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2nd grade · Social Studies · Unit 9 of 15

Years, Decades & Centuries

Measure time and read timelines

What your child practices

Years, decades and centuries, reading timelines, and using primary and secondary sources to describe events in Alabama and the nation.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 2.11; 2.12 · segments of time, and describing historical events with primary and secondary sources

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A decade is 10 years. A century is 100 years.
  2. On a timeline, the biggest year is the most recent.
  3. A primary source was made at the time, like a photo or newspaper from that day.

Example: Which happened most recently: 1840, 1950 or 1975? The most recent year is the biggest number. 1975 is bigger than 1950 and 1840. Answer: 1975

Years, Decades & Centuries in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 9 of 15 in 2nd grade Social Studies, after Regions of the United States and before Holidays & Their Meaning.

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 textbook written today about 1776 is a…

    • artifact
    • diary
    • secondary source
    • primary source

  2. Question 2

    The years 2020 to 2029 are one…

    • week
    • century
    • decade
    • month

  3. Question 3

    Which happened most recently: 1819, 1955 or 1969?

    • 1969
    • They are all the same
    • 1819
    • 1955

  4. Question 4

    Which is a primary source about a celebration?

    • a story written 100 years later
    • a guess
    • an encyclopedia
    • a photo taken that day

  5. Question 5

    On a timeline, the earliest event is usually on the…

    • right
    • back
    • top only
    • left

  6. Question 6

    How many years are in half a century?

    • 500
    • 5
    • 50
    • 25

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