Social Studies

In this unit you will learn what traditions and celebrations are, and explore the many kinds of families and groups in your community. You will compare celebrations of diverse groups across Canada, and learn about some traditions of First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples: how they are connected to the land, how some were taken away unfairly, and how communities keep them strong today. You will find out about your ancestors and heritage, how traditions are passed on, and why traditions change over time. Finally, you will become a tradition detective: you will use primary sources like photos, artifacts and interviews to investigate a tradition in your own family and share what you learned.

Every lesson has a hands-on activity to do at home, practice questions and a short quiz.

Curriculum expectations covered: A1, A2, A3 (Ontario Social Studies, Grade 2, 2018, revised 2023). The unit addresses the three overall expectations: comparing traditions and celebrations among diverse groups and at different times, and reasons for change (A1); using the inquiry process to investigate past and present traditions in your family and communities (A2); and describing groups in the community, including different types of families, and how traditions and heritage are passed on (A3).

In this unit you will travel around the world! You will learn to use globes and world maps, name and find the seven continents and five oceans, and locate the equator, the North and South Poles and the two hemispheres, using north, south, east and west. You will discover how climate changes from the equator to the poles, and explore physical features like mountains, rivers, plains, deserts and islands. Then you will see how people in communities around the world meet the same basic needs in different ways, how they adapt their homes, travel, work and play to the land and climate, and how people affect the environment. You will compare your own community with communities far away, respectfully and without stereotypes, and finish by investigating a community like a real geographer.

This unit builds on Grade 1, where you mapped your own local community. Every lesson has a hands-on activity to do at home, practice questions and a short quiz.

Curriculum expectations covered: B1, B2, B3 (Ontario Social Studies, Grade 2, People and Environments: Global Communities, 2018, revised 2023). Lessons are tagged with the overall expectations: B1 (how location, climate and physical features affect the ways people live and meet their needs in communities around the world), B2 (inquiry into these relationships, using maps, globes and other sources) and B3 (understanding continents, oceans, the equator and poles, climate, physical features and how communities around the world meet their needs). For B3, lessons are tagged with the specific expectations B3.1 to B3.8 (countries, continents and physical features; continents, oceans, equator, poles and hemispheres; cardinal directions; locating places and linking location to climate; reading location and climate from photos and maps; basic needs; describing communities, including a contemporary First Nations, Métis or Inuit community; comparing your community with one in another region). B1 and B2 are shown as overall expectations.