Samantha Salas
History-Social Science Unit Plan and Learning Segment
California Geography
Third Grade
Unit Overview: Students will learn about the landforms and regions of California, how these geographical features influence people’s
lives, and how people use and modify their physical environment to meet their needs.
Big Idea: People’s daily lives are shaped by the geographical features of the area in which they live.
Content Standard: HSS.3.1 Students describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and
charts to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.
1. Identify geographical features in their local region (e.g., deserts, mountains, valleys, hills, coastal areas, oceans, lakes).
2. Trace the ways in which people have used the resources of the local region and modified the physical environment (e.g., a
dam constructed upstream changed a river or coastline).
Essential Questions:
• What are the landforms of California?
• What are the regions of California and how does the geography of each region influence the lives of the people who live there?
• How do people in a community use and alter the geographical features of their area to meet their needs?
Knowledge:
• Landforms found in California
• Geographical features
• Regions of California and the characteristics of each region
• People use the resources of their physical environment to meet
their needs
• People modify the physical environment to meet their needs
Skills:
• Identify and describe the landforms found in California
• Use a map to identify the regions of California
• Use charts to categorize the regions and characteristics of
California’s regions
• Identify the geographical features of the regions of California
• Explain the ways geography affects people’s daily lives
• Explain the ways people use the resources of their environment
• Explain the ways people have modified the environment to
meet their needs
Samantha Salas
History-Social Science Unit Plan and Learning Segment
Resources and Materials:
• Our Communities. Scott Foresman. Unit 1: Land and Water in Your Area. Pearson Education, Inc., 2006.
• This is the students’ textbook, which I used to guide planning and instruction for this unit.
Teaching
Social Studies: A literacy-based approach. Emily Schell and Douglas Fisher. Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall, 2007.
•
• I used this book as a guide in planning this lesson, specifically in choosing the big idea and essential questions for the unit.
• Got Geography! Lee Bennett Hopkins. Greenwillow, 2006.
• This is an information text that will be used to introduce the concept of geography and landforms.
When
This World Was New. D.H. Figueredo. Lee & Low Books, 1999.
•
• This read-aloud tells the story of a boy who moves to a new place, and will be used to help students begin to think about the
ways in which geographic location impacts daily life.
• Our California. Pam Munoz Ryan. Charlesbridge Publishing, 2008.
• This is an informational text that will be used to introduce students to the major regions of California and the geographical
features of each region.
• Where Does it Come From? Resource Poem from National Geographic. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/
reading-resource-map/?ar_a=1
• This is a poem that introduces students to the idea that some of the things they use in their daily lives are made from natural
resources (for example, one of the lines is “Does the penny in your hand come from copper in the land?” I will use this poem to
begin the second part of the unit, in which we discuss how people use geographical resources to meet their needs.
• How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A. Marjorie Priceman. Dragonfly Books, 2013.
• This book takes students on a tour of the United States while showing what resources are found in each part of the country.
• United States Resource Map. National Geographic. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/activity/reading-resourcemap/?ar_a=1
• This map uses pictures to show which natural resources are found in specific areas of the United States.
The
Hoover Dam: The Story of Hard Times, Tough People and The Taming of a Wild River. Elizabeth Mann. Mikaya Press, 2006.
•
• This book tells the story of the building of the Hoover Dam. It will be used to introduce the third part of this unit, in which
students will learn about the ways people modify their physical environment to meet their needs.
• The Brooklyn Bridge: The story of the world's most famous bridge and the remarkable family that built it. Elizabeth Mann. Mikaya
Press, 2006.
• This book tells the story of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. It will be used in the third part of this unit, in which students
will learn about the ways people modify their physical environment to meet their needs.
Samantha Salas
History-Social Science Unit Plan and Learning Segment
California and Our Daily Lives
Essential Questions for the Learning Segment:
• What are the landforms of California?
• What are the regions of California and how does the geography of each region influence the lives of the people who live there?
• How do the geographical characteristics of where we live (Southern California) affect our day-to-day lives?
Academic Language Demands:
• Key Vocabulary: geography, region, environment, landform, mountain, valley, desert, coast, canyon, cliff, island
• Text Types: Narrative, Informational, Writing narratives to develop imagined experiences (Writing Standard 3.3)
• Text Features: Fictional Text features: characters, setting, illustrations, plot, point of view. Informational Text features: captions,
photographs, maps.
• Functions: Identify the geographical features of the local environment. Describe the landforms in California. Describe the regions in
California. Describe a day in the life of a person living in one of the regions of California (Writing Standard 3.3). Explain the ways
geography shapes people’s daily lives
Daily Lessons:
Day and Objective
Content Learning Activities and Academic Language Support
Day 1
• Introduce the words “geography” and “landform”
Students will look at
• Begin with a poster carousel, each with a photo and name of a
photographs of different
different landform (mountain, valley, desert, ocean, canyon, cliff,
landforms and learn about the hill and island). Students will go around the room in their table
characteristics of each
groups and write what they know about each landform on the
landform.
poster. They will also write where they have seen each of these
landforms in their own community, on vacation, or on TV.
• Read-aloud: Got Geography!
• Landform “field trip”- the teacher will show pictures of the
landforms found in California, and will explain the characteristics
of each landform. Students will fill in their “Landform Photo
Album” during this activity. A word wall with the names of each
landform will be up during this activity.
• Discussion- the teacher will lead a discussion in which the
students talk about which landforms are part of the physical
environment in which they live.
Assessment
Students will make a “Landform Photo
Album” in which they draw pictures of
each landform and write about the
identifying characteristics of each land
form.
Students will engage in a whole-class
discussion in which they identify the
landforms/geographical features of their
local environment.
Samantha Salas
History-Social Science Unit Plan and Learning Segment
Day 2
• Book Talk: When This World Was New by D.H. Figueredo
Students will imagine they are moving
Students will hear about a • Before the Reading:
to a place that is geographically
• Students will imagine they are moving to Yosemite and make
place that is different from
a list of the things they will need in their new lives and things diverese from where they currently live,
their own home and will be
and will come up with a list of items
they can throw away.
Overarching
question:
How
do
the
geographical
able to imagine how life is
•
they will need to buy to adapt to their
characteristics of where we live (Southern California) affect new life.
for people who live in other
our day-to-day lives?
places. They will also be
Students will participate in partner and
• Intriguing question: What would your life be like if you lived
able to think about how
whole-class discussions in which they
somewhere else? What kind of clothes would you need to
wear?
What
would
you
do
for
fun?
their own lives are shaped
discuss the ways the different
by the physical environment • During the Reading:
geographical features of regions
• The teacher will pause at parts in the story when Danilito
of Southern California.
experiences something new due to the physical environment influence the daily lives of the people
of his new home (when he puts on a coat and glove, when his who live there.
father shovels the snow, when he and his father play in the
snow, etc.) and have the students pair-share about whether
they have done any of these things while living in Southern
California or anywhere else they may have lived. Tell the
students to also discuss if they have done any of these things
on vacation and if so, describe the geographical features of the
place they visited.
After
the Reading:
•
Students
will look at a cartoon map of Southern California
•
and write down which geographical features they see (beach,
mountains, hills, grassy areas, etc.).
• The teacher will ask for students to share and write down
these geographical features on the board.
• Students will now look at the people in the picture and notice
what activities they are doing, how they are dressed, etc.
(people on the coast vs. people in the desert & mountains).
• The teacher will lead a discussion, ask for students to share
and write these on the board next to the corresponding
geographical feature.
Samantha Salas
History-Social Science Unit Plan and Learning Segment
Day 3
• Show students a blank map of California on a poster and give Students will label and fill in a map of
Students will learn about the them a blank map of their own. Tell them we are going to learn California with defining geographical
regions of California and
about the regions of California today and that we are going to characteristics for reach region (using
the geographical features of fill in the map with details by the end of the lesson.
words or pictures).
each region and think about • Explain to students that California is divided into four regions, Students will pick one region and write
how daily life is affected by which are areas that share common geographical features.
a fictional “day in the life” story from
geographic location.
Explain that people who live in the different regions have
the point of view of a person living in
different ways of life because of these different geographical that region.
features.
• Remind the students that we learned about our own physical
environment, and explain that this region is called the Coastal
Region. Outline this area on the map and ask students to recall
what we learned about the geographical features of our region
yesterday. Fill in the map with details (words and pictures).
• Read Aloud: Our California by Pam Munoz Ryan. Pause after
reading about each region, and have students pair-share and
discuss what life would be like in that region.
• After reading, lead class discussion about each region during
which we will fill in the blank map with words and pictures to
describe each region. Students will fill in their own maps as we
fill in the map on the poster.
• Explain to students that they will now pick one regions, other
than the Coastal Region, and write a “day in the life” diary
entry of a person living in that region.
• Teacher will model a “day in the life” entry of a person living
in the Coastal Region, and will refer to the map to imagine how
the person interacts with geographical features in the region.
• Students will work independently.
• After writing, have students get in groups with students who
wrote about other regions and share their writing.