Geography Unit Plan

a) Basic/Background Information
Second Grade
24 Students
20 minute lessons, 2 x per week, x 6 weeks
Curriculum Overview
o Alma, MI
o Where is Alma, Michigan and what factors affect the community?
o Throughout the unit, the students will be responsible for creating an
informational brochure about the city.
o At the end of the unit, the students will take what they learned through
the lessons and brochure and create a billboard with information on
Alma and why people should visit the city.
Unit Plan Overview
Compelling Question: Where is Alma, MI and what factors affect its land?
Supporting Data Sources Key Concepts SS Strategies Data Found
Questions
1. Where is Maps, atlas, Terms Reading maps; Largest city in
Alma, MI? globes (Absolute Use maps to Gratiot
location; describe County; 6.09
relative location and square miles
location, direction; (area);
longitude, 432242N
latitude) 843934W
(coordinates)
2. What is the Maps, Terms Reading bar Humid
climate like? satellites (Weather, graphs, continental
climate, graphing climate;
precipitation) information average
temperature
56.3; average
annual
precipitation
33.22 inches;
average
annual
snowfall 40
inches
3. What is the Topographical Terms Describe land Rural; swamp;
land like? maps, photos, (Landscape; use; compare plain
GoogleEarth interpreting physical and
maps and human
pictures) characteristics;
interpreting
 maps, photos,
and GoogleEarth
Evidence-based claims: Alma, MI is located at 432242N 843934W. It is the
largest city in Gratiot County at 6.09 square miles. It has a humid continental
climate with an average temperature of 56.3. The average annual precipitation is
33.22 inches and the average annual snowfall is 40 inches. The land is rural and has
few hills. This makes it good for farming particularly corn and soybeans.
Standards:
2 G1.0.2 Use maps to describe the spatial organization of the local community by
applying the concepts including relative location, and using distance, direction,
symbols, and the key or legend.
2 G4.0.1 Describe land use in the community

b) Goals/Rationale
The goal of this lesson is for students to learn what factors affect the land
they live on.
Through the education, research, and practice of learning about
geography, students will be more aware of how their actions affect the
community that they live in.
c) Teacher Objectives/ Standards and Benchmarks
Student Learning Objectives (See Appendix A)
Social Studies Facts, Concepts, Generalizations, and Skills to be learned.
- G1.0.1 Construct maps: symbols, labels, legends, human and natural
characteristics
- G1.0.2 Use maps to describe: spatial organizations
Apply concepts: relative locations, distance, direction, and scale
- G2.0.1 Compare: physical and human characteristics
- G2.0.2 Describe: region, county, and state
- G4.0.1 Describe: land use
- G4.0.2 Describe: movement of people
- G5.0.1 Suggest ways: responsible interaction with the environment
- G5.0.2 Describe: positive and negative consequences
Generalizations:
- Michigans land is flat.
- Michigan is rural.
- Citizens use cars for transportation.
Standards:
- 2 G1.0.1 Construct maps of the local community that contain
symbols, labels, and legends denoting human and natural
characteristics of place
- 2 G1.0.2 Use maps to describe the spatial organization of the local
community by applying the concepts including relative location, and
using distance, direction, symbols, and the key or legend
 - 2 G1.0.3 Use maps to describe the location of the local community
within the state of Michigan in relation to other significant places in
the state
- 2 G2.0.1 Compare the physical and human characteristics of the local
community with those of another community
- 2 G4.0.1 Describe land use in the community
- 2 G5.0.1 Suggest ways people can responsibly interact with the
environment in the local community
- 2 G5.0.2 Describe positive and negative consequences of changing
the physical environment of the local community

d) Teacher Preparation and Resources
Instructional Resource List:
- The teacher needs to have an understanding of the climate and
physical features of the city. They need to know facts like the
coordinates, area, climate, and physical features. The teacher needs to
know the relative location of landscapes and buildings in the area
when discussing direction. Along with information on Alma, the
teacher needs to know the geography of surrounding cities in Gratiot
County and Michigan in general.
Additional Instructional Resources:
- http://www.ci.alma.mi.us/1/307/index.asp (Alma City Hall Website):
The Alma City Hall website is beneficial for both the teacher and
students. It has information on where Alma is located as well as
pictures of the landscapes.
- Citydata.com: This website has all of the important data including
population, latitude and longitude coordinates, and area.
- http://nationalgeographic.org/education/teaching-resources/:
National Geographic has a specific part of their website for teachers.
This includes other useful resources as well as activities to support
the standards.
- Google.com/maps: Google maps would be both beneficial for my
students and myself. I would use it to show my students Alma in
relation to other places. This would be especially useful when we are
talking about the regions of Michigan.
- http://pbskids.org/video/?category=geography: PBS has some great
introductory videos on the different elements of geography. This
would be a good resource to use at the beginning of a lesson.
Inquiry resources:
- Follow that Map by Scot Ritchie: This would be a good childrens
book to use to introduce the importance of map reading skills.
- Flat Stanley.com: I would like to get a Flat Stanley and have him take
pictures in other communities in Michigan. I could use this in the
Place lesson to compare the similarities and differences of physical
features in different communities in Michigan.
 - Alma Newspaper: The Alma newspaper would be a good way to
introduce primary resources to students at a young age. The
newspaper would be especially beneficial if there were articles on the
environment issues or artless on transportation.
- http://www.geogspace.edu.au/: GeogSpace is a website that offers
both primary and secondary geography resources for teachers and
students.
- https://www.scribblemaps.com/: Scribble maps would be an easy
way for the students to create their maps for the Location lesson.
Using this website to create the map also lets the teacher integrate
technology at an early age. Finally, the final copy of the map will look
cleaner by creating the map online.
Other preparation
o I will need to find willing community members to come into my
classroom one day for the students to interview them on the
modes of transportation that they use.
o I can think of two challenges for this unit. The first one is finding
enough community members willing to be interviewed. I could
always have multiple students interview the same person or turn
it into a group activity instead of an individual one. The second
challenge may be the weather since I want to begin this unit with a
walk around Alma. If weather is a concern, I can walk around the
town myself and take a video of what I see. Then, the students are
still getting a first hand view of the city.

e) Assessment Plans
The classs prior knowledge will be assessed with a pretest, asking them
to answer general questions about the geography of Alma.
Formative /Summative Assessment: How does the on-going project for
the year provide assessment of knowledge and skills addressed by this
particular unit? What summative assessment will you provide for this
particular unit through an on-going unit project or culminating activity
for this unit?
o On-going year assessment/formative assessment: The on-going
year assessment is an informational brochure on the city of Alma.
There will be an entire page dedicated to the geography
specifically. On this page there will be a student-drawn map with
labels as well as information including the coordinates of Alma
and what makes this communitys geography different than the
rest of Michigan. This provides a formative check that every
students has understood the geography unit.
o Summative Assessment: The summative assessment will be
through a challenge-based learning activity. I will give a proposal
to my students about cutting down some of the landscape in order
to build more transportation options for community members.
 They will have to decide if they are for or against negatively
impacting the environment in order to create more services in the
community.
Curriculum Alignment Summary see Appendix A

f) Instructional Sequence of Lessons

i) Hook/Introduction Lesson for Unit: This lesson will focus on KWL. We

will begin by brainstorming what the students already know about their
community. Then, we will take a walk around the city while the students
write down things that they notice and what questions they have
regarding their observations of the geography. This covers what they
want to know. We will hang up their KWL worksheets around the
classroom and at the end of the unit we can refer back to them to finish
the what we learned section. The guiding questions for the
introductory lesson is Why is the geography in our community the way
that it is?

ii) Lesson #1 Location: This lesson will focus on location and distance. The
goal of this lesson is for students to be able to explain a location through
general directions such as north, south, east, and west. This lesson will be
especially beneficial for the students who wanted to know why
something is where it is in the hook lesson activity. The main instruction
will include an explanation of the general directions and how to read a
compass rose. To scaffold, I will model how to read a compass rose. As a
large group, we will look at a map and I will ask questions such as Is
Alma College north or south of Meijer? The assessment of this activity is
done verbally by the teacher asking where one location is in relation to
another place.

iii) Lesson #2 Place: This lesson will focus on the similarities and differences
between the Alma community and other communities in Michigan. The
goal of this lesson is for students to be able to identify two ways that
Alma is different than the other places in Michigan in terms of physical
features and climate. The main activity will include passing out and
posting pictures of different physical features around Michigan and a
discussion of their observations. I will scaffold by sharing my
observations with the class as well. I will access the students through an
exit ticket.

iv) Lesson #3 Human-environment interaction: This lesson will be on the
relationship between the land and the community members. The goal is
for the students to be able to identify three things that they can do to help
save their environment. The instruction will include a video on negative
human affects on land. Then we will brainstorm ways to cut back such as
using less water. I will scaffold by having a discussion on humans can
 affect the land that we talked about in the second lesson. The students
will add a public service announcement on saving the environment to
their informational brochure for assessment.

v) Lesson #4 Movement: This lesson will focus on the different types of
transportation that community members use daily. The goal of this
lesson is for students to discover which type of transportation is the most
popular in Alma. The main activity will be interviews with different
community members. They will add their findings to their brochure as an
assessment. I will scaffold while building upon previous lessons on how
transportation affects other elements of geography.

vi) Lesson #5 Regions: The goal of this lesson is for the students to be able to
identify what region Alma is located. The instruction will include an
explanation on the division of regions in Michigan: Northern Michigan,
West Michigan, Mid-Michigan, Southeast Michigan, and Flint/Tri-Cities.
The students will be assessed through exploration of an atlas and creating
their own maps.

vii) Culminating lesson: The goal of this final activity is to identify all the
factors that influence the geography of Alma. Our culminating instruction
will include a short review of the other lessons. The culminating activity
will be a flipbook. The flaps will be: location, place, human-environment
interaction, movement, and region. These flipbooks will include
information from our introductory lesson on what they knew before the
unit, what they wanted to know, and finally they can add what they
learned!

viii) Differentiation Plans: Differentiation will fluctuate by lesson. For

example, a student struggles to understand how to create a map will
receive a map outline that already has a legend on it. Then it will have
directions such as color this landform blue. This way, the student can still
show that they are able to read a map; however, they do not have to
create one from a blank piece of paper. Another way to differentiate one
of the lessons would be to have premade interview questions for the
Movement lesson. Then, every student will be able to complete the
assignment, but some students will have more guidance. The culminating
flipbook could also have guiding questions on each page to provide
assistance for those who may not be able to create an entire book on their
own. I can differentiate every assignment for those students who
struggle, but also the ones who need to be challenged more.

Appendix A

Student Learning Evidence of Learning - Instructional activity to

 Summative (S) or Formative (F) support learning
Content (learned from this unit but important beyond this unit): Students will know Almas
location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region.

Location Brochure includes accurate coordinates Community maps scavenger hunt

(Where things are located, using
coordinates of longitude and
latitude or as distance from
another place, or general using
directions such as north)
Place
(What makes Alma different from
the other communities in
Michigan, in terms of climate,
physical features, or the people
who live there and their
traditions?)
Human-environment interaction
(What are the relationships among
people and places? How have
people changed the environment to
better suit their needs?)
Movement
(What are the patterns of
movement of people, products, and
information, such as
transportation used by community
members?)
Regions
(How can Alma be define in
regards to regions of Michigan,
including area, language, and
vegetation?)
Processes/Skills/Strategies (of social science inquiry): Students will be able to compare and
contrast information through pictures, gather important information from community interviews,
and draw/analyze a map.
Compare and contrast information
through pictures
Gather important information
through interviews
Draw/analyze a map
Attitudes: Students will value/believe that they can impact the environment and make informed
decisions in their everyday lives.
They can impact the environment
They can make informed decisions
of longitude and latitude (S)
Verbally check by asking the students
where something is in relation to
another place (F)
End of the unit billboard will include
items that make Alma Unit compared to
other communities (S) Check during
class discussion (F)
Section in brochure on the community
members affect on the land (S)
Check during class discussion (F)
Check with quiz (S)
Verbally check by asking the students
what modes of transportation they use
and what new mode of transportation
they could use (F)
Create an Atlas (S)
Check with turn and talk (F)
Write a caption for each picture (S)
Create a narrative telling the community
members stories (S)
Create a legend describing important
features on the map (S)
Interview students about their brochures
and how others impact the land and how
they plan to positively impact the land
(S)
Culminating activity on choosing to
build more transportation or saving the
Compare and contrast pictures
from Alma in relation to other
Michigan communities
Personal interview with a member
of the community
Transportation outline drawing
Read stories about different
regions
Lesson on analyzing primary
sources; whole group primary
source discovery
Lesson to brainstorm interview
questions; mock interview with
other second grade students
Lesson on absolute and relative
location; map scavenger hunt
activity
Emphasize their choice on ways to
help save the environment (turn off
water while brushing teeth, taking
shorter showers)
Emphasize need to have and to
weigh evidence
 land (S)

Action: Students will show active response to learning by responding to a challenged-based project.
Responding to a challenge-based Written proposal (S) Ask students to support their
project decision using evidence