ALASKA 
ALASKA
Natalie Warren
Fourth Grade
Geography 354
Purpose:
The goal of this lesson is to make children aware of the differences all over the United States. This lesson will give students the opportunity to learn about a different part of the US, and recognize and appreciate the similarities and differences. Students will be introduced to the many aspects of life in Alaska.
:
1. Knows and understands how to use maps, globes, and other graphical tools to acquire, process and report information. This is a very critical skill for children to learn in order to apply later on in life.
3. Knows how to analyze spatial organization. The students need to be able to relate to subjects that are not tangible and always able to be seen.
4. Know and understands the physical and human characteristics of places. Students have to be able to develop an appreciation for those places and people other than their own. It is important to give them the knowledge of other cultures and places in order of them to be more understanding.
6. Know and understands that culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and experiences. This skill will help students understand why there are differences in people and how they make everyone special. They will be able to compare their own similar events to those of another culture.
18. Knows how to apply geography to interpret the present and the future. By studying the history of the many areas of the US the students will have a better understanding of the US The students will also be able to see how it is developing and what it will be like in the future.
Applicable Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills:
The student understands how humans adapt to variations in physical environment.
Compare how people in different communities adapt to or modify the physical environment.
Identify and compare the human characteristics of selected regions.
The student understands the concepts of location, distance, and direction on maps and globes.
Objective List:
1. To become more acquainted with the language spoken in some parts of Alaska.
2. To become briefly aware of the history and traditions of Alaska.
3. To find information on and look at an Internet site.
4. To have brief knowledge over the many important parts of the Alaskan culture.
5. To become aware of the different Eskimos and Indians in Alaska.
6. To become familiar with the geography and climate of Alaska.
7. To understand the Alaskan children’s games.
Overview of Presentation:
The students will learn about the geography and culture of Alaska with special emphasis on the people and their traditions, language, and activities relating to the characteristics of the state. The students will gain a better understanding of the Alaskan geography and the unique climate. Not many people know that much about Alaska because it isn’t part of the continental US I believe that the more background and knowledge an individual has the more accepting they will be of differences of other people. This unit is designed to provide some of that important knowledge to help all students. I feel that this is also assessing any educator who is lacking knowledge on the culture of some of the students.
Day 1
1. Sponge Activity:
I will have an short informational video clip about Alaska playing as class is starting. Then I will have the students write a paragraph about what they know about Alaska already.
2. Opening Activity:
Students will be given facts sheets about Alaska and will be able to work with their group and analyze the facts. Then we will discuss what they already know about Alaska.
3. Guided Practice:
After filling out and discussing the facts sheets, the students will be given a fact or fiction worksheet. They will have to determine whether statements are fact or fiction about Alaska.
4. Independent Practice:
Students will each produce a travel brochure using the information they learned from the facts sheets and images they saw in the video clip.
Materials:
video, facts sheets, construction paper, markers, map colors
Day 2
1. Sponge Activity:
The students will write a journal entry about what they know about Eskimos and their traditions.
2. Opening Activity:
I will start this lesson by talking about where the Eskimos lived. I will explain how the Eskimos lived in Northern and Western Alaska. Also how they mainly lived in wood and dirt homes, yet they were hunting and traveling they lived in igloos. We will also discuss the Eskimos hobbies and modes for transportation. Then we will focus on the Indians of Alaska. I will discuss with the students how different the Eskimos and the Indians of Alaska are from each other and from Texans. This lesson will be important to show the cultural difference of Alaskans and Texans.
3. Guided Practice:
To integrate comparing and contrasting things into this lesson the students must choose two or three things to compare and contrast. It will be done by the class as a whole on the chalkboard. The two things to compare and contrast can be Texas and Alaska, to see what the students have learned during the week.
4. Independent Practice:
We will discuss what the students know about Eskimos. Then the students will get to visualize the differences between Eskimos and Indians. They will make either an Eskimo or an Indian out of a paper plate, construction paper, material, and markers.
Materials:
paper plates, fur, feathers, buttons (eyes), markers, glue
Day 3
1. Sponge Activity:
I will have ice cream samples set out for the students to taste. This is something fun for the class to do, while still focusing on the chilly, cold climate in Alaska!
2. Opening Activity:
This activity will be a math worksheet in which the theme is Alaska’s weather. We will discuss the climate and chilly temperatures in Alaska.
3. Guided Practice:
The students will get to make an igloo house to get the full understanding of where Eskimos live. They will make the igloo out of sugar cubes, hot glue, and have a piece of cardboard for the base.
4. Independent Practice:
The students will finish their igloos during the rest of class.
Materials:
sugar cubes, hot glue guns, ice cream samples, cardboard, math weather sheet
Day 4
1. Sponge Activity:
The students will have their BINGO cards on their desks (for a later activity) and they will be instructed to begin coloring them.
2. Opening Activity:
I will begin the lesson by talking about some of the vocabulary words that are different. We will then discuss how English is the main language in Alaska, yet they still have some very different words. This might be confusing at first, but then we will discuss some things in our society that have different words. For instance, people in Texas call soft drinks "cokes" while people from Minnesota call them "soda pops." It is the same with Alaskans and Texans. We speak the same language, but we use different words for the same things.
3. Guided Practice:
The students will make up 10 sentences using the different Alaskan vocabulary words. They will have a list to choose from. The list will have the Alaskan word with the meaning in English next to it. Although their sentences must use the Alaskan word. If time permits the students can work an Alaskan vocabulary crossword puzzle.
4. Independent Practice:
We will play BINGO using the Alaskan words learned early in class and listed on the vocabulary list. When a student completes a "BINGO", I will ask them to pronounce the five words that made them a winner and then they will say what the word means in our English language.
Materials:
list of Alaskan vocabulary words, BINGO cards, crayons, dry beans (so the students can mark their BINGO cards)
Day 5
1. Sponge Activity:
I will ask the students to write down some their favorite activities and games--things they like to do for fun.
2. Opening Activity:
I will begin this lesson by asking the students what they think living in Alaska would be like. Then I will talk to them about the different lifestyles of Alaska, including the Eskimos, the Indians, and the rural subsistence lifestyles. We will compare these lifestyles to the students favorite activities. Then I will talk about different working industries; including fishing, communications, transportation’s, resource development, and emerging high-tech industries.
3. Guided Practice:
After discussion, the students will play "trick the dancers." This game is played by Alaskan Indian children. It is similar to musical chairs. A drummer beats on his drum while the dancers dance. But when the drummer stops, so must the dancers. This often leaves the dancers in awkward positions.
4. Independent Practice:
I will have students write an evaluation of the game and their opinion of Alaskan lifestyle and their traditional activities.
Materials:
tape player, chairs, music
Day 6
1. Sponge Activity:
The students will do the handout that compares and contrasts Anchorage, Alaska and Los Angeles, California.
2. Opening Activity:
I will discuss the importance of technology and the way it is used today. I will inform them of the many different uses the Internet offers. We will explore just a few of the many ways computers are able to help us in today’s world.
3. Guided Practice:
In the computer lab I will have the website, "Everything Alaska" (http://www.everythingalaska.com) on each of the screens. I will have already shown the students how I got there on the computer in our classroom. I will already have the site ready in order to save time. The students will complete a group work assignment and a worksheet. The group work will be an exploratory assignment that ask the students you describe interesting facts they discovered.
4. Independent Practice:
The students will complete the group work and worksheet. We will then have the different groups talk about what they found and their opinion of the Internet.
5. Evaluation:
I will use the Internet worksheet as assessment. This will be used as a sub-element of everything that was done.
Materials
computers
INTERNET WORKSHEET
List three facts that you learned from studying this page and the facts about Alaska:
1.
2.
3.
Click on "weather" under "Alaska",
then under "Anchorage" and find out what the weather is like in Anchorage
today.
Click on "Aurora Borealis" under "Attractions"
and describe what you see.
Day 7
1. Sponge Activity:
I will give the students a handout on their way into class with all of the new geography vocabulary words we will learn today.
2. Opening Activity:
We will discuss the vocabulary words together as a class. Then the students will do a population math geography worksheet with partners.
3. Guided Practice:
We will go down to the computer lab and look at the website "Alaska in 360 Panoramic" (http://www.360alaska.com). I will already have this website pulled up on each of the computer screens. The students will then go into the site and look at the magnificent pictures and incurable geography of Alaska.
4. Independent Practice:
The students will write 5 interesting geography facts that they learned today either from the vocabulary or the website.
Materials:
vocabulary worksheet, computers, population worksheet
Day 8
1. Sponge Activity:
I will have the students write a few sentences about their definition of symbols and traditions.
2. Opening Activity:
I will begin the lesson talking about symbols--what they mean, who uses them, and their purposes. Then I will show them pictures of totem poles and masks that other cultures have made and worn. I will ask the students to pay attention to the symbols and items used on each and ask them if they can guess a purpose for them. I will explain to them that Alaskans make totem poles for monuments, not worship. I will talk about the common symbols seen on them such as the eagle, raven, bear, whale, an wolf. Then we will discuss the masks and the purpose of them to Alaskans. We will talk about how the Alaskans believe in the controlling by spirits and how the masks pleased them.
3. Guided Practice:
For this activity, students will have a chance to make their own totem pole. They will get to paint them and add decorations that are meaningful to them, just like the Alaskans. The totem pole activity that has been selected is one of a thunderbird, to Alaskans this symbolizes the "master of the skies."
4. Independent Practice:
The students will get to make their own spiritual mask out of cardboard cereal boxes and string.
cardboard pieces, paints, paintbrush, cereal boxes, popcicle sticks, scissors, pencils, glue, construction paper, markers
Day 9
1. Sponge Activity:
I will have an Iditarod informational packet for the students to be going through and studying.
2. Opening Activity:
I will begin this lesson by asking the students if they have ever been stranded somewhere and were dependent on someone else’s help from far away. Then I will briefly summarize the Iditarod Race and its origin.
3. Guided Practice:
Students will be handed a blank map of Alaska in which they will plot the checkpoints of the race. I will write on the board the checkpoints and they will be asked to find the points on a map and plot them with a numbered paw print.
4. Independent Practice:
Students will do the "Checkpoint Word Search." This will reinforce the geography of Alaska by telling the different places that the Iditarod Trail stops for checkups.
Materials
Iditarod info. packet, blank map of Alaska sheet, "checkpoint word search" worksheet
Day 10
1. Sponge Activity:
The students will sit at their tables and write down the five most interesting facts they learned about the state of Alaska.
2. Opening Activity:
The students will be in their groups and be able to go to different centers set up around the room. They can choose to visit the game center, the center with the different Alaskan games to play, the traditions center, and the igloo center.
3. Guided Practice:
The students will discuss each center ass a group and write a short summary of each one.
4. Independent Practice:
We will, as a class, watch part of the Alaskan movie--"Call of the Wild".
Materials
video, VCR, TV, stuff for different centers
Closure
We will briefly review the important facts learned during this unit over Alaska. We will discuss the language, history, geography, climate, and traditions of Alaskans. We will hang our totem poles and masks up around the room. We will review the different aspects of the Eskimos and Indians lives. We will also review the different activities that Alaskan children play.
Bibliography
1. Alaska. http://www.wintersoltice.com (April 13, 1999).
2. Alaska Facts and Figures. http://www.state.ak.us (April 13, 1999).
3. Alaska in 360 Panoramic. http://www.360alaska.com (April 13, 1999).
4. Birnbaum, Alexandra. "Alaska" Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. Microsoft Corporation. 1993-1998. pp. 1-3
5. Everything Alaska. http://www.everythingalaska.com (April 13, 1999).
Created 4-27-99
Return to Lesson Plans and Reseach Papers, 1999