Lesson Plan 1: Introduction to United States Geography

Grade level: 4th Grade

Subject: Social and Physical Science

Length of lesson: 60 minutes 

Lesson Topic: Introduction to United States Geography

Overall Goal:

• Students will understand that the meaning of geography is the science of physical features of an area and all life on it. 

Learner Background:  (This addresses why the lesson is being taught.)  Describe the students’ prior knowledge or skill related to the learning objective(s).

• The students have most likely learned about where they live and what surrounds them every day.
  • The beaches they live near. 
  • The oceans that are closest to them
  • Where other family members live, if not in the same state as them. 

But this lesson will focus on the basic geography of the whole United States. The students will broaden their knowledge of the 50 states. 

Curricular Standards: 

• National Geography Standards: 
  • 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, geospatial technologies, and spatial thinking to understand and communicate information
  • 3: How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface. 
  • 4: The physical and human characteristics of places
  • 6: How culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions. 
  • 17: How to apply geography to interpret the past. 

Student Learning Objective(s):  Identify specific and measurable learning objectives for this lesson.  Use action verbs. “Students will be able to….”

• Students will be able to identify the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, and West on a map. 
• Students will be able to state what and where the capital of South Carolin is. 
• Students will be able to identify at least one landmark in the United States. 

Assessment:

Part I:  Formative

•  I will ask questions throughout the lesson…
  • Examples are: 
    • Can we remember what the regions are in the United States? 
    • What are the three major oceans that surround the United States? 
    • Where can we find …. (deserts, sky scrappers, etc) in the United States? 
    • What is the largest city in the United States? 
    • Can we recall what geography means?
      

 Part II: Summative

• At the end of the lesson, I will give students, ten to fifteen minutes to write one thing they learned and one thing that they already knew. Also, I will have them tell me one thing they would like to learn about the United States.  

Materials/Resources: 

• Google Earth 
• Print out of the United States so the students can fill it in 
• Print outs of Landmarks in the United States
• Pens/Pencil

The Lesson

• I would like to introduce the lesson by watching a video that sings the 50 states. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZN4xVSJsc). Then I will recap the video and pull up Google Earth and then explain what the objective of the lesson will be. I will also state my expectations for the students because I want to be straightforward in my lesson.
• I would then pass out the two handouts that I printed out of the United States. One handout a blank map of the U.S. where students can label each state. Another one where students can label the regions of the United States. 

• After I will explain to the students what Google Earth is and how beneficial it will be for this unit. 
• I will then talk about the different regions and allow students to ask questions. 
• Then I will allow students to choose together which region they would like to explore first. I will then allow put them into groups of four so they can use their online resources together and create a Google Doc, which they will then agree on one fact from the states they choose to look at. They must incorporate the website links on their Google doc. 
• I will then use Google Earth to explore the regions, states, and cities that I think are important. 
• Then we will have a class discussion about what all the groups found together. 
• After the lesson, I will go back and check everyone was on task and how and where they got their facts from.  

Closure:

I will end with having students take a summative reflection of what they have learned during this lesson and what they would like to know about the United States, so I can incorporate that into another lesson. I will also allow students to then explore on Google Earth and interact by themselves and discuss what they like about Google Earth with their classmates. I will then address and make sure that everyone knows what the objective was for the lesson.