Unit Plan
Curated OER

Getting to the Core of World and State Geography

For Teachers 4th
Students create topography relief maps. In this geography skills lesson, students review geography core knowledge skills, design and make a state relief map, and compile a student atlas.
Lesson Plan
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The Geography of Europe

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students examine maps of Europe. In this geography skills lesson, students interpret several maps to determine the boundaries of the European Union and respond to assessment questions about the maps.
Lesson Plan
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Salt Relief Map of Virginia

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders create a salt relief map of the four regions of Virginia. They indentify land forms and bodies of water, and summarize how they made their project.
Lesson Plan
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Maps: U.S, Time Zones

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Learners perform various activities to demonstrate knowledge of time zones. They connect with an interactive map to discover what time zone they are in. They create clocks out of paper plates and simulate different time zones.
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Post Roads

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students locate the major cities in the colonies during the Revolutionary War. In this map skills lesson, students use a globe to locate cities such as Charleston and Boston using latitude and longitude coordinates.
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Location, Location, Location: Using a Grid to Determine Context

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders are introduced to making inferences about artifacts. Using a grid system, they locate the artifacts and determine where they originated from. They use this information to make conclusions about the way people lived...
Lesson Plan
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Mapping the Ocean Floor

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students study the bottom structure of underwater habitats and how they can be mapped.
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Houses

For Teachers 3rd
Third graders use a number of problem solving strategies in this unit of lessons. They determine how to draw and model three-dimensional objects, use co-ordinate systems, determine probability of events, and identify paths of simple...
Lesson Plan
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Solar Heating in the Himalayas

For Teachers 6th - 8th
A fascinating lesson on how solar power is utilized by people who live in the Himalayas is here for you. In it, learners perform a case study which will help them understand that solar energy is a renewable resource, that geography...
Lesson Plan
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Fly on the Ceiling

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders complete activities to increase their understanding of coordinates. They listen to Julie Glass' book, The Fly on the Ceiling, before playing fly tic-tac-toe and Swat the Flies, in which they use ordered pairs to state the...
Lesson Plan
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Tracking the Storm

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Learners discuss the different types of storms that can hit land. They locate specific coordinates on a plane grid. They discuss lonsgitude and latitude to plot the coordinates of a tropical storm. They practice finding coordinates...
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Trace Your Waste*

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Students examine waste disposal programs in the area and record the information on a map along with ideas on where garbage should go.
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Differences Between Ground and Air Temperatures

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students examine the differences between air temperature and ground temperature.  In this investigative lesson students find NASA data on the Internet and use it to create a graph. 
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Where is it?

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students use a coordinate grid. They investigate and discuss what caused certain objects to be in specific places. They choose a room in their home to map and place objects in specific locations.
Lesson Plan
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Where in the World Is ...?

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students move themselves around a "world" map on the classroom floor, using lines of latitude and longitude to locate specific spots. They determine the locations of 11 countries where Peace Corps Volunteers are serving and identify in...
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Finding Important Community Sites

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students locate community sites on a city map using the map legend and grid system.
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Cartography

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students research about cartography and how to be a cartographer. In this math lesson, students draw a map of their classroom. They use a robot to explore navigation using a compass rose.
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What Is Your Point?

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders identify the x and y axes in a coordinate plane and identifies the coordinates of a given point in the first quadrant. They plot specific points in the first quadrant of the Cartesian coordinate system.
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Cruise Indonesia

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Students work together to create a cruise package to Indonesia. They collaborate on a travel brochure and coordinate daily activities for fictitious travelers to discover the diversity among the islands that make up Indonesia.
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States of Fitness

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students participate in physical activities coordinating to divisions on a map.
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Air Pollution in Mexico City

For Teachers 7th - 10th
A fantastic lesson on urban air pollution problems throughout the world is here for you. Learners understand that there are many factors involved in creating pollution, that there are many health effects brought on by air pollution, and...
Lesson Plan
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Itaipu Dam and Power Plant (Brazil and Paraguay)

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Learners study South America's Itaipu Dam and Power Plant in order to gain an understanding that hydroelectric power is a major means of generating electricity throughout the world. They also look into the environmental impacts that...
Lesson Plan
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The Zabbaleen, Cairo's Garbage Workers

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Here is a fascinating human geography study of the Zabbaleen. They are a sub-class of people who work as garbage collectors in Cairo, Egypt. I can't say enough good things about this resource in my limited space here. It is fabulous! If...
Lesson Plan
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Where in the World

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students explore the global grid system. In this globe lesson, students identify latitude and longitude lines and how these can tell the coordinates of any place. They use the Internet to find the exact coordinates for their town.