Science and Technology

In this unit you will learn how animals grow and change. You will compare animals' characteristics (body coverings, legs and body parts), find out which characteristics stay the same and which change, and describe the many ways animals move. You will follow the life cycles of insects (the monarch butterfly and the grasshopper), amphibians (frogs and salamanders), birds (the robin and the Canada goose) and mammals (the black bear, and you!), and compare how animals change in appearance and behaviour as they grow. You will learn how adaptations help animals survive in their habitats. Finally, you will look at how animals and people affect each other, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives, and what people do to protect animals and their habitats.

Along the way you will work like a scientist, engineer and coder: researching, measuring, doing fair tests (like the blubber glove), coding a life cycle with a loop, and designing something that helps animals.

Curriculum expectations covered: B1.1, B1.2, B2.1, B2.2, B2.3, B2.4, B2.5, with STEM skills A1.1, A1.2, A1.3, A1.4, A1.5, A2.1, A2.2, A3.1, A3.3 (Ontario Science and Technology, Grade 2, 2022).

In this unit you will explore the solids and liquids all around you, in nature and in the places people build. You will discover their properties: solids keep their own shape, while liquids flow and take the shape of their container. You will investigate liquid water and solid water (ice), find out what makes things melt and freeze (and what keeps them the same), and think about how melting and freezing affect people, animals and the land, including communities that depend on winter ice. Then you will mix liquids and solids to make useful mixtures, test which objects float or sink, and classify materials that absorb or repel water. Finally, you will learn to read safety symbols and become a home safety inspector who knows how to use, store and get rid of household products safely.

Along the way you will do fair tests, design an ice cube keeper and a boat, write code for a lemonade robot and share your findings. Every lesson has a hands-on activity using things from home, practice questions and a short quiz. Safety first: a grown-up does any heating, and we never mix cleaning products.

Curriculum expectations covered: C1.1, C1.2, C2.1, C2.2, C2.3, C2.4, C2.5, C2.6, C2.7 (Ontario Science and Technology, Grade 2, 2022), with STEM skills from Strand A (A1.1, A1.2, A1.3, A1.4, A1.5, A2.1, A3.1, A3.3).

In this unit you will become a scientist and an engineer who studies movement! You will learn the different ways objects move (in a straight line, in a curve, in a zigzag, round and round, back and forth) and how pushes and pulls change an object's position. You will even write simple code to move a robot.

Then you will meet the six simple machines: the lever, the wheel and axle, the pulley, the inclined plane, the wedge and the screw. You will find each one in your home, learn how it makes work easier, and measure the force needed with and without a machine using a rubber band and a ruler. You will learn how simple machines help people in different communities, including technologies made by First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples, and how machines that help us move affect the environment. Finally, you will design and build your own machine to move a load.

Every lesson has a hands-on activity using things from home, practice questions and a short quiz.

Curriculum expectations covered: D1.1, D1.2, D2.1 to D2.5 (Ontario Science and Technology, Grade 2, 2022), with STEM skills from Strand A (A1.1 to A1.5, A2.1, A3.1, A3.3).

In this unit you will explore two things every living thing needs: air and water. You will discover that air is real stuff that takes up space, has mass and moves as wind, and you will investigate the properties of water. You will learn the three states of water (ice, liquid water and water vapour), how warming and cooling change them, and how water travels around and around in the water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection. You will see how air and water make our weather, find where water is found in nature and in our communities, and learn how plants, animals and people depend on air and water.

Then you will become a water saver and a water protector: measuring how your family uses water and making a plan, thinking about pollution from different perspectives (including First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives on water), and learning why safe drinking water matters for communities in Canada and around the world. Along the way you will do experiments, design a rain gauge and a water filter, and write a simple loop to code the water cycle.

Every lesson has a hands-on activity using things from home, practice questions and a short quiz.

Curriculum expectations covered: E1.1, E1.2, E1.3, E2.1 to E2.5 (Ontario Science and Technology, Grade 2, 2022), with STEM skills from Strand A (A1.1 to A1.5, A2.1, A2.2, A3.1, A3.3).