District 11 Diamond Units/Lessons Overview - includes information about the purpose, goals and structure of these sample instructional units:

Lesson 1: Physical and Human Characteristics of Place
Duration: 6 25-minute class sessions
Enduring Understandings -  Physical and human characteristics of places define regions.
Essential Questions - What are the human and physical characteristics of your neighborhood?
Social Studies Indicators: Identify and describe human and physical characteristics of places, and use them to define regions.
Assessment:  match physical and human characteristics to pictures

Activities:

• For teacher—see attachment geographic characteristics, describing physical and human characteristics; decide which physical and human characteristics to teach your students and that would be observable in the neighborhood. Examples:
  PHYSICAL: physical feature—mountain; weather; animal life—deer, squirrels, birds, rabbits
  HUMAN: human made features—buildings of all types; languages spoken; religion; how people make a living

• Introduce selected physical characteristics on one day, and human the next
• Have students draw pictures to illustrate the PHYSICAL on one day and GEOGRAPHIC characteristics
  Use Japan the Land  to compare with Japan
• Use some of the attached pictures as practice in distinguishing between human and physical. Geo characteristics notebook

Differentiation:
Support: Reduce the number of physical and human characteristics taught
Extension:  Have students list physical and human characteristics in the neighborhood as a preview for the lesson that involves a walk that will confirm their predictions.
Resources: Japan the Land in Japan Kit geographic characteristics, Geo Characteristics Notebook

Lesson 2: A Walk in the Neighborhood
Duration: 4 25-minute class sessions
Enduring Understandings - Maps, globes and other geographic tools are used to locate information about places. Physical and human characteristics of places define regions.
Essential Questions -  How can maps help us to locate information about our neighborhoods? What are the human and physical characteristics of your neighborhood?
Social Studies Indicators: Maps, globes and other geographic tools are used to locate information about places. Identify and describe human and physical characteristics of places, and use them to define regions.
Assessment:  Compare the information on student maps to what is found on a real map.

Activities:

• See teacher’s guide for Social Studies Alive! Chapter 6 and complete appropriate activities
• Take a neighborhood walk and construct a map that shows physical and human characteristics--land and water forms as well as buildings and streets. Include a title, legend, compass rose and talk about why each is used
• Develop vocabulary for compass rose, N,S,E, W, and legend/key
• http://earth.google.com/gallery/index.html  Go to Google maps and drill down to a map of the neighborhood in which your teach—use for assessment

Differentiation:
Support: Match symbols for title, legend, compass rose point to words.
Extension:  Compare your neighborhood to another neighborhood you have visited.
Resources:   Social Studies Alive! Chapter 6
http://earth.google.com/gallery/index.html  Go to Google maps and drill down to a map of the neighborhood
Compass Rose: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/geography/printouts/compassrose.shtml

Lesson 3: Our City
Duration:  3 25-minute classes
Enduring Understanding - Human activity changes and is changed by the physical environment.
Essential Questions - How does the physical environment affect what people do the neighborhood?
Social Studies Indicators: Describe ways humans change the physical environment and how the physical environment effects human activity.
Assessment:  Ask students:  Why is Colorado Springs at the bottom of Pikes Peak, and not at the top?  Why is Colorado Springs along a river and not in the desert?

Activities:

• Brainstorm and list why buildings, shopping areas, and schools are located where they are. Discuss the physical features found in this area and how they affect how we live, work and play. Make a chart:
   

• Make a chart showing a changing environment, and list benefits and problems it might cause.

Differentiation:
Support: Given a picture of Pikes Peak/Colorado Springs, discuss why the city is at the bottom.
Extension:  How is living near an ocean affected by that physical feature?  How is living there different from living here?Resources:   http://www.tellercounty.net/pikes-peak.htm; http://www.city-data.com/picfilesc/picc25042.php ; http://stevegarufi.com/pikes.htm

Lesson 4: Moving 
Duration: 3 25-minute class sessions
Enduring Understanding: People migrate and settle in different places for a variety of reasons.
Enduring Understanding: Why does your family live here, or, why did they move here?
Social Studies Indicators: Explain why people settle in different places.
Assessment: Show current pictures of 4 different cities; have students choose the one they most would like to move to and explain why.

Activities:

• Poll the class (and graph) to find out who has lived here for a long time and who has moved here in the past year or two
• Discuss reasons for moving, i.e. physical and human characteristics-- jobs, military, family, climate, things to do; Compare outcome with information from another class.

Differentiation:
Support: Students will write about what they like about living in Colorado Springs.
Extension:  Students will write about a place where they might like to move, and what people might like about it.
Resources: Pictures of cities: http://www.aviewoncities.com/gallery/_galleryindex.htm

Lesson 5: Moving to Japan?
Duration: 3-25 minutes class sessions
Enduring Understanding: People migrate and settle in different places for a variety of reasons.
Enduring Understanding: Why does your family live here, or, why did they move here?
Social Studies Indicators: Explain why people settle in different places.
Assessment:  Pair students: One takes role of a Japanese student tries to persuade the other to move there. Reverse roles and do again.

Activities:

• Read If I Lived in Japan by Rosanne Knorr. 
• Identify physical and human characteristics of Japan from the book
• Discuss why students might or might not want to move to Japan and why a child from Japan might or might not want to move here. Use physical and human characteristics of both places as part of the reasoning. This can be done on a list or chart.

Differentiation:
Support: Pair students with good speakers, and have them use a written script, provided by the teacher, with students using information from list or chart.
Extension:  Students will extend the dialogue and use materials from the Japan trunk.

Resources:
Pictures of cities: If I Lived in Japan in Japan kit; KidsWeb in Japan

Lesson 6: Goods and Services
Duration: 3-25 minutes class sessions
Enduring Understandings: The exchange of goods and services leads to trade and interdependence
Essential Questions: How are goods and services distributed? Which goods and services are found in your school? Neighborhood? Community? If none, why not?
Social Studies Indicators: Identify ways goods and services are distributed through trade, exchange and interdependence.
Assessment:  Use the Matching Activity. Have each students drag the picture of a service each one provides to the good that is made or grown. They should also write one sentence telling about each picture.

Activities:

• Have the students identify goods and services by identifying what each job or person provides in this interactive activity. They will then decide, in a later interactive, what or who provides a good or service.

• From the public or school library, provide picture books for kids to look at. During a shared reading session, they should then discuss the goods and services produced by different people/jobs to make a community work.

• With the class, click and drag the people who provide the services and those who provide the goods. Click here for this interactive activity.

• Explore the online interactive activity
  Use materials from the Japan trunk to help students identify goods and services in Japan; links on KidsWeb in Japan should also be helpful.

Differentiation:
Support: Pair students to complete activities
Extension:  Put the children into small groups. Have each group decide on two or three jobs they could pantomime for the class. Groups can take turns pantomiming their jobs while the other children guess the jobs they are acting out.
Resources: http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM642&page=teacher
KidsWeb in Japan