2nd grade Social Studies
15 units matched to the Alabama Course of Study. Kids see this subject as “Our World”.
Focus areas
- Course: Living and Working Together in State and Nation
- Our state and national government and symbols
- Producers, consumers and trade
- Alabama's regions, and Americans who made a difference
Units
Unit 1
Citizens & Leaders
Who can vote, how communities choose leaders, and how groups and nations work out problems, from classmates to countries.
Content standard: 2.1; 2.3 · citizens' rights and responsibilities, leaders, and how voting works
Unit 2
Work, Saving & Resources
Producers and consumers, wants and needs, saving, and how limited resources affect what people make and buy.
Content standard: 2.4 · work, producers and consumers, and goods and services
Unit 3
Work and Prices
Introduces why prices go up or down when something is hard to find or easy to find, and how jobs and work have changed over time.
Content standard: 2.5 · scarcity, choices and prices
Unit 4
Maps of Our World
Using maps and globes to find continents, oceans and countries, physical and human features, and why people settle near water and flat land.
Content standard: 2.7 · the continents, the oceans and the Equator on maps and globes
Unit 5
Then & Now
Generations in a family, using photos, interviews and timelines, and how technology and traditions change from the past to the present.
Content standard: 2.12 · comparing life in the past and today with photographs and other sources
Unit 6
State & National Government
The legislative, executive and judicial branches, and how Alabama's government (governor, Legislature, Alabama Supreme Court) compares with the national government (president, Congress, United States Supreme Court).
Content standard: 2.2 · the three branches of government, and comparing the state and national governments
Unit 7
Alabama's Resources & Trade
How Alabama uses its natural resources (cotton, pine forests, coal, water power), goods it exports and imports, producers and consumers, and how scarcity affects supply, demand and prices.
Content standard: 2.4; 2.5; 2.6 · production and distribution, imports and exports, scarcity, and how Alabama uses its resources
Unit 8
Regions of the United States
Comparing desert, mountain, tropical and coastal regions of the United States, and words for landforms: bay, hill, island, mountain range, peninsula, plateau and valley.
Content standard: 2.9 · comparing the physical characteristics of regions of the United States and their landforms
Unit 9
Years, Decades & Centuries
Years, decades and centuries, reading timelines, and using primary and secondary sources to describe events in Alabama and the nation.
Content standard: 2.11; 2.12 · segments of time, and describing historical events with primary and secondary sources
Unit 10
Holidays & Their Meaning
The meaning of Flag Day, Independence Day, Juneteenth, Labor Day, Patriot Day, Thanksgiving and Veterans Day, and Alabama's connections to Veterans Day (Birmingham) and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Montgomery, Birmingham and Selma).
Content standard: 2.13 · the purpose of national holidays, and their Alabama connections
Unit 11
Founders & Difference Makers
Founders such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and other Americans who made a difference.
Content standard: 2.13 · founders and significant figures who shaped the nation
Unit 12
American Symbols
The history and meaning of American symbols and monuments, such as the bald eagle, the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, the flag and the White House.
Content standard: 2.13 · the history and meaning of American symbols, monuments and holidays
Unit 13
Reading Maps
Physical and political maps, map keys, cardinal and intermediate directions, and using a grid to find places.
Content standard: 2.8; 2.10 · physical and political map features, cardinal and intermediate directions, and grids
Unit 14
People on the Move
How and why people moved to and within the United States: Ellis and Angel Islands, the Irish Potato Famine, the Great Migration, the Dust Bowl, South Vietnamese refugees, and forced migrations such as the Trail of Tears.
Content standard: 2.14 · how and why people have moved into and within the United States
Unit 15
American Stories & Songs
Tall tales and folk heroes, Black American stories such as Brer Rabbit, Native oral tradition, and state and national songs.
Content standard: 2.15 · legends, stories and songs of the United States
Ready to try Gradelings?
Curriculum-matched practice for Kindergarten to Grade 9 in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and Nunavut, and in Washington, Oregon, California, New York, Texas, Maine, Minnesota, Alaska, Alabama, Arizona and Arkansas, with kind hints, learning games and no ads. Subscribe now, or try everything free for 30 days with no card.