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National Geography Awareness Week, Grades K-5

Lessons, Resources, and Activities Explore the 2011 Theme: The Adventure in Your Community

By Phil Nast, retired middle school teacher and freelance writer

Found in: Social Studies, Grades PreK-2, 3-5

Article Sections

Lesson Plans & Activities

Lesson Plans

Getting Lost
Students in grades K-2 practice their knowledge of the cardinal directions by having them describe the directions in their classroom.

Tasty Mapping
Students in grades K-2 become familiar with the location of their local government buildings and city landmarks and produce an edible map of their city.

Understanding: Geography
Students in grades K-8 use geography skills to create neighborhood maps and identify connections between geography, culture, and the economy in their local area.

Geography of Pizza
Students in grades 3-5 use local pizza restaurants to learn about the components of spatial organization: points, lines, and areas.

Budget Making
Students in grades 3-6 identify local, state, and federal government services, their cost, and the income that pays for them.

City, County, Community
Students in grades 3-6 consider the future and where they might live by examining the city's government, services, and location.

Activities

Official 2012 Hands-On Explorer Challenge Contest Rules
Write an original personal essay, in English, of no more than 300 words telling how you explore your world, and what it is about exploration that inspires and excites you. Then take a photograph of what, where, or how you explore the subject of your essay.
The Hands-On Explorer Challenge begins September 20, 2011 and ends January 7, 2012. All Entries must be postmarked by January 7, 2012 and received by January 15, 2012.

Geography Awareness Week 2011 Missions
Twenty missions for GAW help you explore the adventure in your community.

Mission: Explore
Pick your mission, complete the challenge, collect points and unlock rewards. Houses 148 cross-curricular missions. Requires free registration.

The Fifty States
Click the map to learn about each state.

USGS Kids
Activities, games, coloring pages, projects, and stories that teach younger children about animals, climate change, bee population declines, wild birds, and more.

Background Resources

Geography Awareness Week
National Geographic and Mission: Explore provide a series of missions, a poster for GAW 2011, and a list of books that explore new communities—real and imaginary. Includes a downloadable version of the missions in PDF format.

Map Adventures Teacher Packet
K-3. A large poster of an imaginary amusement park, 7 lesson plans, 2 activity sheets, 16 black-and-white illustrations, and a teacher's information sheet. The packet teaches children how to understand and use maps.

Helping Your Child Learn Geography
K-4. Designed to help adults stir children's interest in geography. Includes suggestions for simple activities.

What Do Maps Show Teacher Packet
4-8. A colorful poster showing several views of Salt Lake City and four lessons teaches basic geographic and cartographic skills.

Rader's GEOGRAPHY 4 KIDS.COM
Physical geography and an introduction to the earth sciences that includes topics on Earth's structure, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Includes activities and quizzes.

USGS GeoData Booklet ( PDF, 777KB, 12 pgs.)
Describes and shows samples of digital data available from USGS.

The National Map Viewer
Zoom in and print a high-resolution map of a local area, a state, or the United States. This is an excellent tool for practicing the use of latitude/longitude, the national grid, elevation, distance, and more. No special software or download is required. Maps can be printed on 8.5" x 11" paper.

Urban Growth in American Cities Booklet
Illustrates and explains the spatial history of urban growth and corresponding changes in land use.

Quizzes

The 2011 Geography Awareness Week Quiz
Answers must be submitted before 5:00 PM MST on Monday, November 14, 2011.

GeoNet Game: Quizzes
Chose a map of the United States or of the world, and then choose a region to be quizzed in six categories. Two levels of difficulty.

Today’s GeoBee Quiz
Ten new questions each day. Two levels of difficulty.

Test your Geography Knowledge
World geography quizzes.

Printables

Geography: The Adventure in Your Community 2011 ( PDF, 7.65 MB, 4 pgs.)
Poster for 2011.
GAW 2011 Activities Booklet ( PDF, 12.22 MB, 34 pgs.)
Complete cross-curricular missions and earn badges in photography, storytelling, mapping, and taking action.

Maps: Blank Outline and Tests

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