Arizona

ARIZONA

Theressa Johnson
Grade Level 3-5
Geography

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this series of lessons is to inform the students about Arizona. They will be doing experiments and
activities with things that deal with Arizona. Most people don’t know much about Arizona and so this unit is a learning
experience that many will enjoy. We will be reading books almost every day before the activity so that the students
will get a brief picture of stories that happen in Arizona.

CONNECTION TO THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS:

1. Knows and understands how to use maps, globes and other graphical tools to acquire, process and report information.

The students will be given a map each day and they must record the information that is asked of them.

4. Knows and understands the physical and human characteristics of places. We will be talking about the

Grand Canyon and how it came about.

5. Knows and understands that culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and experiences.

The students will learn about Indians and their environment.

APPLICABLE TEXAS ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

1. The student understands the locations and characteristics of regions.

2. The student understands the concept of regions.

3. The student understands the relative location of places.

OBJECTIVES LIST:

The students will demonstrate their ability to:

1. draw different items on a map, such as counties, cities, land types, weather, elevation, population, and

precipitation of the state of Arizona.

2. search on the internet to find out information that is required for the activities that are given to them.

3. reflect on information that is interesting to them.

OVERVIEW OF PRESENTATION:

This project is focusing on the state of Arizona. In this unit, we will be learning things about Arizona that are going to be new to the students. Some of the things that we talk about are going to open the minds of the students and teach them that some parts of the world are so different that it only takes a few hours to come into a different type of land region and climate. I believe that this unit will be very fun and exciting to those students who have never had the chance to travel to a new part of the country.

PROCEDURES:

This project is to be spread over a period of 10 days in 50 minute increments for each lesson. Each day will include sponge activities that will be used as a focus to get the students to think back a day and write thoughts from the previous days activities. Each day will also have a lesson planned out.

DAY 1

1. Sponge Activity: The students will get out a piece of paper and write down all of the things that they know about Arizona from their own personal experiences or from what they have heard. They will turn this in when they are finished and then given back to them on day 10 to see if the things that they wrote down were true or just a myth.

2. Opening: Start out by talking about the 50 states and how each state is different in its own way. Have the students give some information about any states that they have heard about or that they might have lived in. Introduce the state map of Arizona and pass out a copy to each student. Each day, the students will be given one of these maps and will be labeling different things on them. Also, introduce the state flag to them and let them know that they will be focusing on the flag and facts of the state.

3. Guided Practice: Talk about what a major city is and how many there are in the state. (This could be a different number for each teacher, it just depends on how many cities you want them to find on the map and locate.) Next, talk about the state flag and what each color represents. You can find all of this information at www.arizona.com under the state flag listing.

4. Independent Practice: On the map, the students will be placing the major cities in their correct position. You should have already placed dots at the place that you want them to name a city. They will go to the map that pulls down in the front of the room to find the answers. It is up to you, the teacher, to decide which cities that you want them to find. Pass out a flag to the students and have them color the flag in the correct colors. After you have done these two activities, you can read the book Arizona (Hello U.S.A.) By, Dan Filbin. This book is an introduction to Arizona and you can read it at the beginning of the lesson if you choose to do so.

5. Materials:

State Map, State Flag
Arizona (Hello U.S.A.) By , Dan Filbin

DAY 2

INTERNET DAY

1. Sponge Activity: Have the students get out a scrap piece of paper and jot down what they might like to find on the Internet about Arizona.

2. Opening: Pass out a worksheet that has specific information that they need to look on the Internet in order to find he answers. You can make up any questions that you want them to answer but you can find some possible questions at www.50states.com. Have the computer lab reserved, if available. Put the students in pairs and have them look at certain sites gathering the information that they need to know for the worksheet.

3. Guided Practice: Show the students how they can look for information about the things that they wrote down for their sponge activity. This day is mainly for getting to know the Internet and how it works for us.

4. Independent Practice: Let the students explore on the computer. Make sure that they are getting their worksheet done. Remember, atwww.50states.com you can find information about all states so make sure that they check out this site for Arizona. It is really good to find out the facts of the state.

5. Materials:

Internet worksheet
Computers

DAY 3

1. Sponge Activity: Have the students write out what they found out from the previous day on the Internet about

Arizona.

2. Opening: Start by passing out another map with the counties of Arizona. The students will go once again to the front map and find the names of all of the counties and label them on their maps. Next we will be focusing on the industry in Arizona. Arizona has the nation's largest copper mining industry. There are many different copper mines in Arizona but today we will be focusing on one in Bagdad, Arizona.

http://www.seedsnet.stark.k12.oh.us/NP/coppermine/

This website is a great listing to go to. It is a virtual copper mine tour. It takes you to the copper mine with pictures and information talking about how the mine operates.

3. Guided Practice: The project for the day will to go over the website. It is rather lengthy so it will take up most of your time. We will not have an independent assignment today.

4. Materials:

State map with counties outlined
Computer with LCD screen in the room

DAY 4

1. Sponge Activity: Get out a piece of paper and a pencil and write down what we talked about yesterday. List all of the things that were interesting to you.

2. Opening: Hand out a state map and have the students label and color the different landscaping of the state (desert, mountains, forest). Today we will be talking about the Indians of Arizona and how many different tribes there actually are in Arizona. We will focus on the Navajo Tribe.

3. Guided Practice: We will again be using the LCD screen and the Internet to learn about the Navajo Tribe. I have found a very good Internet site at:

http://a41064.west.asu.edu/students/amysjs/AZINDWeb_Quest.html

This site has all of the information that you could possibly want for this project.

4. Independent Practice : We will be doing an art activity, which is attached at the end of the lesson. "Silver Anew"

5. Materials:

          State map, computer and LCD screen,
          For art activity: posterboard cut into 1 1/2" wide and
          10" long, foil, tape, tray of shapes, scissors, hole
          punches, black marker, glue, cotton swabs, fish tank
          rocks, and paper towels.

DAY 5

1. Sponge Activity: Get out a piece of paper and a pencil and write down what we talked about yesterday. Include information about what interested you.

2. Opening: Pass out a state map and have the students label the weather on the map. Choose a certain time of the year such as winter, spring, summer, or fall to indicate the weather in the area. You can find this information at:

http://www.mrdconsulting.net/whichway.htm

If you click on the GIF of each of the cities given then you can find out the temperature of that city for the year. 7 cities are listed. Today we will be talking about the agriculture in Arizona. One of Arizona's biggest agriculture crop is Apples. There are a few different types f apples that grow in Arizona, Granny Smith and Red Delicious, just to name a couple. We will talk about all of the things that can be made out of apples and then we will make some miniature apple pies of our own.

3. Guided Practice: First I will show the students how we are going to make the pies. I will have pre-made the dough for them. The dough will be cut into circles about the size of a large coffee can. We will cook the apple pieces in sugar, cinnamon, and water to make them soft. Add a few apple pieces to half of the dough and fold over the other half to close off the opening. Mash the edges of the dough with a fork and bake in the oven until the outside of the dough turns a nice light brown color. The students can sprinkle sugar on the outside of the pie before they cook it if they choose. Your oven should be heated at about 375 degrees.

4. Independent Practice: This is where the students actually make the pies themselves.

5. Materials:

Large pot, apples cut up into pieces, sugar, cinnamon,
water, dough, oven and cookie sheet

DAY 6

1. Sponge Activity: Get out a piece of paper and write down what we did from the previous day. Also, write down a question about Arizona that you would like to be answered that hasn’t already been answered.

2. Opening: Pass out the state map and label the elevations of the state. Today we will be talking about the Grand Canyon. We will be going to the computer lab, if possible, and taking a virtual guided tour of the canyon.

3. Guided Practice: I will start out by making sure that they remember how we use the Internet. I will have guide them to this website:

http://setmms.tusd.k12.az.us/~chapmal/grandcanyonactivity.html

This is a site that tells you how to get to the virtual Grand Canyon and it is also a worksheet that they have to fill out.

4. Independent Practice: Let the students go through the guided tour and allow them to see for themselves all that they want to. There are many pictures available for them to look at. The information in the guided tour is all the information that they will need to answer the questions on the worksheet.

5.Materials:

Internet
State map

DAY 7

1. Sponge Activity: Get out a piece of paper and write down things that you remember from yesterday. Include some of your favorite things that you saw from the virtual tour. If the question that you wrote down in your journal was answered yesterday, then write down the answer to your question.

2.Opening: Pass out a state map and label the population for the state. Today we will be writing poetry about Arizona. The students can choose which type of poem that they want to write. The information that they use must come from what they have found out so far about Arizona.

3. Guided Practice: Give some examples of poems that they can write such as Haiku, Limerick, Acrostic, and so on.

4. Independent Practice: This is where they write their poems.

5.Materials

Paper and pencil
Examples of poems

DAY 8

1. Sponge Activity: Get out your journal and write down something from yesterday’s lesson that you remember.

2. Opening: Pass out a state map and label the average precipitation for the year. Today we are going to be talking about the land of Arizona and the type of things that can grow in the driest state in the country. I will read This Place is Dry (Imagine Living Here) By, Vicki Cobb.

3. Guided Practice: We will talk about the Saguaro Cactus and how it can live in such conditions. The activity planned for the day is a math activity that will only take up the class period but we will be using information that has been gathered for years.

4. Independent Practice: The students will be put into groups for this project. The lesson plan for this activity is at the following website:

http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ylp/95-96/ylp_units/Desert_Ocean_TMoore/saguaro_time_line.html

You can print it out in order for the groups to each have a copy so that you don’t have to go to a computer lab. They will gather their information for the graph and they should turn in one graph for each group.

5. Materials

Computer print out of lesson plan
Paper, scissors

DAY 9

1. Sponge Activity: Get out journals and write down the things that we learned from the previous day.

2. Opening: Today is a day in which the students can go back through their journals and choose two or three things that they have written about from the lessons. They should write a one to two page reflection of what they learned.

3. Guided Practice: There is no guided practice today.

4. Independent Practice: This is where they write their papers.

5. Materials:

paper and pencil

DAY 10

1. Sponge Activity: The students can get out their journals and look back to see if their question has been answered. If not then they can ask for an answer. Not all questions are going to be answered, but if they are reasonable questions, there is no reason for the teacher to not be able to find the answer on the Internet.

2. Opening: Today is a review of all of the things that we talked about throughout the unit. We will be going back to day one when they wrote down things that they thought they knew about Arizona. They should have turned this in to the teacher.

3. Guided Practice: Talk about the things written down on their papers. Have the students answer whether or not we talked about what they wrote.

4. Independent Practice: There is not independent practice today.

5. Materials:

No materials needed for today.

INTERNET WORKSHEET www.50states.com

EVALUATION/ASSESSMENT/FEEDBACK:

1. What is the capital of Arizona? __________________

2. What are the 5 states that border Arizona? ______________ ________________ ____________ ______________ ____________

3. What color was the license plate of Arizona from 1980-1996?____________________________________________

4. What is the nickname of Arizona? _________________________________

5. How many different colors are in the state flag?____________________________________

6.What do each of the colors in the flag represent? ______________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________

7.What was the date of Arizona’s Statehood? ________________________

8.What is the state tree? ___________________________

9.What is the state flower? ________________________

10.What is one thing about Arizona that you remember the most and why? __________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

CLOSURE:

We will be going over everything that we learned for the week on the last day. They can ask any questions that they might have and hopefully they can be answered.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arizona.Com. 1997-1998. www.arizona.com (4-15-99).

Arizona Indians Web Quest. http://a41064.west.asu.edu/students/amysjs/AZINDWeb_Quest.html (4-15-99).

Cobb, Vicki. This Place Is Dry (Imagine Living Here).

Desert Saguaro Cactus Growth. 1995-96.

http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ylp/95-96/ylp_units/Desert_Ocean_TMoore/saguaro_time_line.html (4-15-99).

Filbin, Dan. Arizona (Hello U.S.A.).

Grand Canyon Trip. http://setmms.tusd.k12.az.us/~chapmal/grandcanyonactivity.html (4-15-99).

States and Capitals. July 16, 1996. www.50states.com (4-15-99).

Virtual Copper Mine Tour. http://www.seedsnet.stark.k12.oh.us/NP/coppermine/ (4-15-99).

Which Way Did They Go?. 1999. http://www.mrdconsulting.net/whichway.html (4-15-99).

Created 5-4-99

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