Subscribe

2nd grade · Science · Unit 9 of 9

Fast & Slow Earth Changes

Floods in a day, valleys over ages.

What your child practices

Practices sorting Earth events into fast ones (eruptions, landslides, floods) and slow ones (erosion, glaciers carving valleys), and comparing ways people slow wind and water from changing land, such as dune grass on Long Island beaches.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 2-ESS1-1; 2-ESS2-1 · Earth events happen quickly or slowly, and ways to stop wind and water from changing land

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Fast changes: eruptions, landslides, floods.
  2. Slow changes: erosion, and glaciers carving valleys over thousands of years.
  3. Beach grass and rock walls help hold land in place.

Example: Sand dunes move a little each year. Fast or slow? A little each year is gradual. Answer: slow

Fast & Slow Earth Changes in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 9 of 9 in 2nd grade Science, after Land & Water.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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 wall of rocks by the ocean helps…

    • make waves bigger
    • stop waves from wearing away land
    • grow fish
    • bring rain

  2. Question 2

    Water at Niagara Falls wears the rock away a tiny bit each year. That is…

    • fast
    • slow
    • done in one day
    • done in one hour

  3. Question 3

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

    • slow
    • instant
    • fast
    • an eruption

  4. Question 4

    Which helps keep sand dunes from blowing away?

    • Driving on the dunes
    • Digging holes in the dunes
    • Pulling up plants
    • Planting beach grass

  5. Question 5

    Two plans protect a beach: a fence of logs or nothing. Which works better?

    • They are the same
    • The fence of logs
    • Neither ever
    • Nothing

  6. Question 6

    Which can slow wind from blowing away soil?

    • Bare dirt
    • Cutting trees
    • A row of trees
    • A paved road

More 2nd grade