Changes Book 2: Progress, Reactions, and History (Differentiated Curriculum for Grade 2)

Changes are constantly occurring in life. The increase of technology and the needs of mankind continuously force change. The Changes curriculum asks students three main questions: Can people control changes? Can using past information help you predict change? Are changes positive or negative?

In Changes Book 2: Progress, Reactions, and History, students focus on three main questions: Is progress good or bad? What would happen if progress stopped? How would this affect the field of technology, medicine, or education? The second book in the Changes series will lead your students on a journey of understanding the nature of change.

Students will also investigate the universal concept of change. Students learn about chemical changes by examining the effects of salt on buoyancy, water on pasta, and heat on popcorn kernels. Students' investigation continues with the story and examination of a young character's life as she and her father go into the wilderness and live with Native Americans.

Other books in the Changes series include Changes Book 1: Rights, Resources, and Weather; and Changes Book 3: Communication, Honesty, and Inventions. Each book contains detailed lesson plans, reproducible activity sheets, and assessment tools.

This curriculum unit makes use of the following great children's literature books:

• The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton;
• Homer Price by Robert McCloskey;
• I Wonder Why Zippers Have Teeth: And Other Questions About Inventions by Barbara Taylor;
• It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw;
• Encounter by Jane Yolen;
• The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh;
• Willie's Not the Hugging Kinds by Joyce Durham Barrett; and
• Barn by Debby Atwell.