Geography Lesson Plan Suzanne Brazeau

Elementary/3rd Grade
Time: 5 Class Periods - 40 minutes each
Objectives:
Students will understand the human characteristics of places and regions by their population,
culture, settlement, and economic and political activities.
PA Standards:
Geography:
7.3.3 A. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their population characteristics.
7.3.3 B. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their cultural characteristics.
7.3.3 C. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their settlement characteristics.
7.3.3 D. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their economic activities.
7.3.3 E. Identify the human characteristics of places and regions by their political activities.

Technology Standards:
A. 3.4.3.B1: Describe how using technology can be good or bad.
B. 3.4.3.C1: Recognize design is a creative process and everyone can design solutions to
problems.
C. 3.4.3.C2: Explain why the design process requires creativity and consideration of all ideas.
D. 3.4.3.C3: Recognize that all products and systems are subject to failure; many products
and systems can be fixed.
E. 3.4.3.E1: Identify the technologies that support and improve quality of life.
F. 3.4.3.E4: Recognize that information and communication technology is the transfer of
messages among people and/or machines over distances through the use of technology.

ISTE Technology Standards:

1. Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop
innovative products and processes using technology.

2. Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate
and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the
learning of others.

3. Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use
information.

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan
and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using
appropriate digital tools and resources.

5. Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and
practice legal and ethical behavior.

6. Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology

concepts, systems, and operations.

21st Century Knowledge and Skills:

1. Students inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
2. Students draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and
create new knowledge.
3. Students share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our
democratic society.
4. Students pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
Technology Application:
• Google Sites
• Glogster
• Skype
• VoiceThread

Resources:
• Google Sites
• Glogster
• Skype
• VoiceThread
• PBS
• Maps
• Faux Paw Video
• PowerPoint
• Google and other Internet sources

Keywords:
Continents, oceans, countries, states, culture, economics, settlement, population, politics,
languages, communication, education, technology, collaboration, digital citizenship

General Procedures:

Day 1:
UEQ: Where in the world do we live?
A: Students are given a blank map and are asked to locate the 7 continents, 4 oceans, and the
state and country in which they live as a pre-assessment.
T: Have students compare and contrast themselves to a classmate using a Venn diagram.
Discuss the town we live in and some places in the area, as well as some jobs, people, and our
language. Create a circle map on the playground starting with “me,” then going to our
neighborhood, state, country, and continent. Show the students where we live on the SMART
Board on a U.S. map and then a world map. Introduce Google Site for pen pals with students in
Africa. Discuss digital citizenship and responsibilities with information on the Internet. Show
students Faux Paw video about Internet safety.
S: Students do a “ticket out the door” listing their street address, town, state, country, and
continent.
Day 2:
LEQ: How are the continents of the world similar and different?

A: Students watch an Arthur video titled “Los Vecinos,” to learn about people from a different
country. The class labels our SMART Board map with the continent of South America.
Vocabulary is introduced including economics, settlement, population, politics, and languages.

T: As a class, we will complete a graphic organizer for Antarctica using previously printed material.
Students will be divided into groups of 4 to research each specific topic. Then we will come
together and put that material on a PowerPoint that will be uploaded to VoiceThread.

S: Each group will write a brief summary of their page and make a comment on the VoiceThread.

Day 3 and 4:

LEQ: How are the continents of the world similar and different?

A: Review VoiceThread as a class.

T: Students are divided into 6 groups of 2, 3, or 4 (depending on class size). Each group is given
a different continent to research, with the exception of Antarctica, because it is already complete.
Each group will complete a graphic organizer for their continent collecting facts about the overall
economic situation especially the highest income on the continent, how it was settled and what
types of jobs are available, the population including language, sex, and most populated area,
political beliefs and government. Students can do research in library books, encyclopedias,
through Google, and in classroom books.

S: Students create a PowerPoint presentation and upload it to VoiceThread. Each student must
make at least one comment on the VoiceThread presentation.

Day 5:

LEQ: How are the continents of the world similar and different?

A: Show students the Pen Pal Google Site. Introduce the concept of communicating with other
students from a different part of the world through the Internet. Show them the initial page of
information passed from a teacher in Africa and me. Explain how students will have their own pen
pal to correspond with for the remainder of the year.

T: Have the students go to the computer lab and all log-on to our Google Site. Walk the students
through the steps of writing back and forth with their pen pal. Tell students to make sure to include
a comment about the VoiceThread that we created as a class. Have them ask their pen pals to
make comments on our class VoiceThread with their own perspectives, especially on the part
about Africa.

S: Have students reflect on the comments that are provided by the class in Africa.

ER (Assessment): Students are to compare and contrast where they live and where their pen pal
lives. Also, they need to include what life is like in both places. They are to give at least 5
similarities and differences.

Global Connections:
This group of lessons is linked to other cultures, values, peoples, places, and events.

Metacognitive Strategies:
Students are thinking at a high level as they are trying to find their place in the world. They are
starting small and moving to the largest area in the world. They are doing their own inquiry and
learning as they collaborate with their peers to compile information on a specific continent. From
there, they have to take what they have learned to and summarize it and pick out key points to
make comments about on their VoiceThread. From there they have to analyze how their lives are
different from their pen pals’ lives.

Closure:
This is not the end of the Geography Unit, nor is it the end of the students’ communication with
their pen pals and this topic. This will be an on-going process where the students will be learning
all year. They will have opportunities to communicate through the Google Site as well as a virtual
field trip using Skype. At the end of the year students will be asked about similarities and
differences between our friends and us. We will make a poster on Glogster to represent what we
find.

References:
Brown, M. (2009) Arthur’s World Neighbor. PBS. Retrieved March 28, 2010

Roufs, T. (2009). Understanding Global Cultures, Retrieved March 28, 2010