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2nd grade · Social Studies · Unit 5 of 15

Then & Now

Generations and change over time

What your child practices

Generations in a family, using photos, interviews and timelines, and how technology and traditions change from the past to the present.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 2.12 · comparing life in the past and today with photographs and other sources

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A generation is people born around the same time: you, your parents, your grandparents.
  2. Older relatives can tell us about the past.
  3. Tools change: oil lamps then, electric lights now.

Example: Which is a tool of the past: an oil lamp or a tablet? Before electric lights, people burned oil for light. Oil lamps are from long ago. Answer: an oil lamp

Then & Now in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 5 of 15 in 2nd grade Social Studies, after Maps of Our World and before State & National Government.

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

    Which came first? A rotary phone or a smartphone?

    • rotary phone
    • smartphone
    • They came together

  2. Question 2

    A family tree shows…

    • a map of a town
    • what the weather will be
    • who is in a family and how they are related

  3. Question 3

    Long ago, how did families keep in touch when far apart?

    • They wrote letters
    • They used text messages
    • They sent video chats

  4. Question 4

    Long ago, how did many people wash clothes?

    • in a spaceship
    • with a robot
    • by hand

  5. Question 5

    Which person is from an older generation than your parents?

    • your classmate
    • your sibling
    • your grandparent

  6. Question 6

    Put the family from the youngest to the oldest.

    • 🧑parent
    • 🧒child
    • 👶baby
    • 🧓grandparent

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