Geography: Past, Present, Future

School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA)

5^th grade

Organizer

    How does geography influence the way we live?

Academic Expectations and Demonstrators

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

• Students will gather and manipulate data using technology.

• Students will express information and ideas creatively using technology.

2.2  Students identify, analyze and use patterns such as cycles and trends to understand past and present events and predict possible future events.

• Identify and communicate common attributes of items in a group.

• Recognize, describe, and create patterns (e.g., repeating, developmental, behavioral, cyclical) of objects or events.

2.19  Students recognize and understand the relationship between people and geography and apply their knowledge in real-life situations.

• Use geographic sources of information and data for a purpose.

• Explain the influence of geographic factors on human movement.

• Compare regions to identify unifying characteristics.

• Examine the interaction between people and their environment and predict trends.

2.25  In the products they make and the performances they present, students show that they understand how time, place, and society influence the arts and humanities such as languages, literature, and history.

• Examine the effects of time, place, and personality on art forms and performance practices.

• Demonstrate through performance or product, forms of music, visual arts, dance and drama.

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

• Gather, sort, and re-sort information into categories.

• Identify connections between new information and prior knowledge.

Essential Questions

1.      What is Geography and what are its five themes?

2.     What geographical regions make up the U.S.? 

3.     What are the geological, biological and physical characteristics of each region?

4.     How do/did people live in each region?  In the past? Present? Future?

Culminating activity

Working in groups, students will create a HyperStudio project describing how geographical characteristics of a region influence people in the:

• past.

• present.

• future.

These projects will be presented to the 4^th grade classes.

Rubric

Knowledge

• Definition of Geography:  Geography is the study of people, places, and environments. Students need geographic knowledge to understand the world and their relationship to it. A geographic perspective also enables students to better understand the past and present and to prepare for the future.

• SS-E-4.1.4 – After looking at spatial factors, decisions (e.g. to locate a store, house, playground, or equipment on a playground) are made about where to locate human activities on Earth’s surface.

• SS-E-4.1.5 – Different factors in one location can have an impact on another location (e.g., natural disasters, damming a river).

• 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).

• SS-E-4.2.2 – Regions are areas that have one or more physical or human characteristics in common (e.g., physical; geographical regions of Kentucky: South, Midwest, Western Hemisphere; human Appalachia, the Cornbelt, Amish country).

• SS-E-4.3.2 – Humans usually settle where there are adequate resources to meet their needs (e.g., areas with fertile land, protected land, different modes of transportation).

• SS-E-4.3.3 – Technology allows humans to settle in areas previously inaccessible.

• SS-E-4.4.2 – People adapt to or modify the environment (e.g., produce food, build shelter, make clothing) to meet their needs.

• SS-E-4.4.3 – The physical environment both promotes and limits human activities (e.g., mountains as barriers or as protection, rivers as boundaries or transportation routes).

• AH-E-2.2.31 – Explain how dance has been a part of cultures and time periods throughout history.

• AH-E-2.2.32 – Discuss three purposes of dance: ceremonial (celebration, hunting), recreational (folk, social), and artistic (ballet).

• SC-E-3.3.2 – The world has many different environments.  Distinct environments support the lives of different types of organisms.  When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations.

• SC-E-3.3.3 – All organisms, including humans, cause changes in the environment where they live. Some of the changes are detrimental to the organism or to other organisms; other changes are beneficial (e.g., dams built by beavers benefit some aquatic organisms but are detrimental to others).

Skills

Content

• Writing process

• Draw conclusions

• Make predictions from data

• Collect and organize data

Technology

• Logon to computer and network

• Save on network

• Incorporate media, print, technology and other resources

• Effectively research and retrieve information from Internet and CD-Rom.

• Ability to make five card stack (non-linear)

Instructional Activities (lesson goals, student work, and unit schedule):  

Timeline for Unit

Critical Resources

• Technology Resource Teacher

• 5th grade Arts teachers

• Networked computers

• HyperStudio

• KidPix Studio

• Inspiration

• UltraKey

• Internet

• Maps, books, magazines, and various materials from library

• Online and CD-ROM encyclopedias

• Social Studies textbook, Our Country, Silver Burdett Ginn series

• Science materials

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