Second grade students in Michigan continue their integrative approach to social studies by focusing in on the local community. Students are introduced to a social environment larger than their immediate surroundings.

If you’ve taken time to glance at the Kindergarten “Myself and Others” book, or its sequel First Grade “Families and Schools”, you’ll know that the authors of those books envisioned them being “big books” which were meant to be experienced with the teacher projecting the materials on a big screen. This book begins the transition from “big book” to an individualized tool. It doesn’t mean that the book is meant to be read without teacher interaction, but this resource was designed to be in the hands of students in conjunction with daily classroom instruction.

This second chapter covers the geography standards for second grade. Now that students have a firm understanding of what a community is, we move into the study of communities by getting students into exploring maps. In Kindergarten and First grade we had teachers construct a classroom box. This activity was designed by Dr. Phil Gersmehl and his wife Carol and is based upon some of the work they did in Harlem New York. In this chapter we once again revisit the idea of a classroom in a box, and present to you here instructions for making your own.

Now that we’ve spent time talking about what a community is and then exploring them, the conversation of this chapter is focused around the compelling question “How do people work together in a community?” On the one hand, this question appears rooted in civics, but the content we cover is rooted in economics. Students have already learned about needs and wants, and consumers and producers in earlier grades, and now we introduce an economic term “scarcity”. You may choose to review the concepts of needs vs wants before introducing this term.

Chapter 4 is all about civics. While many teachers may be tempted to do this chapter first, it is placed here for a reason. Many of the concepts introduced in Chapters 1-3 are revisited here. Some of the content from 1st grade may serve as a great review at the start of the year.

Our final chapter in 2nd grade is all about history - how we study it and how we learn about places - especially our community. The authors recognized early on that it would be impossible for us to write a community history for every community in Michigan, so we continue with our study of two - a small town and a larger town. Our hope is that you’ll have students make connections between these two featured communities and their own. How are they alike? How are they different?

Michigan. The Mitten State. Surrounded by the Great Lakes, filled with many natural wonders and a rich history. Learn about Michigan in our third grade offering from the Michigan Open Book Project.

What do you think makes Michigan special? You might be thinking that Michigan is special because it is your home. Maybe it is special because the people you care about live in Michigan. These are wonderful reasons. This resource will help you learn about many other ways that Michigan is special.

In the first chapter you learned about geography, one of the important areas of social studies. You explored the geography of Michigan and its many special natural characteristics. What do people do with the natural characteristics of Michigan? They put them to use! They plant crops in the soil. They use wood from trees to build houses. What do they do with water??? Lots and lots of things! There is a special name for things in nature that people find useful: natural resources. In this section you will learn how natural resources are important in another area of social studies: economics.

You have learned that there are different areas of social studies. You have learned about geography. You have also learned about economics. In this chapter you will learn about civics. You will discover that civics is the study of government. It is also the study of the role people play in government. But, wait! What is government?

You have learned that there are different areas of social studies. You have learned about geography. You have also learned about economics. In this chapter you will learn about history. You will discover that history is what happened in the past.