Classroom Activities
Lesson One – Place
What makes a place different from another? What are the physical and human characteristics of a place and how do they attribute to its' uniqueness?
This introductory lesson gives students an opportunity to learn about the geographer's definition of place (one of the five themes of geography).
Anticipatory Set: Have students brainstorm facts about where they come from – their place of origin. Write these down on an ABC graphic organizer in which they have to list their facts within squares labeled with a letter of the alphabet. This may be used later to create ABC books of their homes/places of origin. It will also be used to prompt them for their writing pieces. Have them share these facts with their table partners.
Directed Instruction: Introduce the geography theme of place. View PowerPoint about Place and take notes on graphic organizer. Have students work with their table partners to look at the lists they have generated about their home/place of origin and categorize these into physical and human characteristics using the information learned from the PowerPoint.
Activity: Students will be divided into pairs to read and discuss a children's literature book about different places (each pair will have a different one). Students will use their Proficient Reading Strategies to better comprehend what they are reading. They will categorize the physical and human characteristics of the place they are reading about on a graphic organizer. Afterwards, each pair will partner with another to compare and contrast their observations to better understand the uniqueness of a place.
Assessment: Students' Check for Understanding in which they will need to explain what makes the place where they come from unique.
Lesson Two – Culture
What is culture? What are cultural traits? How do cultural traits contribute to the uniqueness of a place, of a person, of yourself?
This lesson focuses on the idea of culture – how it can be defined and better understood.
Anticipatory Set: Have students view the National Geographic Society video, Cultures. This video demonstrates the cultural traits through a series of photographs. There are no words to this video, just music. This is part of the video's beauty. It also makes it helpful for students to concentrate on the content, especially ELLs. Students should list the things they see in the video – e.g. school/education, family, work, war, birth, death, etc. Students should share what they have recorded with their elbow partner and then their tablemates. Share out as whole class.
Directed Instruction: Introduce the definitions of culture and cultural traits. Then, show the culture video on Discovery Education Streaming. Have students take notes on a graphic organizer. Review this information afterwards as a whole group, after students have had an opportunity to share with their tablemates.
Activity: Give students the Culture Wheel graphic organizer that divides up cultural traits into categories. Have students refer back to what they have brainstormed about their home/place of origin and fill in the Culture Wheel graphic organizer with information about their home/place of origin.
Assessment: Students' Check for Understanding consists of their Culture Wheel graphic organizer. Does it demonstrate an understanding of their cultural traits?
Lesson Three – My Place
How do I preserve the uniqueness of the place from which I came?
This lesson focuses on descriptive writing component of students writing about the place where they come to help them preserve the "intangible heritage" of this unique place.
Anticipatory Set: Have students look back at their original brainstorm list of the descriptors of where they come from. Have students choose three to five of these by circling them.
Directed Instruction: Introduce descriptive writing with a PowerPoint presentation – what it is, examples, characteristics, and the importance of using details. Have students take notes on a graphic organizer. Review this information afterwards.
Activity: Have students select one of their three to five circled choices to elaborate upon. Have them follow the model demonstrated for describing a person, place, or thing.
Assessment: Students' Check for Understanding consists of their description. Does it follow what was presented? Is it well organized, have precise language, and a variety of sensory details?
Follow up lessons will consist of having students create a series of descriptive pieces to represent the uniqueness of their place of origin. These will also include interviews with family members and friends to research more information about these subjects. Additionally, we will work on a series of writings which describe the uniqueness of where we live now, Delaware. In this manner students will begin to write their place here, learning that they do belong, that they are able to love two places – their homes of origin and their homes now. A comparison of the two should prove interesting.
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