a) Regions of the United States – 3rd Grade Lesson Plan
b) Learning Objectives
1.) Students will be able to identify and name the five regions of the United States.
2.) Students will be able to label the states in each of the five regions.
3.) Students will be able to arrange information about a state and a region in order to put together a travel brochure and poster.
4.) Students will be able to recommend a region to their classmates.
c) NCSS Theme and Sunshine State Standards
NCSS Theme #3: People, Places, and Environments
SS.3.G.2.2. Identify the five regions of the United States.
SS.3.G.2.3: Label the states in each of the five regions of the United States.
SS.3.G.2.4: Describe the physical features of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
SS.3.G.2.5: Identify natural and man-made landmarks in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
LA.3.4.3.1: The student will write persuasive text (e.g., advertisement, paragraph) that attempts to influence the reader.
d) Anticipatory Set
Do you think each state in the country is the same?
What would be different about each state?
Are the states that are near one another similar? Are they different?
Why do you think so?
e) Student Activities and Procedures
Day 1:
1.) Display the large wall map of the United States with the five regions all ready separated for students to see. Discuss the different regions with the students and the states that make up those regions. Use a picture slideshow to show students various photographs taken from around the country.
2.) Explain to the students that they will be separated into groups and that each group will be assigned a specific region. Groups are going to pretend become travel agencies and the students will pretend to become the travel agents. The groups are responsible for creating a travel poster about their region, and each student in the group will create travel brochures about a specific state in their region. The posters and the brochures must be able to persuade other student “travelers” to visit that region of the United States. Students will be presenting their group’s poster to the class. If they would like, they can bring in items from home pertaining to their region with permission from their parent/guardian.
3.) Once groups have been assigned, allow the members to meet so that students can choose their own states.
4.) Take students to the school library to allow them to check out books about their region and/or state. Keep the library books in the classroom.
Day 2:
1.) Allow students to spend class time creating their brochure for their state.
2.) Provide students with samples of various travel brochures.
3.) Pass out supplies, including construction paper, magazines, and newspapers.
4.) Ask students to refer to their library books, textbooks, classroom books, and atlases for information. If computers are in the classroom, students may take turns gathering information.
5.) Tell students that their brochure must include information about the physical features, climate, resources and natural or man-made landmarks of their state. Students can color, draw pictures, and use magazine or newspaper clippings to create their brochures.
Day 3:
1.) Allow students to spend class time creating their group’s travel poster for their region. Each student in the group must be able to contribute to the poster based on the information he/she has all ready gathered about their state.
2.) Pass out supplies, including poster boards, construction paper, magazines, and newspapers.
3.) Ask students to refer to their library books, textbooks, classroom books, and atlases for information. If computers are in the classroom, students may take turns gathering information.
4.) Explain to students that like their travel brochures, their posters must also include information about the physical features, climate, resources and natural or man-made landmarks of their region.
Day 4:
1.) Class time will be spent on group presentations. Remind students that their presentations must be persuasive since they are pretending to be travel agents “selling” their region. Each member of the group is required to talk about something on the poster or about the region.
2.) After the presentations and if class time permits, each student is to write in his/her social studies notebooks which two regions he/she would want to visit and why.
Day 5:
1.) Students will continue to write about which two regions they would want to visit and why.
2.) Pass out maps of the United States to students. Ask them to draw a line separating the country into the five regions, they will label each region, use the white space to list the states in their region, and color each area a different color. When they are finished they will glue their maps into their social studies notebooks.
3.) Collect notebooks and brochures. Display the travel posters outside the classroom, along with the state brochures once they have been graded.
f.) Materials and Resources:
- Large Wall Map of the United States
- Blue Painter’s Tape
- Printouts of a map of the United States
- Construction Paper, Various Colors - 9x12 Size (for travel brochures)
- Construction Paper, Various Colors
- Five Poster Boards (Small Size)
- Markers
- Crayons
- Colored Pencils
- Glue Sticks
- Glitter
- Scissors
- Various travel brochures (if not enough for each student then at least two for each group)
- Photos from around the United States representing the five regions that can be shown as a slide show to students
- Classroom books about the 50 states and five regions.
- Atlases
- Computers with internet access
- Three Ring Spiral Bound Notebooks (will be used as social studies notebooks)
g.) Assessment
- Students will be assessed on group participation and contribution.
- Posters and brochures will be assessed on quality and correctness.
- Students’ writing will also be assessed for content accuracy, spelling, and/or grammar mistakes.
- Students’ maps of the United States will be assessed for accuracy and completion.
h.) Exceptionalities
ESOL: Pair ESOL students with partners who will be able to help them with classroom activities. Have available picture and bilingual dictionaries for these students. Provide one-on-one help if necessary or ask for the student to work with an ESOL assistant.
ESE: Allow these students extra time to work on their brochures. They may take their brochures home to work on them with an adult if necessary. Ask students to work with an assistant if necessary.
Gifted: Ask students to research a famous individual from their state. The student can dress up like their individual if they choose to and do a class presentation.
i.) Discussion
Which region do you feel would be most popular with tourists? Do you think climate affects this region? How so?
j.) References
Michigan State University. Original Lesson Plan: Road Trip USA. Retrieved from:
www.msu.edu/~aguilar8/Original%20Lesson%20Plan.doc