2nd Grade Units · The Integrated Learning Studio

2nd Grade Curriculum

Four integrated units that weave Reading, Writing, Science, and Social Studies into one theme each. They are designed to build on one another across the school year.

All units are password protected until purchased. The previews, sample lessons, and planning guides are free for everyone. Why?

Unit 1 · Six weeks

Eureka!

Ingenuity, Inventions, & Character

Driving questionHow can young inventors solve real problems for the people we care about?

Students think like readers, write personal narratives, test materials, and meet inventors from Edwin Binney to Lonnie Johnson. They learn how inventions help a community and how they get made and sold. Then they build their own invention.

Writing	Personal narratives
Science	Properties of materials and engineering design challenges
Social Studies	Inventors, civics, and economics
Big finish	The Ingenuity Expo

A peek inside

Read a sample lesson →Planning guide

Sample: Design Challenge: Build a Chair for a Teddy Bear (Science · Week 2), with page 1 of its printables. The planning guide has a typical week, the prep calendar, books, supplies, and standards.

Unit 2 · Six weeks

Stories Around the Table

Culture, Tradition, & Community

Driving questionHow can we honor every family’s story and show how those stories make America ours?

Students read books about families from many cultures, write their own family stories, learn about the immigrants whose journeys built America, and grow herbs that families once carried across an ocean.

Writing	Family stories
Science	A plant investigation: what helps plants grow and thrive
Social Studies	Immigration and the cultures that make up America
Big finish	A class cookbook with everyone’s voice

A peek inside

Read a sample lesson →Planning guide

Sample: People Brought Plants Too (Science and Social Studies · Week 2), with page 1 of its printables. The planning guide has a typical week, the prep calendar, books, supplies, and standards.

Unit 3 · Six weeks plus Zoo Week

Bring the Zoo to You

Habitats, Adaptations, & Our World

Driving questionHow can we create a class zoo that helps visitors understand animals and the places they call home?

Students investigate habitats and adaptations, track animals’ real homes on a class world map, research an animal of their own, and build habitat dioramas for a class zoo, complete with a visitor map they design together.

Writing	Research on an animal of their own
Science	Habitats, adaptations, and food webs
Social Studies	Maps and where animals live
Big finish	Zoo Week: the class zoo opens to visitors

A peek inside

Read a sample lesson →Planning guide

Sample: Blubber Glove Experiment (Science · Week 3), with page 1 of its printables. The planning guide has a typical week, the prep calendar, books, supplies, and standards.

Unit 4 · Six weeks plus Celebration Week

Galactic Guides

Landforms, Water, & Our Changing Earth

Driving questionHow can we help Zod explore Earth safely and plan the perfect visit for his community?

Zod, a friendly scout from flat, never-changing Planet Plaino, sends the class a new problem every week in an animated transmission. Students build his Earth Survival Plan, design and test a rover, investigate water, landforms, and fast and slow changes, and write a sightseeing guidebook for his community.

Writing	A sightseeing guidebook
Science	Water, landforms, fast and slow changes, and rover design
Social Studies	Maps and staying safe when Earth changes
Big finish	The Guidebook Launch

A peek inside

Read a sample lesson →Planning guide

Sample: Slow Down Erosion (Science · Week 5), with page 1 of its printables. The planning guide has a typical week, the prep calendar, books, supplies, and standards.

A typical week

Every unit has a planning guide with its full weekly schedule, prep calendar, book list, and supply list: Eureka! · Stories Around the Table · Bring the Zoo to You · Galactic Guides.

Units 1 and 2

Whole-class lessons. Each day has a read-aloud (15–20 minutes) and one Reading or Writing lesson (30–45 minutes), plus three Science or Social Studies lessons a week (30–60 minutes each).

A typical week in Eureka!

Mon	Read-aloud15–20 Reading lesson30–45 Science45–60
Tue	Read-aloud15–20 Reading lesson30–45
Wed	Read-aloud15–20 Reading lesson30–45
Thu	Read-aloud15–20 Writing lesson30–45 Science45–60
Fri	Read-aloud15–20 Writing lesson30–45 Social Studies45–55

Units 3 and 4

A 90-minute Reading & Writing block every day: a short mini lesson, small-group stations, and a read-aloud. Each team meets with you at the Teacher Table twice a week. Two Science lessons (45–55 minutes) and one Social Studies lesson (40–55 minutes) a week.

A typical week in Galactic Guides

Mon	Mini lesson15 Stations60 Share10 Science: Zod’s transmission45–55
Tue	Warm-up5 Stations60 Read-aloud25
Wed	Mini lesson15 Stations60 Share10 Science45–55
Thu	Warm-up5 Stations60 Read-aloud25
Fri	Read-aloud25 Catch-up and Teacher Table make-up35 If You Have Time30 Social Studies50–55

Phonics, math, intervention, and specials stay in your schedule as they are. Science and Social Studies don’t meet every day, which leaves room for the rest of your week.

Support for every learner

Reading at three levels (Units 3–4). Small-group booklets cover the same science at three reading levels, so every student reads about the same ideas at a level that fits.
Writing scaffolds (all units). Graphic organizers, sentence starters, and a teacher model for each writing task. In Units 3–4, key organizers come in two versions: one with more support and one that asks for more.
Fluency practice (Units 3–4). A partner fluency script every week, plus challenge passages for readers who are ready for more in Unit 4.
Hands-on entry points (all units). Science lessons are hands-on investigations, so students who are still building reading skills take part fully.
Room to stretch (Units 3–4). “Ready for more?” notes in the lessons and an If You Have Time lesson bank for Fridays.

A booklet page written for readers who need more support — The same topic at two reading levels, from Galactic Guides, Booklet 1.

The same booklet page written for stronger readers — The same topic at two reading levels, from Galactic Guides, Booklet 1.

Questions teachers ask

How much time does a unit take each day?

See “A typical week” above. Each unit’s planning guide has its full weekly schedule with minutes: Eureka! · Stories Around the Table · Bring the Zoo to You · Galactic Guides.

How much of the school year do the units cover?

Four units of six weeks, plus Zoo Week and Celebration Week, add up to about 26 weeks of lessons. Teachers find that this fills the year, because an elementary classroom has so much else going on: beginning-of-year routines, assessments, holidays, field trips, and school events.

Do the units replace my phonics or math program?

No. The units teach reading comprehension, writing, grammar, science, and social studies. Keep teaching your school’s phonics and math programs every day alongside them. The minutes in each schedule are for the unit’s own lessons.

Can I teach one unit on its own?

Yes. Each unit includes everything you need to teach it. The units are written to follow one another across the year, and any notes about earlier units are marked as optional.

How are students assessed?

Each unit has a rubric for Reading, Writing, Science, and Social Studies, built around the unit’s standards, so you can document what each student has mastered. Each rubric has a matching student self-assessment, so students reflect on their own work too. Every lesson lists the standards it teaches. See a sample rubric and the full standards list in any unit’s planning guide.

What do I get when I buy a unit?

The complete teacher hub for that unit: every lesson plan, printable, slide deck, video, rubric, and student app, organized week by week. Your license lasts forever, with no subscription. It covers one classroom, and you can print as many copies as your class needs. A school that buys units for several teachers can get one school-wide password.

What technology do I need?

Internet access and a web browser on a computer, Chromebook, or iPad, plus a printer. A projector or screen is helpful for slides and videos. Units 1 and 2 need nothing more. In Units 3 and 4, one small-group station uses tablets or Chromebooks for interactive games. Only one team uses it at a time, so about 5–6 devices with headphones is enough for a whole class. No devices? Each of those units includes a printable kit with the same lessons as card games.

2nd Grade Curriculum

Eureka!

Stories Around the Table

Bring the Zoo to You

Galactic Guides

A typical week

Units 1 and 2

Units 3 and 4

Support for every learner

Questions teachers ask

Why are the units password protected?