2020 Colorado Academic Standards Online
Use the options below to create customized views of the 2020 Colorado Academic Standards. For all standards resources, see the Office of Standards and Instructional Support.
Current selections are shown below (maximum of five)
clear Content Area: Social Studies // Grade Level: Second Grade // Standard Category: All Standards Categories
Social Studies
Second Grade, Standard 1. History
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Prepared Graduates:
- 1. Understand the nature of historical knowledge as a process of inquiry that examines and analyzes how history is viewed, constructed, and interpreted.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Ask questions and discuss ideas taken from primary and secondary sources.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Explain that the nature of history involves stories of the past preserved in various sources.
- Explain the past through primary and secondary sources. For example: images, and oral or written accounts.
- Explain the information conveyed by historical timelines.
- Identify community and regional historical artifacts and generate questions about their functions and significance.
- Create timelines to understand the development of important community traditions and events.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Identify key attributes of a variety of information products. For example: books, newspapers, online or print articles, social media. (Professional Skills: Information Literacy)
- Demonstrate curiosity about events and people from the past using primary and secondary sources. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Creativity/Innovation)
Inquiry Questions:
- How can two people understand the same event differently?
- Why is it important to use more than one source for information?
- How can putting events in order by time help describe the past?
- What kinds of tools and sources do historical thinkers use to investigate the past?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers gather firsthand accounts of history through a variety of sources, including differing accounts of the same event.
- Historical thinkers use primary sources to investigate the past.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Apply disciplinary concepts such as perspective to create accounts of the past.
- Listen for main idea and sequence of events in a social studies text.
- Analyze different texts (including experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia texts) to compare and contrast competing theories, points of view, and arguments in the discipline.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 2. Analyze historical time periods and patterns of continuity and change, through multiple perspectives, within and among cultures and societies.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. People of various cultures influence neighborhoods and communities over time.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Organize historical events of neighborhoods and/or communities chronologically.
- Compare and contrast neighborhoods and/or communities, both past and present, through their people and events.
- Give examples of people and events that brought important changes to a neighborhood and/or community.
- Compare and contrast the differences within one neighborhood and/or community.
- Analyze the interactions and contributions of various people and cultures that have lived in or migrated to neighborhoods and/or communities.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Recognize and describe cause-and-effect relationships and patterns in everyday experiences. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
- Recognize and describe patterns within and between neighborhoods and communities. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
- Investigate to make observations and draw conclusions about neighborhoods and communities. (Entrepreneurial Skills/Inquiry/Analysis)
Inquiry Questions:
- What are the cultural attributes of a neighborhood or community?
- How can understanding the past impact decision-making today?
- How have events and ideas from the past shaped the identity of communities and neighborhoods today?
Nature and Skills of History:
- Historical thinkers investigate relationships between the past and present.
- Historical thinkers organize findings in chronological order as one way to examine and describe the past.
- Historical thinkers examine concepts of change, continuity, and causation in order to explain the past.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Apply disciplinary concepts such as change, continuity, and causation to create accounts of neighborhoods and communities in the past.
- Demonstrate positive social behaviors when using technology.
- Begin to identify differing perspectives.
Social Studies
Second Grade, Standard 2. Geography
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Prepared Graduates:
- 3. Apply geographic representations and perspectives to analyze human movement, spatial patterns, systems, and the connections and relationships among them.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Use geographic terms and tools to describe places and spaces.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Use map keys, legends, symbols, intermediate directions, and a compass rose to locate and describe spaces and places.
- Identify and locate various physical features on a map.
- Identify the hemispheres, equator, and poles on a globe.
- Identify and locate cultural, human, political, and natural features using map keys and legends.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Identify key attributes of a variety of geographic tools. For example: globes, maps, and GPS.
- Find information through the use of geographic technologies. For example: GPS and satellite imagery.
Inquiry Questions:
- How do you define, organize, and think about the space around you?
- What is a human feature versus a physical feature?
- Why do we use geographic tools such as maps, globes, grids, symbols, and keys?
- How would you describe a setting without using geographic words?
- How can using the wrong geographic tool or term cause problems?
Nature and Skills of Geography:
- Spatial thinkers use visual representations of the environment.
- Spatial thinkers identify data and reference points to understand space and place.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Construct maps, graphs and other representations of familiar places.
- Describe spaces and places and the relationships and interactions that shape them using geographic tools. For example: maps, graphs, photographs, and other representations.
- Use maps, globes and other geographic models to identify cultural and environmental characteristics of places.
- Analyze and use information presented visually in a text (for example, graphs, charts, flowcharts, diagrams, models, tables) that support the words in a text.
- Analyze different texts (including experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia texts) to compare and contrast competing theories, points of view, and arguments in the discipline.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 4. Examine the characteristics of places and regions, and the changing nature among geographic and human interactions.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. People in communities manage, modify, and depend on their environment.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Explain how communities manage and use nonrenewable and renewable resources.
- Explain how community is defined by physical boundaries and resources.
- Explain why people settle in certain areas.
- Identify examples of how human activity influences cultural and environmental characteristics of a place over time.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Recognize problems within a community related to the environment and their respective solutions. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving).
- Make observations and draw conclusions about the relationship between a community and their environment. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis).
Inquiry Questions:
- How do available resources and their uses create change in a community?
- Are renewable and nonrenewable resources managed well? How do you know?
- Why are physical features often used as boundaries?
- What are the various groups in a community and how are they alike and different?
- How do you choose if you should recycle, reduce, reuse, or throw something away?
Nature and Skills of Geography:
- Spatial thinkers compare information and data and recognize that environmental factors influence change in communities.
- Geographic thinkers study the uneven distribution and management of resources.
- Geographic thinkers recognize that problems can be identified and possible solutions can be created.
- Geographic thinkers identify and reflect upon personal connections to community systems.
- Geographic thinkers understand that they must manage resources in the environment such as conserving water, safeguarding clean air, managing electricity needs, and reducing the amount of waste.
- Geographic thinkers, within communities, collaborate to modify, manage, and depend on the environment. For example: elected officials decide how to manage resources, and communities may limit hunting, water usage, or other activities.
- Geographic technology is used to gather, track, and communicate how resources might be managed or modified. For example: ski areas track snowfall rates, analyze data for avalanche danger and even create snow.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Describe how human activities affect the cultural and environmental characteristics of spaces or places.
- Generate questions to guide research, gather information from print and digital sources, determine biases and credibility of sources, cite sources accurately, and use evidence to answer their research question.
- Demonstrate positive social behaviors when using technology.
- Synthesize information from multiple sources to demonstrate understanding of a topic.
Social Studies
Second Grade, Standard 3. Economics
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Prepared Graduates:
- 5. Understand the allocation of scarce resources in societies through analysis of individual choice, market interaction, and public policy.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Resources are scarce, so individuals may not have access to the goods and services they want.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Explain scarcity.
- Identify goods and services and recognize examples of each.
- Give examples of choices people make when resources are scarce.
- Identify possible solutions when there are limited resources and unlimited wants.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Demonstrate an understanding of cause and effect related to personal decisions. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)
- Recognize problems that arise from scarcity and their respective solutions. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving)
Inquiry Questions:
- How does scarcity affect purchasing decisions?
- What goods and services do you use?
- How are resources used in various communities?
- What are some ways to find out about the goods and services used in other communities?
Nature and Skills of Economics:
- Economic thinkers analyze choices that individuals make to predict patterns and determine demand.
- Economic thinkers analyze how goods and services are produced and priced.
- Economic thinkers analyze scarcity of resources and its impact on the cost of goods and services.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Apply disciplinary concepts such as decision-making, exchange, and markets to determine the benefits and costs of a particular choice.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 6. Apply economic reasoning skills to make informed personal financial decisions (PFL).
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Investigate costs and benefits to make informed financial decisions (PFL).
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Assess priorities when making financial decisions.
- Classify goals as short-term or long-term.
- Differentiate the monetary value for a variety of goods and services.
- Acknowledge that non-monetary value varies from person to person for goods and services.
- Predict positive and negative consequences when making financial decisions.
- Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve word problems about making financial decisions.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Identify consequences (positive and negative) of a financial decision. (Entrepreneurial Skills: Inquiry/Analysis)
- Understand how to reduce risk depending on the financial choices they make (Entrepreneurial Skills: Informed Risk Taking)
- Demonstrate an understanding of cause and effect related to different financial decisions. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Character)
Inquiry Questions:
- How do individuals make and analyze the consequences of financial decisions?
- What strategies can help individuals achieve their short-term goals and long-term goals?
Nature and Skills of Economics:
- Financially capable individuals use good decision-making tools in planning their spending and saving.
- Financially capable individuals make financial decisions based on responsible evaluation of the consequences.
- Financially capable individuals make purchase decisions based on such things as quality, price, and personal goals. For example, you decide whether to spend money on candy or the movies.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
- Compare the benefits and costs of individual choices.
- Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the decisions people make.
- Present arguments or information in a logical sequence with a clear claim, supportive evidence, and effective presence that builds credibility.
Social Studies
Second Grade, Standard 4. Civics
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Prepared Graduates:
- 7. Express an understanding of how civic participation affects policy by applying the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.
Grade Level Expectation:
1. Advocate for ideas to improve communities.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Compare ways that people may express their ideas and viewpoints in ways that are effective and respectful to others.
- Analyze how people in diverse groups monitor and influence decisions in their community.
- Describe ways in which you can take an active part in improving your school or community.
- Identify and compare examples of civic responsibilities that are important to privileged and marginalized individuals, families, and communities. For example: voting and representation.
- Describe the characteristics that enable a community member to responsibly and effectively engage in the community.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Identify and reflect upon personal connections to community systems. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Civic Engagement)
- Model positive behaviors for others. (Professional Skills: Leadership)
Inquiry Questions:
- What are beliefs that help people live together in communities?
- What civic responsibilities do you think are important?
- How can different cultures and beliefs influence a community?
- What are responsible ways to advocate ideas in a community?
Nature and Skills of Civics:
- Civic-minded individuals show responsibility for the well-being of oneself, family, and school community.
- Civic-minded individuals listen and participate as a member of a group.
- Civic-minded individuals collaborate to responsibly advocate for the ideas they think will improve society. For example: a group lobbies the city council to create a new park or employ more firefighters.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Use technology resources for problem solving, communication, and illustration of thoughts and ideas.
- Compare and contrast the most important points presented by two texts on the same topic.
- Write opinion pieces in which students introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.
- Write informative/explanatory texts in which students introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
- Present arguments or information in a logical sequence with a clear claim, supportive evidence, and effective presence that builds credibility.
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Prepared Graduates:
- 8. Analyze the origins, structures, and functions of governments to evaluate the impact on citizens and the global society.
Grade Level Expectation:
2. Identify and compare multiple ways that people understand and resolve conflicts and differences.
Evidence Outcomes:
Students Can:
- Analyze ways that diverse individuals, groups and communities work through conflict and promote equality, justice, and responsibility.
- Compare examples of power and authority and identify strategies that could be used to address an imbalance. For example: anti-bullying, mediation, and deliberation.
- Identify and give examples of appropriate and inappropriate uses of power and the consequences.
- Demonstrate skills to understand and resolve conflicts or differences.
Academic Contexts and Connections:
Colorado Essential Skills:
- Compare attitudes and beliefs as an individual to others. (Civic/Interpersonal Skills: Global/Cultural Awareness).
- Appropriately express a range of emotions to communicate personal ideas/needs. (Personal Skills: Self-Awareness).
Inquiry Questions:
- What happens when someone uses power unwisely?
- What are good ways to solve differences?
- What do equality, justice, and responsibility look like in the world?
Nature and Skills of Civics:
- Civic-minded individuals examine how culture influences the disposition of rules, laws, rights, and responsibilities.
- Civic-minded individuals understand that power and authority shape individual participation.
Disciplinary, Information, and Media Literacy:
- Begin to identify differing perspectives.
- Use technology resources for problem solving, communication, and illustration of thoughts and ideas.
- Analyze different texts (including experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia texts) to compare and contrast competing theories, points of view, and arguments in the discipline.
Need Help? Submit questions or requests for assistance to bruno_j@cde.state.co.us