MAX KNOWS M.US.C.

M.US.C. Means Mexico, United States and Canada.
(Max is the school mascot of Mary Todd Elementary.)

K-3^rd grade

Mary Todd Elementary
Shawn Mink, Devon Gross, Naomi Carroll, Mary Abrams

This unit is being targeted to introduce the concepts of map skills, city/states, and regions to K-3 students. Students need to have these basic concepts prior to the geographic study of North America in the 4^thand 5^th grade and to review the skills students will need for testing.

Organizer

How can the study of geography help us to understand North America?

Primary Academic Expectations and Demonstrators

1.2 Students make sense of the variety of materials they read.

State information, write information, make comparisons, and make inferences

2.19 Students recognize the geographic interaction between people and their surroundings in order to make decisions and take actions that reflect responsibility for the environment.

Explain the influence of geographic factors on human movement.
Compares regions and identifies similarities and differences.
Describes the connection between people and their environment and can make predictions.
Understands and applies developmentally appropriate vocabulary.
Uses geographical tools appropriately, i.e. maps, atlases, computer databases.

Secondary Academic Expectations

1.1 Students use reference tools such as dictionaries, almanacs, encyclopedias and computer reference programs.

1.3 Students make sense of the various things they observe.

1.11 Students write using appropriate forms, conventions and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

1.12 Students speak using appropriate forms, convention and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

1.16 Students use computers and other kinds of technology to collect, organize and communicate information and other ideas.

5.1 Students use critical thinking skills in a variety of situations that they will encounter these in life.

5.3 Students organize information to develop or change their understanding of a concept.

6.1 Students connect knowledge and experiences from different subject areas.

Essential Questions

What are the regions of North America?
What are the physical characteristics of North America?
What are the climates of North America?

Culminating Activities

Students will prepare a presentation (i.e. PowerPoint, HyperStudio, KidWorks, pencil/paper) addressing the three essential questions, a title slide and a closing slide. A template will be created for K-2 in which they will add a sentence about the essential question. Grades 3-5 will create their own presentation consisting of a title slide, a slide for each essential question and a closing slide.

Scoring Rubric

For Presentation

Score	Description
4	Numerous resources with much variety Have 5 slides with all essential questions addressed. No grammatical or mechanical errors.
3	Numerous resources with some variety Have 4 slides and 2 of 3 essential questions are addressed. No more than five grammatical or mechanical errors.
2	Limited resources and/or no variety Have 2-3 slides with at least one essential question addressed. No more than seven grammatical or mechanical errors.
1	Used only one resource Most slides are either incomplete, incorrect or contain irrelevant information
0	No resources used No presentation attempted.

*Knowledge*	*Skills/Abilities*
Mapping Skills	Write
Vocabulary	Identify
Technology (Graphing, Presentation, Internet)	Locate
Geography - North America, Country, Region, State, City,	Interpret
Climate/Weather	Comparing/Contrasting
	Observing
	Explaining
	Graphing
	Sort
	Measuring Skills
	Listening
	Classifying
	Inferring
	Generalizing

Technology Standards

T5.1.4 Use spacebar, shift, enter, arrow keys, caps lock, escape, tab, delete and backspace.

T6.5 Create a presentation or product using application software.

Instructional Activities

****Goals and Assessments are required, activities are suggestions.

Grade	Essential Question	Goal	Assessment	Suggested Activities	Vocabulary
Kindergarten	What are the countries of North America and regions of the United States?	Students will be introduced to the concept of a region	Students identify a region within the room.	Discuss regions of the room. Teacher draws regions in the room.	Top/bottom, left/right Region, North America, Canada, Mexico
	What are the physical characteristics of North America?	Students will be introduced to basic landforms.	Given directions, students will create and print a map of landforms.	Students will use Sammy's Science House to create a map.	Mountains, rivers, lakes, hills, landforms, map
	What are the climates of North America?	Students will identify the areas of North America which are cold and hot.	Given a prompt, students point to a hot/cold area on the map.	Students will color code a simple map.	Hot, cold, North Pole, equator, temperature
First Grade	What are the regions of North America?	Students will identify a region.	Students verbally identify regions within the school and home.	Walk around the school, discuss areas and create a map as a whole class activity.	Region, map, key,
	What are the physical characteristics of North America?	Students will identify a teacher-chosen landform.	Students will identify at least 4 given landforms on a map.	Use Map-Maker ToolKit and/or Sammy’s Science House to familiarize students with landforms.	Mountains, hills, lake, river, ocean, landform,
	What are the climates of North America?	Student will identify the climates according to the equator and North Pole.	Open Response: If you were going to build a house in a warm climate, where would you place it on this map?	Use software to pictorially graph the weather in Lexington, Ontario, and Mexico City.	Hot, cold, North Pole, equator, temperature, rain, snow,

Second Grade	What are the regions of North America?	Students will locate regions of their community.	Using a map of Fayette County, students will locate the regions in their area.	Given a map of Lexington, use stickers to locate school, home, and neighborhood. Determine cardinal directions.	Maps, north, south, east, west, regions, neighborhood, community, streets, compass, keys, symbols
	What are the physical characteristics of North America?	Student will locate and label landforms on a map.	Given a map, of North America, locate and label 4 different landforms.	Provide laminated maps and markers to label different landforms. Use map-making software programs to label landforms.	Mountains, hills, plateau, plains, ocean, sea, lake, river, landform,
	What are the climates of North America?	Students will determine how people are affected by climates.	Open Response: You are taking a Christmas trip to Mexico, and your best friend is taking a trip to Canada. What clothing will each of you need to take on your trip and why?	Using Internet sites of Holidays in other countries, research to discover the type of weather in each country during Christmas.	Weather, climate, temperature, precipitation, thermometer, rain, snow
Third Grade	What are the regions of North America?	Student will locate the countries of North America and the regions of the US.	Locate the countries of North America and regions of the United States on a black line map. (See websites #1 and #2 in Critical Resources.)	Using maps on the Internet with use of a scan converter, the teacher locates the countries of North America and regions of the United States. Then, using another site let the students locate the same.	North America, Canada, US, Mexico, region, map, cardinal directions, intermediate directions, boundaries
	What are the physical characteristics of North America?	Students will examine landforms common to the US, Canada, and Mexico.	Open Response: You live in a mountainous place in Mexico, and would like to live in a similar region in the US, where would you move and why? Place a star on the map showing where you would move. (See websites #3, #4 and #5 in Critical Resources.)	Internet resources for location of maps.	Mountains, plains, plateau, valley, mountain range, hill, river, ocean, lake, gulf, coast, islands
	What are the climates of North America?	Compare how climate affects each country in North America and regions of the US.	Using the data and map provided, choose a city where you would like to live and defend your answer. (See website #6 in Critical Resources.)	Using an Internet site or almanac, choose a city from each country and find the yearly average rainfall, temperature and discuss.	(Regional Names) northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest, Midwest

Assessments

Question 1.

K explains what is a region.
Open Ended Response. Point and identify a region in the classroom.
1^st Reintroduce what is a region. Identify (i.e. grade level, home, streets) as a region and have the students locate these regions. Assessment will be verbal/visual.
2^nd Identify, using a map of Fayette County, students will identify the region of Fayette County in which they live.
3^rd Identify America, identify each country and the regions of the United States.
4^th Identify regions of Kentucky.
Using a map, review regions of the United States and identify the regions of Kentucky.
5^th Review regions of Kentucky. Show similarities and differences between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Question 2.

K Introduce landforms. Students will use Sammy’s Science program. They will be given directions on creating and printing a map showing given items.
1^st Using Sammy’s Science, they will identify land forms.
2^nd Locate landforms on map, globes etc
3^rd Compare landforms from region to region
4^th Compare landforms from region to region
5^th Choose a landform. Tell how it was created and how that landform affects the region.
Open Response Students will draw landforms.

Question 3.

K Introduce climates of North America (colder in North close to Pole to warmer towards Equator)
1^st Identify climate according to location of country using North Pole and Equator as guidelines.
Open response: If you were going to build a house in a warm climate, where on this map would you build your house?
2^nd Explain how people are affected by climates.
Open Response: You are taking a Christmas trip to Mexico and your best friend is taking a trip to Canada. What clothing will each of you need to take on your trip?
3^rd Compare how climates affect each region.
Open response: On a map, identify the climate in each region and identify two characteristics of the climate in each region.
4^thand 5^thSome regions are more populated than others, infer as to how climates affect populations.
Within a given latitude/longitude, students will infer as to why climates are different. (Landforms, location to large bodies of water)
Within a given latitude/longitude, explain why concentrations of population vary.

Generic Scoring Rubric For Open Response Questions
Student		Date
4	Student follows all directions clearly. Student clearly answers question asked. Student’s work is neat and has much detail.
3	Student follows most of the directions. Student answers question, but not in a clear fashion. Student’s work is neat and has some detail.
2	Student follows some of the directions. Student attempts to answer question, but has few details.
1	Student shows minimal effort and is unable to follow instructions.

By: Gary Marr, Jr.
1999-2000

Critical Resources

Websites:

1. http://www.scottforesman.com/educators/maps/N_amermap.html

2. http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/naoutl.htm

3. http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/na.htm

4. http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/naoutl.htm

5. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/main.html

6. http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/naoutl.htm

Human:

Extension agent from Univ. of Kentucky/Fayette Co., Junior Achievement, Technology Resource Teacher at school and district, Meteorologist, Geologist, Geography teacher from University, speakers on Mexico, Canada, and United States

Technological:

Weather lab at Winburn, Virtual Field trips, Internet/Computer Access, Presentation software, Kids Works Deluxe, Sammy’s Science House

Physical:

Maps, globes, atlas, encyclopedias, almanacs, library books, magazines

Vocabulary:

Equator, climates, landforms, region, North, South, East, West, latitude, longitude, boundaries, temperature, mountain, rivers, valley, plains, lakes, streams, oceans, desert, peninsulas, bays, capes, arid, temperate zones, tundra, tropical, (Vertical climate—mountains) map symbols, legends, keys, compass rose

Back to Mary Todd Elementary

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MAX KNOWS M.US.C.

M.US.C. Means Mexico, United States and Canada. (Max is the school mascot of Mary Todd Elementary.)

Student

Date

M.US.C. Means Mexico, United States and Canada.
(Max is the school mascot of Mary Todd Elementary.)