| Unit Lessons |
| Objective:
Students will watch and listen to a power point presentation and actively participate in a discussion of the material displayed in it. They will learn about the five themes of geography and be able to explain what each of them is and identify them in photographs. The students will be able to create a set of examples and present them to the class as a cooperative group. The examples will become part of the classroom display to be referred to in future lessons. Lesson Time: 40-50 minutes Instructional Activities: 1. To introduce the five themes the teacher will show a short power point presentation. The photographs should be taken in and around the city in which the school is located. While showing the slides, the teacher should summarize the five themes of geography and relate the photographs to them. Students will take notes on the terms presented. 2. Divide the class into groups of 3-4 students. 3. Give each group a National Geographic Magazine. 4. Each group will receive instructions to look through their magazine to select a picture representing each of the five themes. 5. Have the students cut out their photos and glue each one to a piece of colored construction paper. They should then label each picture with the theme that it represents. These two steps should take about 15 minutes. 6. Each group will present their photos to the class and explain why they represent the themes. Word Bank: theme: subject, topic or focus geography: the study of all the physical features of the Earth's surface, including its climate and the distribution of plant, animal, and human life. location: the positioning or siting of something or somebody in a particular place. place: a geographic locality, e.g. a town, country, or region, characterized by its features or people. environment: surroundings movement: people interact with each other; that is, they travel from one place to another, they communicate with each other or they rely on products, information and ideas that come from beyond their immediate environment. interaction: the combined action of two or more things that have an effect on each other and work together. region: a large land area that has geographic, political, or cultural characteristics that distinguish it from others, whether existing within one country or extending over several. ex. The upper midwest region includes the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and Indiana. |
| Lesson 1 |
| Lesson 2 |
| Objective:
Students will be able to use latitude and longitude to find the absolute locations of several places. They also will be able to relate that place's relationship to other places--that is, its relative location. Estimated time: two fifty minute periods on consecutive days Instructional strategies: Present the math terms "grid" and "coordinates" to the students. Explain that latitude and longitude lines are like an imaginary grid across the globe and that the coordinates on that grid tell us exactly where something is located. Using latitude and longitude lines on a world map, have students locate the following : � the highest mountain on our continent � the capital cities of three foreign countries � the national park nearest your town � the mouths of three major rivers � three major cities in the U. S. Examples must include locations in the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Have students list four ways their hometownis connected to a nearby town or city that they have located on a map. Have students imagine that they can pick up their school building as if it were a toy block, and relocate it anywhere they choose. Discuss how their school lives would change if they lived further north, south, east or west. Have the students list the advantages and disadvantages of each site (see worksheet below). Then ask them to analyze their findings and write an essay supporting their choice of sites. Homework: Have students bring in the international section of the newspaper (or from the internet) and select two cities currently in the news to locate on a map. Assign teams of students to research and to present their findings on ways the two cities are connected (books and internet). (ex. human migration routes, weather patterns, economic concerns, communication systems, or transportation networks.) Word Bank: grid-pattern of regularly spaced horizontal and vertical lines forming squares on a map, a chart, an aerial photograph, or an optical device, used as a reference for locating points. coordinate-a number that identifies a position relative to an axis latitude- the distance, measured in degrees on the map, that a place is north or south of the Equator longitude-the distance, measured in degrees on the map, that a place is east or west of a standard north-south line, usually that which passes through Greenwich hemisphere-one half of the Earth equator-an imaginary line (or one drawn on a map etc) passing round the globe, at an equal distance from the North and South poles prime meridian-The zero meridian (0�), used as a reference line from which longitude east and west is measured. It passes through Greenwich, England. meridian-an imaginary line on the earth's surface passing through the poles and any given place; any line of longitude. |