Traditionally, fifth grade geography is centered around the U.S. states and regions. The regions we are studying are: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and the West. We've had discussions on how different geographers split up the regions differently, but we've decided to stick with these. We look for defining characteristics of the ares through the concepts of climate, landforms, natural resources, industry, agriculture, and culture. We also look at population density, reasons for this, and why people migrate to particular areas.
To get students more engaged, this year we, as a fifth grade team, have changed the unit a bit. While still focusing on the same concepts we changed it up a bit to add a little more interest. Students began by studying NFL teams across the nation: locating them, looking at why they're located in particular places, population, why they have their given mascot. In the end, students will work in collaborative groups to present a proposal for a new NFL team to the commissioner (me!). They will be assessed on the concepts, the presentation, the thoughtfulness of their proposed team, and how they collaborated. Below is the rubric I will be using to score.
Traditionally, fifth grade geography is centered around the U.S. states and regions. The regions we are studying are: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and the West. We've had discussions on how different geographers split up the regions differently, but we've decided to stick with these. We look for defining characteristics of the ares through the concepts of climate, landforms, natural resources, industry, agriculture, and culture. We also look at population density, reasons for this, and why people migrate to particular areas.
To get students more engaged, this year we, as a fifth grade team, have changed the unit a bit. While still focusing on the same concepts we changed it up a bit to add a little more interest. Students began by studying NFL teams across the nation: locating them, looking at why they're located in particular places, population, why they have their given mascot. In the end, students will work in collaborative groups to present a proposal for a new NFL team to the commissioner (me!). They will be assessed on the concepts, the presentation, the thoughtfulness of their proposed team, and how they collaborated. Below is the rubric I will be using to score.
