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2nd grade · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 12

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.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 2.16(A); 2.16(B) · comparing life in the past and the present with the words past, present and future

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 Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 4 of 12 in 2nd grade Social Studies, after Maps of Our World and before Our Community Changes.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    Your parent is older than you. Who is younger?

    • your grandparent
    • your parent
    • you

  2. Question 2

    What helps you learn about family history?

    • looking at a cloud
    • asking a toy
    • asking an older relative

  3. Question 3

    A timeline of your life could start with…

    • the day you were born
    • your next birthday party
    • next year

  4. Question 4

    Which came first? A rotary phone or a smartphone?

    • They came together
    • smartphone
    • rotary phone

  5. Question 5

    Long ago many clothes were made at home. Today many are…

    • grown from seeds
    • bought from stores
    • made by the Moon

  6. Question 6

    Put the family from the youngest to the oldest.

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

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