Stage 1 Desired Results

Established Goals: The student will be able to explain that geography and climate affect one another. The student will describe how the location of a place can tell us about the climate of that area. The student will be able to explain that where people live affect what they do and how they live.

Understandings Students will understand that.. Geography is about the relationship between people and the land they live on. It is more than landforms. The climate of an area depends on its location in the world. The geography of an area and the climate are closely related.

Essential Questions What is geography? What is climate? How are climate and geography related? How are people affected by where they live?

Students will know Geographical regions/Climate zones of U.S. Geographical regions/Climate zones of China, Cambodia, Mexico Names and definitions of climate zones Natural Resources of the U.S., Cambodia, China, Mexico

Students will be able to Define geographical regions and their climatic characteristics Recognize and define climate zones Express in writing compare/contrast the U.S. to China, Cambodia, Mexico in terms of natural resources

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks Writing project: each student will create a page for a classhomemade social studies book, each student will write about what they learnedideally about a significant relationship between the geography and of one of the places we studied. This project will also connect our daily literacy routine to the combined social studies/science integrated unit Art project: with cooperation from Mr. Metcalfe, the art teacher, students will work to build an example of a home from a particular region in Mexico, Cambodia, or China

Other Evidence Daily group work, researching geographical characteristics of China, Cambodia, Mexico Verbal explanation of their social studies book page, why/what they wrote about Relationship of climate and geography expressed through worksheets, comments, and/or homemade textbook page

Stage 3: Learning Plan

Learning Activities: Introduce and use KWL to assess students prior knowledge, to identify learning goals for the unit, and to record learning throughout the unit. Explore National Geographic Website as a class and possibly in Computer class. Explore Google Earth focusing on China, Cambodia, and Mexico. Homework assignment to talk with parents about where they grew up, what the land was like, what the weather was like, and what their parents parents did for work. Partner work. Ex: sharing the information learned from the conversation with their parents. Sharing out and recording on posters that will remain hung up throughout the two weeks. Read Alouds: Thank you, World by Alice McGinty and Wendy Halperin, Charlie Needs A Cloak by Tomie dePaola Group work using prepared resources to begin learning how to research and find information from a source. Mini lesson: use internet to look up the temperature in China, Cambodia, and Mexico as compared to our temperature in Philadelphia on a particular day.

Group work to research the natural resources found in each of the countries we are studying. Mini lesson: the kinds of homes that are found in each of the countries based on geography and climate. Create 3D clay models of the homes in Art Class. Mini Lesson: Natural Hazards ex: tornado, hurricane, typhoon Mini Lesson: Kinds of jobs in China, Cambodia, and Mexico based on natural resources. Scavenger hunt: find cards with description of jobs around room and must match to the correct country.