Unit 1Family edition: Week 4

Not a lesson in your Grade 1 Social Studies bookNot a lesson in your Grade 1 Science bookGrade 2 · Social Studies · Lesson 3Grade 2 · Science · Lesson 3Not a Grade 1 lesson. Use it as an extra, or see the Grade 1 year.Family edition · Week 4

California places and living neighbors

Big question: How is land used, and what lives there?

Start with Listen

Story time optional

Picture books you can read together on this site.

The Little PlantLook closely at one plant and meet the bees, ants and worms that live there.ReadThis is Where We LiveSupporting matchTwo cats watch their neighborhood from morning, through the rain, into the quiet night.ReadMy Little GardenSupporting matchA boy and his dad turn a littered plot into a garden.Read

From the library

Free with a library card. Availability varies.

Weaving a California Tradition: A Native American Basketmakerby Linda YamaneBorrow in LibbyOne Small Place in a Treeby Barbara BrennerBorrow in Libby

Standards this week

The same codes and I Can statements as the printed books.

Books by grade

Grade 1

Social Studies

Not in the Grade 1 Social Studies book this week.

Science

Not in the Grade 1 Science book this week.

Grade 2

Social Studies

Your bookLesson 3 in the Grade 2 Social Studies book
  • 2.2.4I can compare California rural, urban and suburban land uses.
  • 2.2.1I can locate community places and geographic features on a simple map.

Science

Your bookLesson 3 in the Grade 2 Science book
  • 2-LS4-1I can compare the variety of plants and animals in different habitats.
Grade 2 Social Studies book, p. 22–23
In your book

Session 1, Read and notice: Different places with shared needs

Week 4 big question: How is land used, and what lives there?

Start with a story (optional) The Little Plant — Read it hereLook closely at one plant and meet the bees, ants and worms that live there.

Places can be urban, suburban, or rural.

Picture a trip past California city blocks and scattered homes. A city area is urban, while areas around a city are suburban. In rural places, fewer people live among spread-out homes, farms, forests, or open land. These words help you spot patterns on a map. But they cannot tell you about every home or person you meet.

Each kind of place has a mix of things.

In a city, you may pass apartments and shops standing close together. Around a city, homes, schools, stores, and parks may spread out. Farther along, farms or open land may lie between rural towns. Does that mean everyone there works on a farm? People in rural places also work in shops, schools, and clinics. Each kind of place has a mix. Cities can have gardens, and suburbs can have tall apartments.

People use land for homes, work, travel, and play.

Wherever they live, people need homes and places to work, travel, and play. These are all kinds of land use, or ways people use land. The amount of land used in each way can differ. Natural features help shape a place, too. These include rivers, coasts, hills, and valleys. A natural area can be a habitat where a living thing meets its needs. Your map can show these places beside things people made.

Look and think

Show what you notice

  1. Name one land use you can find in all three kinds of places.
  2. Is “All rural people are farmers” true? Why not?

Answer your waypointact it outtell or dictatewrite

Grade 2 Science book, p. 20–22
In your book

Session 2, Investigate: Count kinds, not just bodies

We count kinds, not just how many we see.

Six ants hurry past, but how many kinds have you seen? Those six animals may all belong to just one kind. An ant, a beetle, and a spider are three kinds instead. They show more diversity because there are more kinds of living things. Look for them in a habitat like a garden bed or grass patch.

A short look cannot show everything. We need a fair way to compare places. We watch same-size areas for the same time and record what we see. We can make notes even without a plant’s name. A note like “small plant with round leaves” gives evidence of what we found. Next time you pass some grass, wonder what kinds might be there.

Set up the test

Gather paper and pencil · timer · two equal paper frames or string loops · local map · safe views of two nearby habitats

Safety Observe from safe paths with an adult. Do not touch unknown plants, insects, fungi, or animal waste. Two adult-made habitat photographs are an indoor alternative.

  1. Pick two small habitats. Mark two viewing areas of the same size. Do not disturb living things.Adult: A garden bed and a grass patch work well.
  2. Guess which area has more kinds. Look at each area for three minutes, the same way.Adult: If you use a magnifier for one area, use it for both.
  3. Draw or tally each kind one time. Give an unknown kind a name that tells how it looks.Adult: Count how many of one kind separately, so kinds and individuals stay apart.
  4. Compare the kinds. Say “We saw more kinds here,” not “Nothing else lives there.”

Try the model

A model to try after your real test.

Getting the model ready…

Grade 2 Social Studies book, p. 24Grade 2 Science book, p. 23

Session 3: Record and make — A land-use and habitat map

Compare · Count kinds, not just bodies

1Habitat A: kinds
2Habitat B: kinds

Which had more kinds

Keep your dated counts on the habitat count record, p. 238. You will count again in Week 11.

Fill this in on your workbook page.

A land-use and habitat map

Make a map of places for people and for wild things. They may use a place in other ways.

  1. On a local map, mark one thing from nature and one thing people made. Mark your two habitat spots, too.Adult: Help find a nearby hill, river, park, or coastline.
  2. Draw a small rural, urban, and suburban place. In each, show homes, work, a road, and a shared space.
  3. Tell one way land use is the same in all three. Tell one way it is not.

Connect the ideas. How can a map help us find the same habitat again?

Look closely

Tap a picture to make it big. Zoom in and find the clues.

PhotographCity: Los AngelesMundanemetal · CC BY 4.0
PhotographSuburb: Van NuysJGKlein · Public domain
PhotographCountry: near Paso RoblesCarol M. Highsmith · Public domain
Illustration (imagined scene)An imagined garden patchIllustration made for this book

Field trip

Visit with a grown-up. These open other websites in a new tab.

Grade 2 Social Studies book, p. 25Grade 2 Science book, p. 24

My evidence page: Two small habitats

Draw or list the kinds you saw in each habitat. Show the totals. Then compare them with “more,” “fewer,” or “the same.”

  • 1Habitat A: kinds we saw
  • 2Habitat B: kinds we saw, and which had more

3Choose and explain · Checkpoint game

Listen, then choose. Finish the game to earn this week’s stamp.

The game needs JavaScript turned on.

For the adult · what each grade shows

Grade 1

Show one land use all three places share, and tell which habitat had more kinds of living things.

Grade 2

Explain which habitat had more diversity, using your counts and one limit of a short look.

Showing the Grade 1 line for your book.

Showing the Grade 2 line for your book.

Take a photo of the evidence page or the test. Add your child’s own words. It stays on this device.

Add to my portfolio

Parent corner

How to run this week, in a few minutes.

At a glance

Time

From the workbook: Read and notice about 20 min · Investigate 20–30 min, plus short checks · Record and make 20–30 min.

Core

Compare kinds of living things in two same-size habitats, and compare land use in three kinds of places.

Materials
  • paper and pencil
  • timer
  • two equal paper frames or string loops
  • local map
  • safe views of two nearby habitats
Safety

Observe from safe paths with an adult. Do not touch unknown plants, insects, fungi, or animal waste. Two adult-made habitat photographs are an indoor alternative.

Short week

Read together, then do Investigate steps 1–4 and the evidence page. If you skip the local map’s natural and human-made community features, note it as “not yet” for your teacher.

Next week

Save the location map and observation method for Week 11. A repeat observation is more useful when area size and observation time stay consistent.

Library books

  • Weaving a California Tradition: A Native American Basketmaker by Linda Yamane. A Western Mono girl carries on basket weaving; written by a Rumsen Ohlone author (photo essay, may suit ages 7+).
  • One Small Place in a Tree by Barbara Brenner. Shows many kinds of living things sharing one place.
Answer key (for grown-ups)

Talk together

  1. Name one land use you can find in all three kinds of places.
    Homes, workplaces, transportation routes, schools, and shared spaces can occur in all three settings. Compare arrangement and extent rather than assigning an exclusive use.
  2. Is “All rural people are farmers” true? Why not?
    Rural describes a settlement pattern, not everybody’s occupation. The reading names rural schools, shops, and clinics as counterexamples.

What to expect in the investigation

Results vary with season, weather, habitat, and visibility. Equal observed diversity is acceptable. Distinguish kinds from individuals, and observations from claims about everything living there. Photograph evidence should be labeled as photograph observations. A habitat might be a garden bed, a grass patch, or shade by a tree. Do not pull up plants or bother animals. A descriptive note such as “small plant with round leaves” is useful. A short visit will not show every living thing.

Checkpoint question

Choice B names three kinds. If needed, sort repeated drawings into kind groups before counting groups.

Kindergarten this weekSocial Studies: Days in orderScience: Ask about weather