Life Science Curriculum: 7 Easy Topics For 2nd Grade

2nd grade life science curriculum blog post image

In second grade, students build on their understanding of the world by exploring different topics in science. There are so many connections and hands-on activities that students can take part in when teaching a 2nd grade life science curriculum. One unit I love teaching in 2nd grade is life science. In this post, I will share with you 7 topics I include in my 2nd grade Life Science lesson plans.

What to teach in your 2nd grade life science curriculum

7 topics to include in a 2nd Grade Life Science Curriculum:

Living vs. non-living things
Needs and parts of a plant
Pollination
Life cycles of a plant
Needs of an Animal and their habitats
Animal characteristics
Adaptations

1. Living vs. Nonliving Things

Living vs. nonliving things is one of the first topics that I discuss when we start our 2nd grade life science curriculum. I like to have students look at lots of examples and practice identifying and explaining why something is living or nonliving.

2nd Grade nonliving and living activities

2. Needs and Parts of a Plant

The next topic that I include in my life science unit is about the needs of a plant. Students learn what a plant needs in order to survive. We also study the parts of a plant using fun hands-on labs and real-life experiences by planting our own plants in class.

3. Pollination

2nd Grade Life Science Curriculum worksheets picture

Pollination is typically taught in older grades, but I love spending a little bit of time on this topic. We love pretending to be a bee working hard to pollinate other flowers by completing a fun experiment using Cheetos and juice boxes.

Some other fun ways to get younger students to understand the topic is by teaching the vocabulary using picture flashcards or by watching fun videos that easily explain pollination.

4. Life cycles of a plant

The next topic we learn about in second grade is life cycles. I love teaching the life cycles of plants, butterflies, and praying mantis. There are so many different things that fit within this topic that can be engaging and fun for second graders.

One of my favorite ways to teach kids about life cycles is through interactive anchor charts, diagrams, or cut and sort activities. My life cycle of a plant unit has a ton of no-prep worksheets that are perfect for a science center.

5. Needs of an Animal and Habitats

Depending on the grade you teach, your students may need to know different details and facts about habitats and biomes. These are some of the ideas I like to cover.

Needs of an animal
What habitats are
How to classify a habitat
Popular habitats around the world
Common climate, plant life, and animal life in each habitat

Mini Research projects are one way I love to get my students to learn about habitats. Having students work on flipbooks makes a great mini-research option. Flipbooks are a fun way to incorporate the content into your classroom and make a perfect independent activity for kids.

6. Animal Characteristics

Another fun topic that works great as a creative project is animal characteristics. My state standards require second graders to learn that animals have unique characteristics that help them survive.

A great way to teach animal characteristics is by focusing on different animal ears, eyes, feet/limbs, teeth, noses, and body coverings.

animal characteristics worksheets picture

Once they have learned about different animal features, they create a super animal by drawing pictures and writing a short story about their animal.

7. Animal Adaptations

The last topic I like to teach in my 2nd grade life science curriculum is animal adaptations. In my class we focus on behavioral and physical adaptations. We learn about camouflage, hibernation, mimicry, and migration.

Assigning students an animal to study and then focusing on its adaptations and how it helps the animal survive is a perfect way to teach this topic.

More 2nd Grade Life Science Curriculum Activities for Kids

As you build upon your 2nd Grade life science curriculum, make sure to have fun and throw in as many real-world activities that students can connect to. Students love learning about cool plants and fascinating animals.

All of the activities in this post are part of my life science curriculum bundle.

If you are looking to spice up your technology center, check out my life science digital pack.

Snag a free science roadmap to help you stay on track throughout the year when your are lesson planning. HERE!

Hopefully, you were able to gather some ideas to incorporate into your 2nd grade life science curriculum. To help you plan out your year, I also created a free yearly overview for science, which makes planning stress-free. Make sure to grab a copy to help simplify your lesson planning!