Lesson Plan for Grade Two Social Studies:

Intro: At the end of this series of lessons, students will have an understanding of how they (as individuals) fit into their communities, as well as who else makes up their communities. As well, students will develop an understanding of and appreciation for the natural environment in and around their communities. They will understand how they affect the natural environment in both positive and negative ways, and the responsibilities they have towards their communities. As well, students will see ways in which the environment affects them and meets their needs. Environmental Science is being incorporated into this lesson as the students are looking at the relationship between humans and the natural environment. 

Outcomes/Indicators: 

  • D.R: Analyze the influences of the natural environment on the local community.
    •  Describe natural features of the local community and speculate upon their importance (landforms, climate, vegetation, and waterways.
    • Compile examples of natural resources in the local community and explain the importance of conserving or restoring natural resource.
    • Investigate ways in witch the natural environment influences lifestyles of the local community. 
    • Illustrate ways in witch the natural landscape shapes daily life in the local community
  • P.A 2.3: Analyze rights and responsibilities of citizens in the school and local community.
  • R.W 2.1: Describe ways in which the local community meets needs and wants of its member. 
Duration: 3 days (each day will be an one hour lesson). The first lesson will be spent exploring what a community is and who makes up their community. The second lesson will look at the outcome DR 2.2 and the third lesson will look at the outcomes PA 2.3 and RW 2.1.


Summary of Activities: 

Day one:
Day two:      

  • The focus of this lesson is on the outcome D.R. 2.2 which looks at the influences of the natural environment on the local community. 
  • This lesson will start by having students identify natural features in their community such as landforms, climate and plants. This can be looked at by first brining awareness to what these things are and then having the students discuss what aspects of the natural environment they see on their way to school every day.  
  • The following links explain what different land forms look like:
  • The students can also look at the climate in their community as well as plant life. The following likes can be used to teach about climate change and plant life.
  • The following links and activities can then be used to help students identify what landforms, climate, and vegetation there is in their community and how they are important or how they effect community members lives:
    • Google Earth 
    • Scavenger hunt 
    • Natural resources- in and around our community 
    • Natural resources- W-5 chart
    • Natural resources  (This link is great for helping the students identifying the natural features in their community. It suggests activities such as a scavenger hunt, draw and short natural features, go on a field trip to walk around your community. It also gives examples of how these natural features effect other natural features such as allowing plants to grow.) 
    • Natural resources shaping lives   (This link is good for looking at how the natural features of the local community affect the people lives living in the community. Students can look at things such as how the climate affects what they wear, what kind of games they play, and what kind of food they eat. As well, once they have identified the different land formations they can look at what jobs that presents for their parents and so on.) 
Day three:

  • This lesson will be broken into two parts and will look at two outcomes. The first 30 minutes will be spent looking at the outcome PA 2.3 which refers to the idea of analyzing the rights and responsibilities of citizens in the school and local communities. They will examine both the “written” rules and responsibilities of the community members as well as the “unwritten” rules of the community and what they should do for the environment. The written rules of the community could included the rules the students have to follow within the school, things like bylaws that the city sets or province-wide laws. The unwritten rules of the community are things that are not actually part of the law that say people have to do them rather they are things that if people where to do them they would improve their way of life. This would included things such as recycling, reduce household trash, having litter free lunches or plant community gardens. 
  • Resources that look at the “written” rules and responsibilities of community members:
  • Resources that look at the “unwritten” rules and responsibilities of community members:
  • The second half of this class will be used to look at the outcome RW 2.1. This asks the student to describe ways in which the local community meets needs and wants of its members. A good way to do this is start by defining the term resources. Then use the definition the students come up with to inventory resources in the community that help to meet needs and wants of the people in the community. Once the students have established the things that they thing are important for people to have you can then look at the effects that people have on out environment by having to have all they things. 
  • Resources that will help students see the impact there resources have on the environment: