Geography Skills and Your
Town
Name:___Lauren Rapp____ Date:__7-28-05___ Age/Grade Level:K -2_
Subject:___Geography__# of Students: ______# of IEP
Students:_______
Major
content:___Regions___Unit Title: Geography Skills and Your Town
Overview:
In this lesson, students
will focus on the five themes of geography by creating books, Web sites, or
multimedia presentations showcasing the unique features of their town. In the
process, they will learn about the uses of geography.
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 18: "How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future"
Connections to Kentucky's Core Content Standards:
Social Studies P 33 Academic Expectations 2.19 Students recognize and understand the relationship between people and geography and apply their knowledge in real-life situations. |
Program of Studies SS-P-G-3 Students will recognize physical and human characteristics of places and regions. |
Core Content for Assessment SS-E-4.2.1 Every place is unique and can be described by its human (e.g., language, religion, housing) and physical characteristics (e.g., landforms, climates, water). |
Three to four hours
Materials Required:
Objectives:
Students will
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Write the word
"geography" on the board, and ask students if they know what this
word means. Show them the following items: a map, a picture of a place, a food
item from another country, a souvenir from a trip to another part of the
country or world, and a word in another language. Tell the class that all of
these items are things they might learn about when they study geography.
Development:
Explain that geography is
important right in their hometown. In their town people use maps to get around,
businesses produce products that are sold to people in other places, and there
are probably people from different countries who speak foreign languages. Can
students think of other examples of geography being important in their town?
Have students look at some pictures of places
in the
Ask students to imagine that the mayor of their
town has asked them to create a book, Web site, or multimedia presentation to
teach kids who have just moved or who are about to move into town about the
town's geography. They will first need to gather information about the town and
then put that information together into a presentation that kids will enjoy and
find useful.
Ask them to do the following activities in
preparation for their books, Web sites, or multimedia presentations. They may
need to use the library or Internet to find some of this information. If you
have extra time, you can also have them talk to their parents and other people
who have lived in the town for a number of years. Students can either write
their answers or discuss them as a class, depending on their ability level.
[Note: The activities below are related to
the five themes of geography.]
Theme 1—Location: Look at a map of the town and a larger map of the town''s location in the country, and discuss its location
relative to some of the major landmarks in their state (e.g., "
Theme 2—Place: Describe the town's people, animals, and landscape.
Theme 3—Human/Environment Interaction: Describe some of the changes they have noticed that
are caused by people, such as new buildings being constructed or the opening of
a new park, and explain how these changes might affect the area's animals and
plants.
Theme 4—Movement: Find out where the town's founders came from and
where some current ethnic groups in town came from.
Theme 5—Region: Identify the general region of the country this town
is in (e.g., Northeast or Southwest), and explain what makes this region unique
and different from other parts of the country (e.g., "
Closing:
Hold a class discussion
asking students to explain why they think it is important to know about their
town's geography. Why is it good to know about the things they have studied in
the five activities for this lesson? Why is it important to know how to read
maps or to be able to identify the town's common animals and plants?
Suggested Student Assessment:
Students will create a Power
Point presentation, in groups, that focus on the 5 themes of geography and how
they relate to their town. Five students should be in each group but
alterations can be made as necessary. A student should be responsible for
researching one geography theme within their city. Students will search the
internet (using selected links selected by the teacher) to find pictures of
their city and to research their topics. Students will also be provided with
books, maps and travel brochures that can also be used for their research or
scanned for their presentation. Each group will have the support, if needed,
from the classroom assistant to help them assemble their information onto Power
Point. Once the Power Point has been created each group will present their
Power Point to the class.
Resource:
This lesson was taken from National Geographic:
http://nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/18/gk2/geoskills.html