Virginia SOL 2.8

Science2nd GradeEarth Resources

SOL Standard (Key Ideas Cluster)

The student will investigate and understand that plants are important natural resources. Key ideas include

Virginia Standards of Learning for Science

Cluster contents

2.8 is a Standards of Learning science standard. These are the key ideas and practices under it.

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify goods made from plants and explain how nearby crops or forests can shape jobs and communities. They describe how plants provide oxygen, food, and shelter. They also explain how roots and leaves slow moving soil and water.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can connect a plant product, such as paper or cotton cloth, to its source and a related local job. They can explain how a tree supports animals and how plant cover protects soil.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think plants matter only because people and animals eat them. They may not connect common goods, such as paper or fabric, to plants. They may think any plant completely stops wind, runoff, or erosion.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Draw one plant and label a product, an animal benefit, and one way it protects soil. Add one sentence about how that plant could affect local jobs.

Lesson moves

Pour equal cups of water over bare soil and grass-covered soil, then compare the amount and color of runoff.
Ask students to write: How would a town change if its nearby forest disappeared?
Play a card match using plant pictures, products, animal needs, and jobs such as apples, food, deer, and orchard worker.
Use a Virginia map to locate forests or farms, then list products and jobs those plant resources support.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 2.8, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

Keep exploring

Grade, subject, topic, and the complete cluster are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.