Celebrate the geography of the Americas and develop map skills through a series of activities focused on the Western Hemisphere. Learners study everything from earthquakes and volcanoes of the Americas and the relationship...

This teaching packet is for grades five through eight, and it is organized around geographic themes: location, place, relationships, movement, and regions. There are four full lessons that are complete with posters, weblinks, and...

Bring life to your next California geography lesson with this great project! Learners design a three-dimensional wall relief map of California, painting and decorating regions using a variety of materials and labeling major geographical...

Young geographers travel back through time with primary source and map analysis and envision Captain John Smith's arrival at the Chesapeake Bay. 

Find five activities all about longitude and latitude! Use oranges to show the equator and prime meridian, plot birthdays on a map using coordinates, and plan a dream vacation.

First graders are introduced to a variety of maps such as globes, street maps, atlases, and different types of floor plans. The focus of the lesson plan requires individuals to create their own plan of the classroom using the...

A case study enables class members to confirm whether different geographic parts of Seattle, Washington have disproportionate environmental burdens and benefits. Groups use the EPA's Cumulative Health Impact Analysis formula and...

Here's an awesome unit that uses The Cay as the anchor text. The 16-page packet is loaded with teaching ideas, activities, and suggested adjustments.

Are you looking for a terrific lesson plan on map activities for your second graders? Then, this resource is for you! The activities range from decoding, to fill-in-the-blank, to read-and-search. There is a website activity related to...

What is in a name? Eager historians trace the geographical history of places in the United States with Spanish names. Using a worksheet activity, clues, and web research developed in conjunction with the PBS "Latinos in America" series,...

Mission Possible: Your task is to design a new highway route from Tunis, Tunisia to Cape Town, South Africa. If you accept the challenge, you must create a small map of the route that has already been rejected, a...

Show the class the world as they've never seen it before—from way above! Learners try to unravel the mysteries presented by rich satellite imagery, learn to interpret topographic maps, and study erosion by constructing their very...

Start a whole new life in a land known as the Wild Wild West! Learners analyze maps, personal accounts, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, songs, and video clips to uncover life under the Homestead Act. Using their new skills, class members role...

Following the book, Marco Paul's Travels on the Erie Canal, readers complete an activity for each chapter, take part in discussions, and respond to several questions. To show what they know, scholars create an alphabet book using primary...

The Le Moyne brothers, Jean-Baptiste and Pierre, were among the first explorers of the Gulf Coast. Class members read biographical information and journal entries about these men, study maps showing where the settlements they established...

You may not know if that zebrafish in your fish tank is a model citizen—but it is definitely a model organism! What can we learn about ourselves from a tiny zebrafish? Discover more about the polygenic trait of skin color through a...

Climate change and weather extremes impact every species, but this instructional activity focuses on how these changes effect polar bears. After learning about the animal, scholars create maps of snow-ice coverage and examine the yearly...

Take young scientists into the depths of the world's ocean with the second lesson of this three-part earth science series. After first drawing pictures representing how they imagine the bottom of the ocean to appear, students...

Investigate the fascinating, yet terrifying phenomenon of hurricanes from the safety of your classroom using this earth science unit. Focusing on developing young scientists' spacial thinking skills, these lessons engage...

Agriculture, deforestation, and urbanization. How have human's changed the planet and how might we mitigate the effects of human activity on the planet? To answer these questions class members research the changes in human land use from...

To prepare for the Exploring the World Performance Task, class groups generate a list of places they would like to explore, examine images of seven natural wonders of the world, and consider why these sites are wondrous. A map and images...

Young adventurers embark on a journey, setting sail along the blue ocean with Christopher Columbus. Teachers will find that this unit makes their lesson planning smooth sailing!

What are the effects of an air quality alert? Expert groups receive one component of air quality information resources to study. Pupils then jigsaw into new groups and share their knowledge. Finally, they draft a statement of what they...

By studying the assumed extinction, and subsequent rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, learners use maps and come up with a scenario for the rediscovery of the bird. This incredibly thorough lesson plan is chock-full of...