District 11 Educational Support Services
Social Studies



Grade 6,  Introduction to Western Geography

 

Overview                                                                              
View the Geography of North America video (4:26). To understand people of a country, we must first understand the geography of that country because it determines what goods and services the people will produce, how they will transfer and trade goods with other countries, and how they will populate the region. During this quarter, you will analyze similarities and differences in geographic features of Canada, North America, Central America, and South America.
 

Unit Rigor & Relevance Rating: Quadrant C Assimilation - provides opportunities for students to analyze and apply information within a discipline.


Career Connection: This course introduces students to the types of work performed by  Sociologists, Historians, and Geographers and Cartographers.

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Yearly Overview

Daily Lessons  1-4 5-8 9 - 11 12-15 16-18 19-20

Enduring Understandings - important ideas that students should carry with them years beyond the instruction received this year.

  • Maps, globes and other geographic tools are used to acquire process and report information about the past and present.
  • Physical and human characteristics of places define regions.
  • People and events are organized chronologically to increase understanding of historical relationships.
  • Societies are diverse and change over time.
  • Different forms of government have been developed, practiced, and changed throughout history.
  • Decisions must be made about the use of scarce resources.
  • Trade, specialization, and interdependence influence relationships among individuals, groups and societies.

Essential Questions - most important “big picture” questions students should be able to answer after completing learning activities.

  • What are the significant physical and political features of North America?
  • Which physical and human characteristics (populations, political divisions, and language) most impact peoples' lives?
  • How can people and events in early history of North America be organized chronologically?
  • How can two or more cultures be compared using one or more elements of culture?
  • What type of government do North American countries have? How and why have governments changed over time?
  • What are the resources of North America?
  • How are goods and services produced in North America distributed? How does trade and interdependence influence the relationship of neighboring countries?
District 11 curriculum is designed to prepare and equip students to be successful in the 21st Century. Curriculum resources and lessons included here have been aligned to the Colorado Standards for each content area. In addition, the entire program has been aligned with the knowledge, skills, and learner attributes the Partnership for 21st Century Skills promotes as necessary for success in the 21st Century. You will see the highlighted core values embedded in these lessons and activities.
 
A Academic Preparedness: the foundation required for either higher education, or high-wage, high skills jobs
C Cultural Competence: the ability to understand and interpret political and cultural events from multiple perspectives in a global society, a core competency in 21st Century Skills
H High-Functioning Team Member Skills: collaboration is a core competency in 21st Century Skills
I Innovative Thinking and Problem Solving Skills: a core competency for 21st Century Skills
E Effective Use of Information Technology: a core competency for 21st Century Skills
V Vital Participation in Civic Responsibility: "share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society" Standards for the 21st-Century Learner from American Library Assoc.
E Effective Communication Skills: a core competency for 21st Century Skills

Standards Based Learning Indicators

Geography 1: Interpret maps, globes, charts, and geographic databases.

Geography 2: Define and identify regions by describing physical and human characteristics of places.

History 1: Organize events and people in chronological order and use this data to determine cause/effect relationships.

History 3: Describe basic cultural elements (traditions, customs, religion, language, government).

History 5: Describe forms of government and give examples of societies that practiced and changed them over time.

Economics 1: Identify and give examples of economic resources and make decisions involving opportunity costs.

Economics 3: Describe how trade, specialization, and interdependence influence relationships among individuals, groups, and societies.

 

Lesson 1- 4: Maps and Globes and Atlases: Oh My!
     
Duration: Four 45 minute time periods
Materials Needed: Textbook, DOGSTAILS Lesson, Outline map of the Western Hemisphere, Globe, Atlas, Appropriate Maps, Prentice Hall World Studies Western Hemisphere textbook
Assessment: Writing Prompt: What are the major similarities and differences among globes, maps, and atlases? 
Assessment from lesson of DOGSTAILS.

Activities

  1. Compare a globe, map and atlas and discuss similarities and differences.  
  2. Use an atlas to identify types and uses of maps. Read a map from the atlas. Discuss with a partner what the map is showing.                    
  3. Complete the Map of the Western Hemisphere. Include these six major landforms: Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean Islands, and the United States.  
  4. View the Geography of North America video (4:25) by Discovery Education.
  5. Use the DOGSTAILS Lesson to learn the common things all good maps contain.

Differentiation
Support: Graphic organizer partially filled in with a word bank. Identify 5 of the elements of DOGSTAILS. SIOP Strategies: Eight Components of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
Extensions: Determine ways of illustrating similarities and differences among globes, maps, and other geographic tools, other than writing. Find a map that identifies all the components of DOGSTAILS. Instructional Strategies for Gifted Students

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Lesson 5 - 8: Physical Features and Human Characteristics
     
Duration: Four 45 Minute Class Periods
Materials Needed: Index cards, Color Pencils, Prentice Hall World Studies Western Hemisphere Textbook, Atlases, Maps, Picture the Place
Assessment: Look at the picture on page 65 of the textbook. You will list physical and human characteristics. Explain whether the physical and human characteristics are harmful or helpful to the environment.

Activities

  1. Watch the video Geography Basics: Landforms and Living Patterns (20:03)
  2. Use the Picture the Place document and maps and related pictures to identify physical features (land/water forms), climate, soil, plants, and animals; and human characteristics (human features such as buildings, language, religion, government)
  3. Create physical feature and human characteristic flashcards.  Create a picture, or find a picture of each of the physical features (land/water forms, climate, soil, plants, and animals) and each of the human characteristics (human features such as buildings, language, religion, government) within the Western Hemisphere. Then on the back of the flashcard write 3-5 sentences describing each feature and characteristic.

Differentiation
Support: Find pictures in text book and match to a list of physical and human characteristics. Use the leveled reader
SIOP Strategies: Eight Components of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
Extensions: Find pictures and explain how characteristics affect the environment. Play the Stop Disasters Simulation Game and discover human characteristics can modify physical environments to protect people and property. Stop flooding and protect the housing of a small town by changing the human characteristics of the town. Instructional Strategies for Gifted Students

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Lesson 9 - 11: Plates, Pangaea, and a Burning Ring of Fire
     
Duration: One 45 Minute Class periods
Materials Needed: Paper, Colored Pencils, Prentice Hall World Studies Western Hemisphere Textbook, Atlases, Maps, *If you choose to do the model for the assessment you will need materials to make the model.
Assessment: Using information from various resources, develop a summary statement and data to support the topic of tectonics.  Include a visual (i.e.: a picture, a graph, or a model)
Activities

  1. Students research and explore geographic features to understand how and why they occurred. Their very important work helps us better predict how the earth and our environment will change in the future.
  2. Look at the Physical Map of the World and notice the pattern between the western and eastern hemispheres. Make a hypothesis or guess as to why both the shoreline of North and South America fit so closely with the pattern of the shorelines in Europe and Africa. After you have developed your own explanation to this phenomenon, watch the Watch the Pangea Simulation and the Simulation: How Continents Formed. Did your hypothesis or guess match what actually happened? Define Pangaea. Describe the movements of the continents.
  3. Locate and discuss the Ring of Fire. Explain why it is called the Ring of Fire and what significance it plays in our daily lives.

Differentiation
Support: Watch the Explanation of Pangea  in Spanish. Illustrate Pangaea and what the world looks like now. SIOP Strategies: Eight Components of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
Extensions: using the computer find information about Pangaea, describing how the continents were located and the effect on the earth. Example: migration of animals and humans.  Instructional Strategies for Gifted Students 

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Lesson 12 - 15: Push Me Out Of Here, Pull Me Over There
    
Duration: Four 45 Minute Class sessions
Materials Needed: Paper to create and illustrate a T Chart, Colored Pencils, Prentice Hall World Studies Western Hemisphere Textbook
Assessment: Using the vocabulary words (migration, immigration, population density, population distribution) develop a constructed response explaining reasons for people moving to or away from an area.

Activities

  1. Discuss why people move. List reasons, then categorize each as either "push" or "pull".  Push factors describe why people choose to leave a place to move to another location. Pull factors are those that attract people to new locations.
    2.

  2. Who were the first people to migrate to North America? Where did they come from? How did they get here? Watch the Migration to the Americas video (1:36) for the answers. Read pages 60- 70 in the textbook. Identify immigration, migration, population density, spatial organization, and "Push-Pull" factors. Print and complete the T- Chart of push pull factors.  On one side put the title push and on the other side the title pull.  Then underneath list push and pull factors. Illustrate the T- Chart with a visual that will help you remember the push or pull factors.

  3. Watch the Rural Urban Migration video (20:12). Listen for reasons people move from rural to urban areas.  Label as either "push" or "pull."
  4. Think of historical examples of people moving. Determine the push and pull factors that caused the movement.
  5. Write a journal about a time you moved somewhere else, or went somewhere else. Determine the push factors and the pull factors that caused your family to move, or go somewhere else. What push or pull factors could cause you to move from your current home?

Differentiation
Support: Create a paragraph where the vocabulary words are provided in a word bank. SIOP Strategies: Eight Components of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
Extensions: Using the vocabulary, provide a scenario of why people move. Instructional Strategies for Gifted Students

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Lesson 16 - 18: All About the Environment 
     
Duration: Three 45 minute class periods  
Materials Needed: Pictures from a calendar/computer that shows the environment e.g. forest, beach, etc.; also pictures of buildings, factories, roads, modifications which may have helped OR Graphic organizer to list what changes were good/bad to the environment, Prentice Hall World Studies Western Hemisphere Textbook
Assessment: Draw three human changes. Explain how they were good or bad to the environment.

Activities

  1. Watch the video Rise & Fall: Population, Urbanization, & Environment (20:06).
  2. How do resources and humans impact the environment? Look at pictures in the text book. Write a paragraph discussing how humans have changed the environment. 

  3. Draw a map of your neighborhood. Include all  human changes made to the environmen. Discuss how these are good or bad for the environment.

  4. What do you highly value; a shopping mall, an amusement park, a dirt bike trail? What human characteristic would you recommend adding to your neighborhood? What potential impact would it have on the population growth of your community? What would be the potential impact on the environment?

  5. With a partner, play the Stop Disasters Simulation Game and discover human characteristics can modify physical environments to protect people and property. Stop flooding and protect the housing of a small town by changing the human characteristics of the town. Each team of partners will receive a final score on how well you added human characteristics with the least damage to the environment and the lowest cost.

Differentiation
 Support: Draw a picture showing how humans have changed your community. SIOP Strategies: Eight Components of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
Extensions: Draw a map showing what a selected site looked like prior to human modifications and what that site looks like now.  Instructional Strategies for Gifted Students

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Lesson 19 - 20: Major Landforms and Water of the Western Hemisphere
   
Duration: Two 45 minute class periods.
Materials Needed: Blank map of the Western Hemisphere, Prentice Hall World Studies Western Hemisphere, Textbook
Assessment: Using an atlas and an outline map of the world, label the bodies of water, major landforms.

Activities

  1. Watch the video Geography Principles: Physical Features of Earth (20:04)
  2. Review the DOGSTAILS Lesson. DOGSTAILS lesson.
  3. On a blank map, identify and locate bodies of water and major landforms and continents. Include all of the elements from DOGSTAILS. Also add all six areas in the Western Hemisphere (Canada, United States, Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean Islands). Include also all oceans, seas, and gulfs.

Differentiation
 Support: Give an enlarged map of the world; provide the labels and have students transfer info to the map. SIOP Strategies: Eight Components of Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
Extensions: Using a pumpkin or circular objects have the students draw the continents, bodies of water along with the latitude and longitude lines.  Instructional Strategies for Gifted Students

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