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2nd grade · Science · Unit 10 of 11

Fast & Slow Earth Changes

Earthquakes, floods and erosion, and designs that protect the land.

What your child practices

Your child learns that some changes to the land happen fast and some slowly, and compares ways to slow wind and water from wearing land away.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 2.10; 2.11 · earthquakes, floods and erosion, and designs that protect the land

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Some land changes are fast, like earthquakes and floods.
  2. Some are slow, like rain washing a little soil away every year.
  3. Trees and rock walls can slow wind and water.

Example: A river slowly carves a deeper valley over many years. Fast or slow? Many years is a long time. Answer: slow

Fast & Slow Earth Changes in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 10 of 11 in 2nd grade Science, after Land & Water Maps and before Changing Land.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A mudslide covers a road after heavy rain. What could help next time?

    • Remove the rocks
    • Cut down the trees
    • Add more water
    • Plant trees on the slope

  2. Question 2

    Sand fences on a Gulf Coast beach help to…

    • keep wind from blowing the sand away
    • make waves bigger
    • grow seashells
    • make the water warmer

  3. Question 3

    The Grand Canyon formed because a river cut rock for…

    • one hour
    • one day
    • one week
    • millions of years

  4. Question 4

    Wind blows sand away bit by bit. This is…

    • never happening
    • slow
    • fast
    • instant

  5. Question 5

    Lava from a volcano cools into new rock in days. This is…

    • slow
    • fast
    • millions of years
    • no change

  6. Question 6

    Rain washes a little soil off a hill every year. This is…

    • instant
    • slow
    • fast
    • an eruption

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