U.S. Geography Unit 5th Grade

Kelley Camozzi

Unit Overview

•  Unit Topic: •  U.S. geography and topography

•  2-week Calendar

•  U.S. Geography (drama play)

•  Steps Across America

•  GLAD strategies

•  Class field trip

•  Unit Activity

2-week Calendar

U.S. Geography •  Unit focus

•  Written by Ron Fink and John Heath

•  Integration of: •  Drama

•  Content vocabulary

•  Music

•  Reading comprehension & fluency

•  Teamwork

•  Social skills

“A group of feisty aliens has decided to settle down in the United States—but where’s the best place to make their home? They take a grand tour through the country, learning about the major geographical features and the differences between the regions, while mastering the locations of the 50 states and the names of their capitals.”

-Bad News Press

Steps Across America

Daily P. E. & Math Integration: Students record the total number of steps for their team in a “walking” race across the country. Pedometers will be used to measure individual step count.

1 in. = 1,000 steps

Guided Language Acquisition in Design

•  Cognitive Content Dictionary (CCD) •  Words taken from U.S.

Geography play

•  1-2 words per day (ex: moraine, refute, holographic, etc.)

•  Pictorial Input Chart

•  Team Task

Team Task

Students will work together as a team of

4 to create large maps that will show what

they have learned about U.S. geography

and topography throughout the unit.

Class Field Trip

Samuel P. Taylor Park,

Lagunitas, California

•  Hike to scope out local U.S. topography

•  Explore San Andres

Fault (U.S. Play, Scene 4

—Dudes)

Unit Activity

•  Form groups of 3 or 4

•  Create a map of the United States showing everything that you know about U.S. geography and topography.

•  Geography: physical features—lakes, rivers, mountain ranges, plains, etc.

•  Topography: location of physical features

•  Each person is assigned one color and can only use that color during activity.

•  Make a key showing assigned colors.

•  Color = Name of student

•  5-8 minutes

Materials needed per group:

•  Colored pencils, markers,

or crayons (4 different

colors)

•  1 piece of white paper