Unit Plan - 6th Grade Geography
I put together this unit plan for a Teaching Social Studies course at Grand Valley. It fulfills the following Social Studies Grade Level Content Expectations: 6-G5.1.1, 6-G5.1.2, and 6-G5.1.3.
Overview: This unit will introduce sixth grade students to past and current environmental dilemmas, factors that change the environment, and the impact that just one person can have on the world. Students will learn that human impacts on the environment can be positive and/or negative. The students will learn how some of the environmental changes in one area can change another area. They will also learn that technology has helped humans immensely but it has also allowed for countless changes to the environment that may end up causing more harm than good.
Rationale: It is important for students to discover the possible impacts that they, as well as all other humans, have on the environment. Knowledge of human impacts gives students a different perspective on their actions, a perspective that allows them to be mindful of the good and bad they can do. Not only do students need to know the initial effects of their actions but they also need to know the long-term effects of their choices and the choices that others make. This unit serves as a turning point in students’ learning; they are starting to learn about their roles in the world instead of merely learning about what others have done in the past.
Introduction: This unit informs students of the human impacts on the atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere. Throughout this unit, students will write blog posts about what they are thinking and what they have learned. They will create posters that show their understanding of human impacts and work together in discussion groups to come up with different technologies that have changed earth’s landscape.
Overview: This unit will introduce sixth grade students to past and current environmental dilemmas, factors that change the environment, and the impact that just one person can have on the world. Students will learn that human impacts on the environment can be positive and/or negative. The students will learn how some of the environmental changes in one area can change another area. They will also learn that technology has helped humans immensely but it has also allowed for countless changes to the environment that may end up causing more harm than good.
Rationale: It is important for students to discover the possible impacts that they, as well as all other humans, have on the environment. Knowledge of human impacts gives students a different perspective on their actions, a perspective that allows them to be mindful of the good and bad they can do. Not only do students need to know the initial effects of their actions but they also need to know the long-term effects of their choices and the choices that others make. This unit serves as a turning point in students’ learning; they are starting to learn about their roles in the world instead of merely learning about what others have done in the past.
Introduction: This unit informs students of the human impacts on the atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere. Throughout this unit, students will write blog posts about what they are thinking and what they have learned. They will create posters that show their understanding of human impacts and work together in discussion groups to come up with different technologies that have changed earth’s landscape.
01-rmonzo-finalunit.pdf | |
File Size: | 1121 kb |
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Integrated Literacy Assignment
An integrated literacy assignment (ILA) requires students to take one (or two, if necessary) GLCEs and find at least 15 resources to help students better understand the standard(s) by giving them multiple opportunities to learn about the topic(s) in different ways. Common resources included in an ILA are trade books, poems, songs, websites, games, and art pieces. The resources in the powerpoint below go along with my 6th grade unit plan on Geography (above).
01-rmonzo-ila.ppt | |
File Size: | 3641 kb |
File Type: | ppt |
Economic Mysteries
Economic Mysteries give students short stories of a discrepancy, anomaly, oddity, or curiosity in human economic behavior. Students use the Economic Guide which includes 6 economic justifications to solve each economic mystery. Some of these economic justifications are as follows: 1. People choose to do things they think are the best for them. 2. People's choices have costs. 3. People choose to do things for which they are rewarded. With this activity, students are able to think about scenarios with an economic lens and express their answers with the economic vocabulary words they have learned.
01-rmonzo-economic_mysterieswithanswers.pdf | |
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Geodiary
The Geodiary assignment gives students an opportunity to relate class content to their everyday lives in a creative way. It goes along with the 5 themes of Geography: location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region. This assignment requires students to take pictures (or find them), note the time of day and the date each picture was taken, the direction the camera was facing, a short description of how it relates to at least one of the 5 themes of Geography, and the theme(s) that apply. All 5 categories must be used in the Geodiary and the description should clearly show the relation of the picture to the theme(s) chosen. With Geodiaries, students can see how the 5 themes of Geography are all around them.
Foldables
Dinah Zike created several different types of Foldables®. Two of them are feature below: The Envelope Fold (in the green) and the Layered Look Book. These are just two examples of the many three-dimensional graphic organizers that help students organize their class information into visual pieces of work. In many of the Foldables®, students write the titles and subtitles they are studying and come up with their own evidence or individual opinions to include for explanations under each title.
Core Democratic Values in the News
When teaching students the Core Democratic Values of the US, CDV's in the news can be a wonderful tool. Students are prompted to located Core Democratic Values in a local newspaper, either in paper or online, in a recent article. They summarize the article, choose one (1) to two (2) CDV's, explain their rationale for the CDV(s) chosen, and decide which branch(es) of government that this article involves and why.
01-rmonzo-cdv.pdf | |
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Library of Congress Webquest
The Library of Congress (LOC) Webquest is an interactive search for the many resources that are within the Library of Congress' website. LOC is a reliable source which is valuable for all students; Wikipedia can't give you all of the credible information you may be looking for! An example webquest and rubric (created by Susan Laninga, professor at GVSU) are in the file below.
01-rmonzo-locwebquest.pdf | |
File Size: | 243 kb |
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