The Amazing Journey of Edgar the Eagle
Use a story of an eagle's imaginary flight across the United States and Canada
to learn the five themes of geography
Author
Grade Level
Duration
National Geography
Standards
ELEMENT ONE:
THE WORLD IN
SPATIAL TERMS
1. How to use maps
and other
geographic
representations,
tools, and
technologies to
acquire, process,
and report
information from a
spatial perspective.
2. How to use Mental
maps to organize
information about
people, places, and
environments in a
spatial context.
ELEMENT TWO:
PLACES AND
REGIONS
4. The physical and
human
characteristics of
places.
Dennis Rees
5
3 class periods
Arizona Geography
Strand
Concept 1 The World in
Spatial Terms
PO 3. Identify the location
of significant geographic
features from content
studied on a physical or
political map.
PO 4. Locate physical
and human features (e.g.,
gulf, delta, isthmus, strait,
bay, swamp, canyon,
peninsula, province, cape,
tree line) in the United
States and world on an
appropriate type of map.
Concept 2: Places and
Regions
PO 1. Describe how the
following regions
exemplify the concept of
region as an area with
unifying human or natural
factors:
a. three American
colonial regions
b. West, Midwest,
Northeast, Southeast,
Southwest
c. North and South
during the Civil War
Other Arizona Standards
ELA Common Core Standards
Reading
Informational Text
Key Ideas and Details
5.RI.1 Quote accurately from a text when
explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text.
5.RI.2Determine two or more main ideas of a text
and explain how they are supported by key
details; summarize the text.
Foundation Skills
Fluency
5.RF.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency
to support comprehension.
a. Read grade-level text with purpose and
understanding.
b. Read grade-level prose and poetry orally
with accuracy, appropriate rate, and
expression on successive readings.
c. Use context to confirm or self-correct
word recognition and understanding,
rereading as necessary.
Writing
Production and Distribution of Writing
5.W.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the
development and organization are appropriate to
task, purpose, and audience.
AZ5.W.4
Produce clear and coherent functional writing
(e.g., formal letters, recipes, experiments,
notes/messages, labels, timelines,
graphs/tables, procedures, invitations,
envelopes) in which the development and
organization are appropriate to task and
purpose.
Strand 1 American History
The Amazing Journey of Edgar the Eagle
Concept 3 Exploration and Colonization
PO 1. Recognize that Native American tribes
resided throughout North America before the
period of European exploration and colonization.
PO 6. Identify contributions of individuals who
were important to the colonization of America.
Concept 10: Contemporary United States
PO 2. Discuss the connections between current
and historical events and issues from content
studied in Strand 1 using information from class
discussions and various resources (e.g.,
newspapers, magazines, television, Internet,
books, maps).
Overview
Procedures
Most students know a few facts about a state,
nation, or region. These facts are generally limited
to the location of something. But students need to
know more, such as the significance of a
landmark, the economic activities that take place
there, or what that place looks like. If this can be
done, students will gain a better appreciation of
the complexity of our world.
A prerequisite for this lesson is that students know
the 5 Themes of Geography.
Purpose
This lesson, students will look at the United States
and Canada through the eyes of a geographer
and identify the five themes. They will report their
results in the form of a chart and a straight line
map.
Materials




Enough copies of "The Amazing Journey of
Edgar the Eagle" for each student
Construction paper
Rulers
Crayons, markers, colored pencils
Objectives
The student will be able to:
- create a chart stating the locations,
characteristics, and themes of each stop
Edgar makes on his journey in the story.
- create and illustrate a straight line map
showing Edgar's journey based on the chart
they compiled.
1. Review the 5 themes of geography: location,
place, movement, regions, human/environment
interaction.
2. Read aloud the story, "The Amazing Journey of
Edgar the Eagle," with each student taking a turn.
3. While reading, stop so that students can chart
the locations described, write descriptions of the
places visited, and identify which of the five
themes applies to each of the stops Edgar makes.
Discuss what is being written on their charts.
Students may add or change information if they
wish.
4. Have the students create straight-line maps
(This looks like a timeline, but records where Edgar
stops and has an illustration that describes each
stop) on a piece of construction paper of Edgar's
journey. They can use the data from their charts.
Assessment
Students will create a straight-line map on a sheet
of construction paper based on their charts. Use
the scoring guide provided. Mastery will be 80
points out of 100. An observation chart can be
kept to monitor the fluency of each student
reading.
Extensions
Students could create a travelogue about an
imaginary animal that made a trip. The animals
could be: a snake in Arizona, an elephant in
Asia, a jaguar in Central America, a llama in South
The Amazing Journey of Edgar the Eagle
America, a camel in the Middle East, a giraffe in
Africa, a stork in Europe, a whale traveling the
world's oceans, a kangaroo in Australia. In their
travelogue, they will make ten stops, describe
each stop using one of the five themes (each
theme must be used twice), illustrate each stop,
and create a map showing the route taken. A
grading rubric for this is included.
Students could map the route Edgar the Eagle
took on an actual map of North America.