Erica M. Mentone
The science topics presented in this unit are intended to fascinate second-graders! I have chosen content within the topic of natural disasters that can be studied as cycles in order to build upon students' prior knowledge from a second-grade curriculum unit on life cycles. The content of this unit includes: the hydrologic cycle, hurricane seasons, the tectonic cycle, and the recovery cycle. This unit requires students to use higher order thinking skills. Students must think critically in order to compare and contrast, analyze, and synthesize information.
The concepts and lessons in this unit can easily be adapted for use in grades one through four. It is meant to provide teachers with the content area knowledge necessary to teach a unit on natural disasters, and some practical resources for conveying that knowledge to elementary school students.
The resources in this unit include: content area reading for teachers, a suggested scope and sequence for implementation of a unit, four lesson plans designed for students in grade two, experiments, demonstrations, reading lessons, writing lessons, ideas for extensions and differentiation, relation of this unit to district standards, and a recommended reading/technology list for students and teachers.
(Developed for Science and Nonfiction Reading and Writing, grade 2; recommended for Science and Nonfiction Reading and Writing, grades 1-4)