live, where services are provided, where products are made). Integrated GLCEs G.LO.02.07: Find and name locations using simple coordinate systems such as maps and first quadrant grids. (Math) Key Concepts: community, geography, land use, location, map, region Abstract: This lesson begins with an exploration of the map of Treeville which was introduced in Lesson One. Then, students explore a simple map of a Michigan community. Finally, they explore a map of their own community and identify places or regions where people live (residential), places where people shop (commercial), places where people work (manufacturing), etc. Students also identify physical and human characteristics such as rivers, parks, hospitals, and libraries. Lesson 4: Making a Map of our Local Community 2 - G1.0.1: Construct maps of the local community that contain symbols, labels, and legends denoting human and natural characteristics of place. Key Concepts: community, geography, map Abstract: In this lesson, students synthesize what they have learned about the local community by creating a simple map. The lesson reviews the important components of a map including symbols, labels, and a legend/map key as well as natural and human characteristics of place. Using an outline map of the community, the class creates a representation of the community that includes natural and human characteristics of their local community and essential map elements. Then, students create their own simplified version of the class map Lesson 5: Transportation and Our Local Community 2 - G4.0.2: Describe the means people create for moving people, goods, and ideas within the local community. Integrated GLCEs: D.RE.02.01 Make pictographs using a scale representation, using scales where symbols equal more than one. (Math) Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 9 of 12
Key Concepts: movement, transportation Abstract: In this lesson students are introduced to the concept of movement in the context of how places are connected through transportation networks. The lesson begins with a review of the local community map as students identify major roads in the local community. Using a Think/Pair/Share activity students investigate the question, Why are roads important in a community? The students generate a list of reasons roads are important including the following: roads help move people from one place to another, roads help connect our local community to other communities, roads help move products from one place to another. Next, students make a list of modes of transportation that utilize roads. Students then review the Waterford community map from a previous lesson to identify additional methods of transportation such as railroads and airplanes. Finally, the class creates a three-column chart labeled Land, Air, and Water. Students classify various methods of transporting people and goods including airplanes, boats, trains, buses, taxis, and feet. Finally, students find similarities and differences between the chart and modes of transportation/movement that are present in their local community. Lesson 6: Landforms and Bodies of Water 2 - G2.0.1: Compare the physical and human characteristics of the local community with those of another community. Integrated GLCEs E.SE.02.21: Describe the major landforms of the surface of the Earth (mountains, plains, plateaus, valleys, hills). (Science) E.FE.02.22: Describe the major bodies of water on the Earth s surface (lakes, ponds, oceans, rivers, streams). (Science) Key Concepts: geography, physical characteristics of place Abstract: In this lesson that integrates social studies and science content expectations, students explore major landforms and bodies of water on the Earth s surface using photographs and illustrations from picture books, posters and other resources. This provides an important foundational piece for the study of Michigan geography in grade 3 and U.S. geography in grade 4. They begin by identifying natural characteristics of their own community. Lesson 7: Comparing Our Community to Another Community 2 - G2.0.1: Compare the physical and human characteristics of the local community with those of another community. Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 10 of 12
Key Concepts: community, geography, human characteristics of place, physical characteristics of place Abstract: In this lesson students compare their local community to another community or a community from a book such as Mountain Town, Desert Town, River Town, Prairie Town, or I Live in Brooklyn. The lesson begins with a review of how to complete a Venn diagram. Students then identify the major physical and human characteristics of their own community and the selected community. Working in cooperative groups, students complete and share a Venn Diagram comparing their local community to the other community. Lesson 8: Consequences of Changing the Environment in a Community 2 - G5.0.1: Suggest ways people can responsibly interact with the environment in the local community. 2 - G5.0.2: Describe positive and negative consequences of changing the physical environment of the local community. Integrated GLCEs R.CM.02.02: Retell in sequence the major idea(s) and relevant details of grade-level narrative and informational text. (English Language Arts) R.NT.02.02 Identify and describe the basic elements and purpose of a variety of narrative genre including poetry, fantasy, legends, and drama. (English Language Arts) Key Concepts: human/environment interaction Abstract: In this lesson students explore how people modify, or change, the natural environment of a community and the positive and negative consequences of those changes. Students begin the lesson by exploring environmental change through a comparison of past and present maps of the community of Treeville. Then, they identify examples of modification in their own community. Using a book such as The Wartville Wizard, students work in pairs to retell in sequence the major ideas and relevant details of the book. Then, in a class discussion they describe how the characters in the book modified/changed their environment and what happened as a result of these changes. Students are introduced to the term consequence and understand that there are positive and negative consequences for actions. Students then return to the examples of environmental modification in Treeville and the book and evaluate the consequences as positive or negative. Finally, students design a poster suggesting ways people can responsibly interact with the environment of their community. Lesson 9: To What Other Regions Does My Community Belong? Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 11 of 12
2 - G2.0.2: Describe how the local community is part of a larger region (e.g., county, metropolitan area, state). Key Concepts: region Abstract: In this lesson, students expand their understanding of the geographic theme of region. Students begin by investigating the question, What is bigger than a community? Working cooperatively, students list answers to the question. Students then share their ideas as the teacher makes a class list on chart paper. Then, using a series of simple maps the teacher guides students in coloring in increasingly larger regions beginning with states and ending with the world itself. Simple explanations of each region are given. The teacher then reads the book Where Do I Live? or a similar book to reinforce what has been explored in the lesson. As an assessment, students sequence a set of cards in order from smallest to largest. Michigan Citizenship Collaborative Curriculum Page 12 of 12