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Cassie Fennelly

EGP 335
November 3, 2015
Lesson Title: What is a Region?
Day 5
Unit: The Land of the United States
Grade: 4
Background: Students will engage in hands on activities to determine what makes a region
(Government, language, population, plant life, religion, landforms, etc.)
Expected Duration: 60 minutes
Concepts
o Culture
o Places
o People
o Government
Vocabulary
o Government: a system of governing or rule.
o Population: people living in a location, area of region.
o Religion: a system of faith or worship.
o Boundary: the edge of a region.
Skills
o Comparing
o Contrasting
o Analyzing
Integration of Learning Outcomes:

Students will define what a region is.


Students will discuss how boundaries and borders can be used to define a region.
Students will compare and contrast student generated maps of the regions of the United
States.

Standards:
Standard 3: People Places and Environment
NCSS.1.3.a ...enable learners to construct, use and refine mental maps of locales,
regions, and the world that demonstrates their understanding of relative location,
direction, size, and shape.
NCSS.1.4.h ...assist learners as they work independently and cooperatively within
groups and institutions to accomplish goals.
D2.Geo.6.3-5. - Describe how environmental and cultural characteristics
influence population distribution in specific places or regions

Pennsylvania Academic Standards:


7.1.4.B: Describe and locate places and regions as defined by physical and
human features.
Anticipatory Set:
When the students come into the classroom, have them push the desks out of the middle
of the room. Make sure there is plenty of space for everyone to spread out. Moving the
desks should reveal a large square made of tape on the ground. This square should then
be broken up in smaller squares (4-6 should be fine), or regions. Number each of the
regions of the square. As they are standing around the outside of the square begin
dividing them up based on one attribute.
Example: John, Kate and Emily (all wearing red or orange shirts) please stand in the box
labeled 1. Chris, Lilah, Lucas and Evan (all wearing striped shirts) please stand in the
box labeled 3. Leo and Keira (both having blonde hair) please stand in the box labeled
4. (You may want to use different types of attributes depending on how challenging
you want it to be for them to guess what makes them a part of that region. If you want to
make it easier, just stick with one attribute, such as shirt color.)
Continue this process until everyone is in a region. Allow them to try and figure out why
they are in the boxes they were placed in. Prompt them by asking about the things they
have in common with each other, and then by looking at what other groups have in
common with themselves. Once they figure out why they are placed there, put on the
board the definition of region.
Procedures:
1. Keep the students in their regions while you explain the definition of a region. Project
onto the smartboard the interactive textbook and introduce chapter 2. (pg. 36)
2. Explain that regions can be defined by many different kinds of features, or attributes, and
before telling the students what makes up a region, have the students create a list of what
features they think could define a region. Have them think back to the activity we did in
the beginning of the lesson, applying the same concept of dividing up a group, and allow
them to discuss what that activity would look like if we did it to the entire United States.
a. Prompt the students by saying Think about how the United States is divided, or
how a state is divided, or even how our school is divided. While we are all people
in a common place, something sets us apart from each other and defines which
group or area we belong in.
b. Give 5-10 minutes for the groups to make their lists, then have everyone share
their lists, and make a class list either on the smartboard or on chart paper.
i. Examples for the list: Religion, government, language, population, beliefs,
land forms, plant lifeetc.)

3. Have the students return to their seats and open their books to page 37. Read together as a
class the section titled Features in Common to see what the book says defines a region.
Add anything to the class list that is not already there.
a. How are different regions the same and different? What examples did you read
about?
b. Are there any other examples you can think of that make a region the same or
different? What about in our own region?
4. Prompt the students for the next section by asking Now that we know what makes up a
region, how do we create the lines that divide one region from another?
a. Have the students read independently the sectioned titled Borders, Boundaries,
and Belts
b. Break the class into groups of two and give each group a map of the United States
that shows physical features. Allow them to identify the different kinds of borders
and break up the United States into the regions that make the most sense to them.
Have them label every region based on its defining feature.
c. Once everyone is done their map, pair the groups together to make groups of four

to compare and contrast the way they made the regions on their maps. While in
their groups have them discuss why they made their borders the way they did.
Walk around to each of the groups and ask each group a question along the lines
of Why did you choose to put your border along this river?
d. Rotate each group to get a chance to see at least two different groups so they get
to see how everyone thinks about things a little differently.
e. Collect the maps to assess individually whether or not students were able to use
natural landforms as boundaries and create logical regions. Return them after
assessing as these will be used in their final portfolios.
Differentiation:
For more advanced students, have them paired together and allow them to think about
things other than physical features when drawing their regions. Have them come up with
their own defining feature and explain it in 2-4 sentences. An example you could give
them might be politics.

For students who need more support, give an example of a boundary (such as a river, or
major road) and allow them to use the example to guide their map making.
Closure:
Put the list made in the beginning of the lesson about features of regions away and ask
students to help you complete this web before they can go to lunch. Have the web set up
and ready to be filled in on the smart board.
Before we go to lunch I need you all to help me fill in this web. What are some of the
shared features that make up a region? (Government, language, population, plant life,
religion, landforms, etc.)
Call on 5-6 students to fill in the blanks then allow them to pack up and get ready for
lunch.

Regions are based on Shared Features

Formative/Summative Assessment:
Students will be assessed individually on the map made during class. It will be collected
at the end of the lesson but used as in informal formative assessment to see that they
understand the difference between a border and a boundary.
Use the web to formatively assess whether students have met the objective of defining a
region.
Materials/Equipment:

Masking tape (tape down under the desks prior to the students coming in that day).
Interactive Whiteboard
Web slide
Chart Paper
Textbook Online Edition and class set of Houghton Mifflin Social Studies (Grade 4)
Websites:
o http://uncoveringpa.com/pennsylvania-regions
o http://mapmaker.education.nationalgeographic.com/?ls=000000000000
o www.socialstudies.org/system/files/c3/C3-Framework-for-Social-Studies.pdf

Technology:
The interactive whiteboard will be used to display the text while students work together
on the floor and at the end of the lesson to emphasize the key points of the lesson plan.
Reflection on Planning:
Having a general knowledge of the chapter and what it covers was an important step for
me in figuring out the best way to present a lot of information in a short amount of time.
The anticipatory set was easy for me to write because I enjoyed coming up with the fun
activity for them to do, but unfortunately after that I wasnt sure of what to continue the
lesson on with. I very much love the hands on and kinesthetic kind of lesson so the
thought of reading out of a textbook and answer questions seemed like the most horrible
way to continue the lesson. So I decided that reading at least parts of the textbook would
be beneficial to the lesson but wanted to spice it up, so I included some communication
with other groups to get them thinking about it more in depth.
I also like that I presented the main topics of the section of the textbook in a fun way but
also in a relatively short period of time. If we had even less time it could easily be cut
down while still presenting the important information effectively.
Overall I enjoyed writing this lesson and would love to put it into practice.
Content Outline:
1. LESSON 1 What is a Region?
a. Vocabulary
i. Government: a system of governing or rule.
ii. Population: people living in a location, area of region.
iii. Religion: a system of faith or worship.
iv. Boundary: the edge of a region.
b. Regions can be defined by many different kinds of features.
c. Defining a Region
i. Geographers divide the world into regions to help organize ideas about
places and people.
1. Create a Venn diagram comparing two types of regions that interest
you. Some examples are: farming, coal mining, and mountains.
The link below looks at the different regions of Pennsylvania.
a. http://uncoveringpa.com/pennsylvania-regions
b. Interactive map maker
http://mapmaker.education.nationalgeographic.com/?
ls=000000000000
ii. Features in Common
1. Government, population, language, religion.

2. Regions are not set in stone, for example a city can grow larger as
more people move in and build new neighborhoods.
iii. Borders, Boundaries and Belts
1. Borders are the lines where political regions begin and end.
2. Boundaries are found at the edge of a region. Could be natural
(like a river) or artificial (like a road). They are often less exact
than borders
3. Belts are regions that have one feature stretching across a broad
area. Examples: The Corn Belt, the Sun Belt and the Frost Belt.
d. How Regions are Used
i. Thinking about regions helps government, business, and other
organizations deal with problems.
ii. Using Regions
1. Helps organizations keep track of resources and understand the
needs of their people.
iii. One Place many Regions
1. One place can belong to many regions.
2. Example: Elizabeth, New Jersey is part of New York Citys
metropolitan region, and the region called the East in the United
States. It is also in New Jersey, and part of a political region within
New Jersey.

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