10. Geography in the Elementary
Classroom
Ann Marie Gleeson
Primary Source
April 8, 2014
11. Agenda and Goals
How can we incorporate spatial thinking into ELA and
social studies instruction?
1. Literacy and the Significance of Place
2. Social Studies Inquiry, Claims, and Evidence
3. Resources
12. 4th Grade Geography
In what ways do you address geographic concepts in
your teaching?
13. Geographic Concepts/Terms
Place
Climate
Physical Features
Movement
Resources
Natural Resources
Culture
Community
Environment
Landforms
Water
Political Boundaries
States
Cities
Maps
Scale
Location
Population
People
Systems
Lens to interpret past, present,
and plan for future
14. Geographic Representations
By the end of Grade 5
Construct maps and other graphic representations of both
familiar and unfamiliar places.
Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other
representations to explain relationships between the locations of
places and regions and their environmental characteristics.
Use maps of different scales to describe the locations of cultural
and environmental characteristics.
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State
Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013).
15. Human-Environment Interaction
By the end of Grade 5
Explain how culture influences the way people modify and adapt
to their environments.
Explain how the cultural and environmental characteristics of
places change over time.
Describe how environmental and cultural characteristics
influence population distribution in specific places or regions.
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State
Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013).
16. Human Population
By the end of Grade 5
Explain how cultural and environmental characteristics affect the
distribution and movement of people, goods, and ideas.
Explain how human settlements and movements relate to the
locations and use of various natural resources.
Analyze the effects of catastrophic environmental and
technological events on human settlements and migration.
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State
Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013).
17. Global Interconnections
By the end of Grade 5
Explain why environmental characteristics vary among different
world regions.
Describe how the spatial patterns of economic activities in a
place change over time because of interactions with nearby
and distant places.
Explain how natural and human-made catastrophic events in
one place affect people living in other places.
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State
Standards: Guidance for Enhancing the Rigor of K-12 Civics, Economics, Geography, and History (Silver Spring, MD: NCSS, 2013).
19. Spatial Thinking and Literacy
1. Read the text.
2. Identify all the places where geographic concepts are
present or connection that you could make to U.S.
regions.
3. Create text-dependent questions related to geographic
concepts for students reading this text.
21. Key Ideas and Details:
According to the article, why were
skyscrapers built? Use words and
phrases from the text to support
your answer. (Paragraphs 6, 7, 8,
9)
Craft and Structure:
In paragraph 3, the author
describes the skyscraper as “a
silent but forcible evidence of
Yankee inventive genius, of the
rapid progress in the New World.”
What does the word “Yankee”
mean in this sentence? What is
the author trying to say in this
sentence?
Integration of Knowledge and
Ideas:
How did population density affect
the development of cities in the
northeast?
24. Additional Resources
U.S. Census Bureau Maps:
http://www.census.gov/geo/maps-
data/maps/thematic.html
BPL Digital Map Collection: http://maps.bpl.org/
Google Lit Trips:
http://www.googlelittrips.com/GoogleLit/Home.html
Google TourBuilder: https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/
Scribble Maps: http://www.scribblemaps.com/
25. Analyzing Maps
Library of Congress Map Analysis Guide:
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/usingprimarysources/resour
ces/Analyzing_Maps.pdf
Library of Congress Map Collections:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/browse/ListSome.php?c
ategory=Maps
29. Inquiry, Claims, Evidence
1. Examine the primary source set.
2. Make a claim about a U.S. region
based on the documents.
3. Identify evidence to support your
claim.
How might you use these primary source sets to help
students make connections to place?
30. Additional Resources
National Geographic Common Core Connections:
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/m
edia/common-core-ela-geography-
connections/?ar_a=1
Google Maps Gallery: https://maps.google.com/gallery/
Google Maps Street View Treks:
http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-
scenes/streetview/treks/
National Museum of the American Indian Infinity of
Nations: http://nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/
31. Wrap-Up: Your Classroom
http://blnds.co/1jLusrV
How might you use some of these resources or strategies
with your students?