Click on the underlined name of the activity in the table of contents to see the whole lesson and print it out. For more information on Geography Themes and Geography Standards, go to Resources.

A Summer Day. Using clues written into a passage that describes a beautiful summer day, this lesson challenges students to identify the location of the story.
Teaching Level: Grades 4-8
Geography Themes: Location, Place, Human/Environment Interaction, Regions
Geography Standards: 1, 2, and 4

Environmental Explorer. In this lesson students will use observation skills to analyze changes that people have made to the natural environment. And they will discuss their own opinions and viewpoints—as well as those of others—regarding environmental change.
Teaching Level: Grades 3-8
Geography Themes: Human/Environment Interaction, Place
Geography Standards: 4, 14, and 18

Fighting Cholera With Maps. This lesson will help students learn how mapping techniques can be used to understand social issues and to solve problems.
Teaching Level: Grades 6-12
Geography Themes: Location, Place, Human/Environment Interaction, Movement
Geography Standards: 1, 3, and 17

Look! You’re Wearing Geography. This lesson introduces the concept of global interdependence by exploring the origins of many of the goods that students wear and use every day.
Teaching Level: Grades 5-10
Geography Themes: Location, Human/Environment Interaction, Movement, Regions
Geography Standards: 2 and 11

Made in the U.S.A. Students will be challenged to think about the ways that cultures develop. Most cultures have absorbed traits of other cultures; many have imposed their own customs on others as well. In today’s interconnected world, customs and other aspects of culture are exchanged faster than ever, through trade, travel, and the media.
Teaching Level: Grades 6-9
Geography Themes: Movement, Location, Place, Regions
Geography Standards: 6 and 10

Mental Mapping. This lesson uses mental maps to explore student perceptions of different regions of the United States. Geographers refer to the impressions and images that we all form of our physical surroundings as mental maps.
Teaching Level: Grades 7-12
Geography Themes: Location, Place, Human/Environment Interaction, Movement, Regions
Geography Standards: 1, 2, and 6

Neighborhood Services-Where Are They and Why? This lesson focuses on the locations of public and private community services and invites students to explore reasons why services are located where they are. Using local examples gives students the opportunity to gather information from primary sources.
Teaching Level: Grades 1-5
Geography Themes: Location , Place, Human/Environment Interaction, Movement, Regions
Geography Standards: 1, 3, and 12

Regions: A Hands-on Approach. This lesson introduces the characteristics of a region and helps students understand what regions are and how to define regional boundaries.
Teaching Level: Grades 6-12
Geography Themes: Regions
Geography Standards: 4, 5, and 6

What’s Your Region Really Like? Students explore the concept of regions by assembling a “culture capsule” and brainstorming the physical and cultural characteristics that define regions.
Teaching Level: Grades 5-8
Geography Themes: Location, Place, Regions
Geography Standards: 4, 5, and 6

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