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2nd grade · Social Studies · Unit 2 of 10

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.

Alaska content standards learning standard: SS.2.2.23.1; SS.2.2.22.1 · comparing life in a community in the past and today, using historical 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 Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 2 of 10 in 2nd grade Social Studies, after Needs & Wants and before Communities Compared.

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: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

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

    Put the family from the youngest to the oldest.

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

  2. Question 2

    Long ago, how did many people wash clothes?

    • by hand
    • with a robot
    • in a spaceship

  3. Question 3

    A timeline shows…

    • events in order of time
    • only weather
    • only colors

  4. Question 4

    Your parent is older than you. Who is younger?

    • you
    • your parent
    • your grandparent

  5. Question 5

    A generation is…

    • a kind of food
    • a tool
    • people of about the same age in a family

  6. Question 6

    Which tells about the past?

    📷
    • an old photo album
    • a new toy
    • tomorrow's weather

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