Curated OER
The Silly States: Where Is Your State and City?
First graders read The Scrambled States of America and discuss whether it is real or fantasy as compared to the United States. In this geography lesson, 1st graders identify their city or state on a map and work in groups to color the...
Curated OER
Regions of the United States
Middle schoolers research maps in order to propose geographic reasons for geographic patterns such as state boundaries, interstates and elevations.
Curated OER
State Poster Fair: US Geography, Social Science, Art
Students research a US state, design and construct a state 'poster' to display important facts about that particular state. They present their work to the class.
Curated OER
Mapping My World
Students are introduced to simple maps and view a map of a classroom and compare distances of items shown.
Curated OER
Geography: Map Making
Young scholars, working in groups, share notes and maps collected during a study of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They draw large composite maps of the western United States on butcher paper including land formations, bodies of water,...
Curated OER
Exploration and Encounters
Fourth graders research explorers of the New World. In this American history lesson, 4th graders conduct internet & textbook research about various New World explorers. Students compare and contrast the sources used for research. ...
Syracuse University
Erie Canal
While canals are not the way to travel today, in the first half of the nineteenth century, they were sometimes the best way to move goods and people. Scholars examine primary sources, including maps and pictures, to investigate the role...
Curated OER
Dos mapas de Florida, el Caribe y parte de Sur America
What can maps tell us about the past? Find out with a Spanish lesson that incorporates geography. After examining maps individually, comparing two old maps of Spanish Florida and writing notes in the provided Venn diagram, pupils pair up...
Curated OER
US City Quality of Life Analysis and Comparison
Students analyze US census data and criteria to compare and measure the quality of life in the country's fifty largest cities. After accessing the 2005 quality of life world report online, students conduct their study to compare three...
Teach Engineering
What's Wrong with the Coordinates at the North Pole?
Here is an activity that merges technology with life skills as individuals use Google Earth to explore the differences between coordinate systems and map projections. The self-guided instructional activity is the fourth segment in a...
US Mint
Desert Dwellers
What can a quarter possibly teach young learners about desert ecosystems? More than you might think. After displaying and discussing the included picture of the Arizona state quarter, the class participates in a series of shared reading...
Curated OER
E-mailing the Chamber of Commerce
Encourage effective internet research and e-mail correspondence as scholars investigate a US capital city they've never visited to find pertinent and relevant information. They begin by picking a city, then visit that city's chamber of...
Sharp School
Travel Brochure Project
Designing a travel brochure is a classic project that will help your class members develop a variety of skills, such as researching informational texts, designing creative visual products, and communicating what you have learned.
Curated OER
Ancient Greece: Athens as a City State
Sixth graders find Greece on the map and recognize how the geography of Greece was important in its development. In this ancient Greece lesson, 6th graders research Greece and compare to the civilization of ancient Egypt. Students answer...
Curated OER
The Rise of the City States in Greece
Sixth graders examine Ancient Greece and its development of democracy. In this Greek History instructional activity, 6th graders explore the rise of city-states in Greece and its overall effect on the development of democracy. The class...
Curated OER
Regions and Habitats
Fourth graders identify the different habitats found in the seven regions of the United States. In this ecology lesson, 4th graders write an essay about how humans affect the ecosystem and vice versa. They discuss how changes on one...
Curated OER
Geography, Ecology, and Folklife
Students identify how do geography and ecology influence a region's folklife. Then they investigate this question and consider how an outsider might view their own region in this lesson. Students also identify how the natural world, even...
Curated OER
Life During the Civil War for Women and Civilians
Students follow an overview of the American Civil War from a film, the text and/or teacher direct instruction. They create a timeline with a large map of the U.S. in the 1860's available for student reference as they do the spider activity.
Curated OER
Cross Country Adventure
Students practice measurement and geography in this lesson. They build a Lego vehicle using an RCX. They predict how many seconds it will take their vehicle to reach a specific state on the United States of America map that each group of...
Curated OER
The Treaty Trail: Examining an Artist's Perspective
Elementary school leanrners examine artwork from the time period of the United States and Native American treaties. They discuss the causes and effects of the treaties being signed. They also examine how cultural perspective influences art.
Curated OER
Alaska the Elephant
Students explore an Internet website, locating and matching the shape of an elephant's head to a state in the U.S. They complete an Alaska worksheet, identifying other geographical locations surrounding Alaska.
Curated OER
Road Trip
Students explore a state, create a travel plan for visiting that state, write postcards from an imaginary trip there, and research selected points of interest in that state.
Curated OER
A Geopoem About Alaska
Sixth graders conduct Internet research on the physical and human characteristics of Alaska. They compose and write geopoems about the state of Alaska, using a template.
Curated OER
Regions of the US: Gulf Stream, States and Their Capitals
Fifth graders identify one way of dividing the US into geographical regions and then consider alternate ways of doing the same. They locate each of the fifty states and their capitals on a map. They research the Gulf Stream region.