Grade 2 Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 2 social studies in the New Brunswick Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Literacies and Communications: Communicative Practices. Examine how language learning is beneficial.
- Literacies and Communications: Multimodal Literacies. Refer to environmental print in multiple languages.
- Literacies and Communications: Literate Identities. Demonstrate being a reader, writer, and communicator in multiple languages.
- Well-Being: Emotional Health and Positive Identities. Explore activities that foster enjoyment and well-being.
- Well-Being: Belonging and Interconnectedness. Define and express needs, wants, and choices.
- Well-Being: Physical Health and Active Participation. Analyze personal safety and healthy practices.
- Play and Playfulness: Imagination and Creativity. Practise using flexible and fluid thinking in new and familiar situations.
- Play and Playfulness: Exploration and Problem Solving. Negotiate, compromise, and work together.
- Play and Playfulness: Play and Inquiry. Engage in activities that introduce elements of risk, novelty, and the unknown.
- Diversity and Social Responsibility: Inclusiveness and Equity. Honour differences and uniqueness.
- Diversity and Social Responsibility: Democratic Practices. Act as responsible and responsive community members.
- Diversity and Social Responsibility: Sustainable Futures. Recognize patterns in nature.
Easy ways to practise social studies at home
- Look at a map of your community and find places you visit.
- Ask an older relative or neighbour what the area was like when they were young.
- Read stories from many communities, including Indigenous authors, and talk about what is the same and different.
- Talk about how rules and jobs help a community work.
What each unit covers
Needs & Wants
Telling needs from wants and how communities help meet people's needs.
Caring Citizens
Rights and responsibilities, community helpers, and how small local actions help the planet.
Groups in Our Community
The many groups and languages in a community, why families move, welcoming newcomers, and finding the places families come from on a globe or map.
Traditions & Celebrations
Well-known celebrations in Canada (such as Canada Day, Diwali, Lunar New Year, Eid, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving), and how food, songs, stories and language pass on heritage. First Nations, Métis and Inuit traditions are not covered here yet.
Communities in Canada
Canada's regions, cities and rural communities, official languages, and Indigenous peoples as the first peoples of this land.
Then & Now
Generations in a family, using photos, interviews and timelines, and how technology and traditions change from the past to the present.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Working below
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Excelling
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the New Brunswick report card guide.
Common questions
Look at a map of your community and find places you visit. Ask an older relative or neighbour what the area was like when they were young. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The New Brunswick Curriculum Grade 2 social studies units include needs & wants, caring citizens, groups in our community, traditions & celebrations, communities in canada, then & now.
Free printable Grade 2 social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.