Overview
In Grade 2 social studies, students will develop their understanding of their local community and begin to examine the global community. Students will explore a variety of traditions within their families and their local communities, including those followed by First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit, and other diverse groups within their communities, developing an understanding of how these traditions contribute to and enrich their own community and Canadian society. They will also study communities around the world, including at least one contemporary First Nation, Métis, or Inuit community, developing an awareness of the relationship between location, climate, physical features, and how people live in various communities. Students will use the social studies inquiry process to investigate traditions, ways of life, and relationships with the environment in local and global communities, and they will develop their ability to extract information from and construct maps for specific purposes.
The Grade 2 social studies expectations provide opportunities for students to explore a number of concepts connected to the citizenship education framework, including community, identity, relationships, respect, and stewardship.
The following two-part chart presents an overview of the Grade 2 social studies curriculum, and is meant to provide a starting point for planning instruction. For each overall expectation (listed in the first column), it identifies a related concept (or concepts) of social studies thinking and a big idea (see an explanation of big ideas and the concepts of disciplinary thinking and definitions of the concepts of social studies thinking). General framing questions are provided for each strand to stimulate students’ curiosity and critical thinking and to heighten the relevance of what they are studying. These broad and often open-ended questions can be used to frame a set of expectations, a strand, or a cross-disciplinary unit. The final column suggests ways in which spatial skills can be introduced and/or developed at this grade level, and indicates specific expectations with which they can be used (see a description of spatial skills).
Strand A. Heritage and Identity: Changing Family and Community Traditions
Overall Expectations | Related Concepts of Social Studies Thinking | Big Ideas | Framing Questions | Sample Spatial Skills/Activities to Be Introduced/Developed |
A1. compare some significant traditions and celebrations among diverse groups and at different times, including those of First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit, and identify some of the reasons for changes in these traditions/celebrations | Perspective; Cause and Consequence |
Understanding the diversity that exists among families and within the local community leads to an appreciation of diverse perspectives. |
|
Graphs
Maps* and Globes
|
A2. use the social studies inquiry process to investigate some of the past and present traditions and celebrations within their own family** and the communities to which they belong | Continuity and Change | The traditions that we celebrate today have developed over the generations. | ||
A3. describe some of the major groups in their community, including First Nations, Métis, and/or Inuit, other diverse communities, and different types of families, and some of the ways in which traditions and heritage are passed on by such groups | Interrelationships; Significance | Canada is made up of various communities that have diverse traditions and celebrations. |
Strand B. People and Environments: Global Communities
Overall Expectations | Related Concepts of Social Studies Thinking | Big Ideas | Framing Questions | Sample Spatial Skills/Activities to Be Introduced/Developed |
B1. describe some similarities and differences in the ways in which people in two or more communities in different parts of the world meet their needs and have adapted to the location, climate, and physical features of their regions | Cause and Consequence | The climate and physical features of a region affect how people in that region live. |
|
Graphs
Maps* and Globes
|
B2. use the social studies inquiry process to investigate aspects of the interrelationship between the natural environment, including the climate, of selected communities, including at least one contemporary First Nation, Métis, or Inuit community, and the ways in which people in those communities live | Interrelationships; Patterns and Trends | Different people have adapted to similar climate and physical features in similar ways. | ||
B3. identify and locate various physical features and selected communities around the world, including at least one contemporary First Nation, Métis, or Inuit community, and describe some aspects of people’s ways of life in those communities | Significance | The world is made up of many different regions, which have distinct characteristics. |
* The term map refers to print, digital, and interactive maps. Students may analyse and create maps on paper or using mapping programs.
** The word family is used in this document to refer to two or more people brought together in a household or extended households who interact and are connected with one another in their social circles through various relationships (e.g., parents, siblings, extended family members, community members). The word may also be taken to include care providers or a care community who are committed to being there for one another in various ways.