Amy Vick                          .
Grade Level - Fourth and Fifth
Geography

Purpose:
The purpose of this lesson is for the students to learn about the United States. They will also become familiar with the capitols, motto, nicknames, and other various details. The students will also have the opportunity to do group projects, that will be presented to the class. This will help the students to learn the material better. The students will also learn how to use map skills. The students will also become familiar with the Internet using an worksheet provided to them.

Connection to the National Geography Standards:
No. 1. Knows and understands how to use maps, globes, and other graphical tools to acquire, process and report information. The students will learn the importance of using map skills, by planning a vacation. They will also have to plan the easiest route to take, and explain which would be fastest, traveling by car, train, or airplane.
No. 4. Knows and understands the physical and human characteristics of places. The students will learn the states tree, bird and flower, which tells a lot about what is located in that area of the state.No. 6. Knows and understands that culture and experience people’s perceptions of places and experiences. The students will talk about the foods that we eat. They will also talk about the different cultures that are brought into the United States, by the other countries.
No. 13. Knows and understands the forces for cooperation and conflict shape the divisions of the earth’s surface. The students will come to an understanding of why the states are divided the way they are and why. They will learn how we work together in government and separately as states.

Objectives:
1. To become familiar with the states and their capitols.
2. To become familiar with the states motto and nicknames.
3. To become familiar with the states that border each other and which states are crossed when traveling to another state.
4. To become familiar with the Internet, and complete worksheets working with the Internet.

Overview of Presentation:
This lesson is designed to help students become familiar with the states and which states border each other. This lesson will give students the opportunity to learn how to use a map, which will come in handy in the future also. This lesson will also have the students become familiar with maps on the Internet. This lesson will also help the students learn more about the state in which they live in. This particular lesson is focused on Texas. The students will be given some activities which will help them to learn about Texas and some of the popular places and many of the famous places. This lesson plan will also let the students become familiar with the culture of American and some of the most popular foods of America. There will be an activity where the students will also learn about how the government is run in the states and with the states combined. The students will also be given a test at the end of the section which will help them to remember the states better. Hopefully, this lesson will come in handy for the students in future classes and for future knowledge.

Procedures:
Sponge Activity:
The activity will include giving the students a blank map of the United States and have them label as many of the states as they can without having a map in front of them. This activity will provide you, at the teacher, a knowledge of where the students are at in their learning about the states. Also, if the students know the capitals, have them label the ones they know ( they do not have to know the exact location).
Opening: The opening will include an introduction to the United States, by showing the cartoon, Animanics, singing "Wakko’s America." We will also discuss Texas and all the facts of the state which will lead us into taking notes over all of the states.
Guided Practice: This will include group work, note taking and an Internet activity. The class will be split into groups and will be assigned one or two states. They will use the notes given in class and make a float out of a box to be displayed later for the class. The class will also plan a vacation with this group and make the decisions of how to get there cheap and fast. They will also use the map and plan the way. The students will also learn more about the state of Texas. The students will also be introduced to the Internet, by first doing an activity as a class and then by filling out a worksheet provided for them.

The parade floats can be worked on a little each day, because we will not get though all of the states in one day. To make the parade floats: have students cover a shoe box, cracker box, or any other type of box with construction paper. Then have them decorate the box with facts about the state and special places in the state. Then display the floats around the room, so that students can look at them and it is easy for them to remember things about that certain state.

The vacation planning includes a map for each of the groups and brochures of vacation places in the state. The students should pick a place to go and using the map, decide which way would be fastest to get there and if they should go by airplane, train, or car. The students should write this down for the teacher to look over and then make a poster of their plan to be presented to the class. The students can use the brochures provided to them to make the presentation. On the poster, the students should also include states that they will go through and if the trip takes place in the same state, they should try to figure out which major cities they are going to go through. You, as the teacher, should be available to those students who are having trouble with this activity, walking through the room making sure everyone understands what is happening.

Focus on Texas day will be where the students learn about the state flower, motto, bird, nickname and how we got our name. We will also discuss the government, and in discussing the government the students will learn about the famous Texans in government, the students will also learn about the governor and the senate, how many representatives that we have in the senate and that we send to Washington. The students will also make a bluebonnet. To make the bluebonnets they will use a pipe cleaner and beads.

The Internet activity that the students will do has two parts. The students will get onto the Internet, first guided by the teacher following a worksheet already provided. The first activity will be used to get the students familiar with the Internet.

Independent Practice: In the independent practice, students will have a Internet worksheet for a specific URL and a test. The test will include the information from the notes they were given. It will not be a hard test, just a test to see if they comprehended what was being taught. The students will mostly do group work on the computer during this lesson, so it should be easier for them to learn.

The Internet activity will be a real simple worksheet, just asking them to open a website and to answer some questions about the site. The site will allow the students to look at a map and to click on different areas of the map to find out information about that area.

Evaluation/Assessment/Feedback:
The test will include questions about each state, but it will not be hard for the students to answer. The floats and posters will help the students to remember and will displayed around the room for them to look at. The test will also include a map of the United States, with some of the states already filled in to help the students remember.

The grades will mostly come from the group work that is done. The vacation plans and parade floats will be the things that count the most. The test will not count as much, because too much information is hard to memorize. The students will also have a time in which to discuss the things they liked and disliked about the lesson, which gives feedback for future use.

Closure:
The test and the feedback from the students will be the closure of this lesson. The puzzles will be left for the students to play with in the future and help them to remember the states and their locations. We will also display the vacation collages around the room to be looked at throughout the year. We will also discuss the vacation asking about why they choose that certain place and the route that they choose to take.

The group work will take most of the time, so it should be divided between the different days. On each day, a set of states can be introduced and notes given and then group work can be assigned for the following time. To allow the students plenty of time. Let the students have the packet of the states ahead of time in order for them to work on their state before you discuss it in class.

Materials:
The materials needed include:
Maps of the United States to hang around the room, and maps of Texas.
Other things to use to decorate: brochures of vacation spots pictures of Texas or any other state

Materials needed to make bluebonnets:
white pipe cleaners
blue, light blue, and white beads green gardening tape

Instructions: fold one end of the pipe cleaner down and then put two white beads on, two light blue beads on and four blue beads on. Tape the gardening tape around the bottom and hold down getting it as tight as possible.

Materials needed to make parade floats: construction paper, markers, and any pictures that the students find that they want to use for there float.

Other materials needed are a map of the United States, a blank one that can be written on. This map was taken from Kids Learn America book written by Patrica Gordon and Reed C. Snow. Another good map is taken from the Young Students Encyclopedia, which is just a map of the states and their capitals. A map which includes highways, for the vacation planning, can be found in any atlas or the Young Students Encyclopedia World Atlas.

Extensions:
This lesson can be used in math also. The students can map out the distances between certain places. This will teach the students the differences between miles and kilometers. This can also be used as a history lesson. The students can learn the history about any of the states. This lesson focuses on Texas. This could also be used in a government lesson. This lesson looks at the government of Texas, but it could also focus more on the government of the United States also.

Bibliography
Gordon, Patrica and Reed C. Snow. Kids Learn America. VT: Williamson Publishing Co., 1992. Hicks, Roger. The Big Book of America. PA: Running Press Book Publishers, 1994.

National Geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/hotspots/index.html

Yahoologins: http://www.yahoologins.com/Around_the_World/Countries/United_States/Maps/

Young Students Encyclopedia, Vol. 20. Weekly Reader Books, 1982.

Young Students Encyclopedia World Atlas. Rand McNally and Company, 1982.

Internet Worksheet No. 1 (To be completed as a class)

Demonstrate in the classroom:
http://www.yahoologins.com/Around_the_World/Countries/United_States/Maps/

Click on Yahoo! Maps When that comes up enter your address and then Click on Map it!

What happens?

Go back to that page.

Click on Point to Point Driving Directions Enter starting point as home Enter your home address

Click on Set Start Point Enter destination as Sea World Enter address: Sea World of Texas 10500 Sea World Drive San Antonio, Texas 78251

Click on Set Destination How many miles is it? ______________

How long will it take to get there? ________________

Return to the URL: http://www.yahoologins.com/Around_the_World/Countries/United_States/Maps/

Click on U.S. Census Bureau Data Maps

Click on Texas, and then on the very tip of Texas, from there click on Galveston.

What is the location? ________________

Go back to the map of the United States and click on any state and any county.

What state did you click on? _______________

What county? ________________

What is the location? _____________________

Internet Worksheet No. 2 (To be completed individually or as a group)

Enter this URL: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/hotspots/index.html and follow the directions below.

Click on Map Machine Atlas

Click on North America

Click on Texas

When were they admitted into the United States? __________

What is the capital? __________________

What is the state nickname? ___________________

Click on Florida

What is the state nickname? ___________________

What is the population? ____________________

What is the capital? _____________________

Click on Alaska

What is the state capitol? __________________

What is the nickname? ___________________

List one of the agriculture’s found here. ___________

Click on Ohio

How many square miles is it? _______________

What is the nickname? ________________

What is the capital? ___________________

Created April 21, 1997

Return to Lesson Plans and Research Papers, 1997