Plate Tectonic 
SECOND GRADE
4 week unit

1. Students should be able to distinguish between magma and lava, and a vent and a crater.
2. Students should begin to develop an idea of how a model is not always the same as the real thing it is illustrating.
3. Students should understand that volcanoes can occur all around the world.
4. Students should be able to demonstrate that a fault is a zone of weakness in the crust of the Earth.
5. Students should learn the names of local faults.
6. Students should realize that when an earthquake occurs it usually means that a fault has moved releasing energy.
7. Students should learn that we cannot drill to the center of the Earth, and that scientists cannot even drill through the crust.
8. Students should be able to distinguish between plate boundaries and continent/ocean boundaries.
9. Students should begin to understand that over long periods of times the Earth's crust has moved.
10. Students should be able to use critical thinking skills in a disaster.
11. Students should realize that after any disaster strikes that there are certain logical steps one should take, whether someone is a mayor, teacher, or parent.
12. Students should have analyzed the safety of their home if it were to shake during an earthquake or other disaster.

WEEK 1.
PRE: Investigating the parts of a volcano.
LAB: Comparing the parts of a volcano to different types of models.
POST: Discovering that volcanoes occur around the world.

EARTHQUAKES

WEEK 2.
PRE: Discovering earthquake faults.
LAB: Tracing a fault map of the San Francisco Bay Area.
POST: Exploring how deep you can drill into the Earth.

PLATE TECTONICS

WEEK 3.
PRE: Exploring how the Earth's outermost portion moves.
LAB: Exploring the results of movement on the Earth's crust.
POST: Exploring how plates have moved through time.

HAZARDS

WEEK 4.
PRE: Discovering how to think during an earthquake.
LAB: Assessing what a mayor should do during a strong, moderate, and weak earthquake.
POST: Analyzing earthquake safety at home.