Geography of the United States

Our first Social Studies topic explores what geography can teach us about the United States.  As part of the unit, students identify elements of maps and globes.  The picture below shows students experiencing the difference between relative and absolute locations as an introduction to latitude and longitude.

Can we figure out where we are on the map?

We have moved on to labeling features on maps and diagrams, defining geographic terms, and applying them to the geography of the US.  

Our learning has allowed us to use many skills.  The text focuses us on reading comprehension and attending to text points (bold, italic, and underlined text indicates something to take note of), games motivate us to use what we know, and role playing and kinesthetic activities get us up and learning with our bodies.

Social Studies vocabulary for this chapter: geography, climate, globe, latitude, longitude, geographic term, physical feature, compass, landform, isthmus.