This unit will be divided into five, thirty minute segments for a third grade social studies class.
Day1: Activating prior knowledge and introducing each region
Students will be divided into five groups. Each group will become experts on a designated region. The students will be responsible for recording information depending on their "job" for each region of the United States (jobs include: climate, history, resources, physical characteristics, landmarks, etc.). Students will define climate, natural resource, geography, and region. Next, the group will be given an envelope with different characteristics describing their specified region. The students will look through the clues and as a group decide how each of the clues pertains to their region. They will then come up with a list of the states that are included in the region, using their maps. They will individually draw a picture that they think would be representative of an area in the region. Each group will post their pictures under the labeled section on a big bulletin board located in the classroom.
CREATE CHARACTERISTICS FOR EACH REGION
Day 2: Advertisements
The students will create an advertisement for their region. Each student will be responsible for researching the topic according to their "job." The students will use encyclopedias, this website containing a lot of information broken into different categories for each region (http://www.dembsky.net/regions/), a united states atlas (http://www.nationalatlas.gov/), etc. They will be persuading people to visit their region based on the characteristics of the region. For example, if their region is the Northeast, they could focus on skiing, snowboarding, mountains, the Capitol. The groups will make a poster advertising their region and present it to the class after everyone is finished. (Hang on bulletin board)
Day 3: Role Playing Around the U.S.
Each student picks a piece of paper out of a hat containing a region, and a "character". Without telling anyone what theirs says, they can research for 10 minutes using the above websites, their textbook, or the displayed advertisements from the previous days lesson, to get a better understanding of their character. The students will take turns coming up to the front acting out their character. The class will then guess who or what they are and what region they are from. Each student will only be allowed one guess per character and the person with the most correct will win a prize (for example, a piece of candy, a no homework pass, an eraser).At the end of the activity, the students will say who or what they were, and why they portrayed it the way they did. Props and costumes pieces (hats, scarves, sunglasses) can be provided for extra emphasis. Finally, the students will fill in a provided graphic organizer characterizing each of the regions
CREATE GRAPHIC ORGANIZER & SAMPLE. CREATE CHARACTER/REGION SHEETS
Day 4: Labeling the states and capitals
Pass out the lyrics (http://mrsjonesroom.com/songs/50capitals.html) and then show this animaniacs song with the states and capitals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUDDaEOvuY&feature=related. It is a very catchy way to remember the capitals. Have the students color in the map according to the region and label the states (http://teacherlink.ed.usu.edu/tlresources/aids/SocStudies/usmap.pdf). Discuss the resources that come from each region, including pictures .Encourage the students to choose a graphic of a resource that would help them remember each state while writing them on the map to help them remember (Florida=orange, Texas=gas can, North and South Dakota=farm).
Day 5: Artifact Bag
Bring in a bag of artifacts (4 for each region) and place 5 empty brown bags in the front of the class, each bag labeled with one of the regions. Hold up each artifact and ask students which bag they think it belongs in and why. Do this for all of the items. Then, have students write a paragraph about each region reflecting what they have learned throughout the unit.
Resources:
Fun game to learn states http://www.pibmug.com/files/map_test.swf
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Objectives
The student will be able to:
- label each of the 50 states on a map by using a blank map.
- identify the capital of each state by writing it next to the state name on the blank map.
- recall and identify the five regions of the United States when given a map.
- examine the characteristics of each of the regions by creating advertisements, analyzing artifacts, and grouping words associated with them.
- compare and contrast the regions when writing paragraphs about each region.
Content
Midwest
Most of the Midwest is flat or rolling land, called the Central Plains. The grasses of this prairie help make the soil extremely fertile. The plains are surrounded on the east by the Appalachian Mountains and the Rockies on the west. There are many farms, especially throughout Kansas and Iowa. To the west of the Central Plains lie the Great Plains. Here the soil isn't as fertile, and there is less rainfall. The Mississippi River flows through this region, a great means of transportation. There are two other important waterways, the Ohio River and the network of routes within the Great Lakes. Four of the Great Lakes touch the Midwest, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior. Large ports on these lakes created major cities such as Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee.
The eastern part of this region receives from 20 to 40 inches of precipation each year, making it ideal for certain crops. This region is part of Tornado Alley, an area with the most frequent tornados in the country, with Kansas having the highest number of F5 tornadoes since 1880, and Iowa has the greatest number per square mile. Farmers much watch the weather closely. Strong winds are a danger to the flat treeless land of the Great Plains. Blizzards are another danger.
This region was settled by people of various nationalities, including Germans, Swedes and Norwegians, and is referred to as America's Heartland. The people are known to be open, friendly and straightforward, but also at times unsophisticated and stubborn.
The Republican Party started here to stop the spread of slavery in the new states. This was the first region in the country that was antislavery.
The region contains many top-ranking universities including the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and Notre Dame. This area contributed greatly to the music industry with the birth of the Motown sound from Detroit. Rock and Roll music was first identified by a Cleveland radio DJ, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located there.
The midwest has fertile soil, perfect for crops such as wheat, oats and corn. This area is called "The Nation's Breadbasket."
Livestock raised here include cattle, hogs and chickens. The northern grasslands are ideal for raising dairy cows. Wisconsin and Minnesota are both important dairy states. They also have a lot of forests and minerals.
To the north and west is part of the Great Plains. Here there is less rainfall and less fertile soil. Farmers grow wheat, especially in North Dakota and Kansas.
The Erie Canal helped to transport goods down the Ohio River to New York, helping to that city's wealth. The transportation routes provided by the Great Lakes have brought many industries to the cities along the shores.
There are also many natural resources such as coal and iron ore. Many factories and steel producing plants are located near the Great Lakes. Detroit, Michigan is called the "Motor City" because it is a center for the automobile industry, which gets lots of help from the steel manufacturing plants and nearby transportation routes.
West
The West is a region of scenic beauty and is the most geographically diverse. All of its states are partly mountainous. The mountains in the west are newer than those in the east, and therefore higher. They have not had time to erode as much. To the west of the mountains, winds from the Paciific Ocean keep the land moist. To the east, however, the land is very dry. West of the Rockies are the Sierra Nevadas and the Cascades, where you can find Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier, the tallest peak. There are also many fertile valleys, especially in California and Oregon.
Beyond the valleys are the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the south and the Cascade Range in the north. These are the highest mountains in the United States. The Cascades are volcanic, a famous one, named Mount St. Helens, erupted explosively in 1980.
East of these mountain ranges is a vast, arid land, including most of Nevada, Utah and Arizona, including the Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert. Rain Shadows help to form deserts in this area.
Beyond the deserts lie the Rocky Mountains, hundreds of miles wide, and run from New Mexico to Alaska. Some of the tallest peaks are located in Colorado.
East of the Rocky Mountains begins the Great Plains, a vast grassy plateau sloping gradually down to the forests near the Mississippi River.
The Pacific Coast lies over many fault lines, which increases the dangers of earthquakes. The most famous is California's San Andreas Fault, which is more than 600 miles long.
Alaska and Hawaii, being detatched from the other western states, are very different from the other states in this region, but are usually classified as part of the West. The northern part of Alaska is Tundra, frozen flat land. The Hawaiian islands were formed from volcanoes, two of which are still active.
Climate in this region varies with elevation. High mountains have a timberline. The temperature is too cold for trees to grow. Alaska has a unique climate. It is cold and wet for much of the year. Many places in Alaska receive as much as 100 inches of precipitaion a year.
San Diego, California is quite different. The weather there is hot and dry, and it only receives about 10 inches of rain a year. Hawaii enjoys a warm climate, but not too hot, due to cool ocean winds. Those winds also bring a lot of rain. The island of Kauai has the wettest place on earth, receiving almost 40 feet of rain a year.
Death Valley in the Mojave Desert, in Southeastern California and parts of Nevada, Arizona and Utah, is one of the hottest and driest places in the United States.
Much of this region has a sparse population. Steep mountain slopes are not good places for cities to develop. The federal government owns much of the undeveloped land. The big cities in this area, such as Salt Lake City, Utah and Denver, Colorado, are built in valleys or plateaus between mountains.
This area includes Alaska and Hawaii, each with its own culture and native traditions. There are many Mexican-Americans and Asians in the West. This region contains much of the Native American population in the country with many large reservations.
When you think of the American West, you also think of the stories of the old west filled with cowboys and frontier towns. It was the birth place of country and western music and artists such as Georgia O'Keefe. Nowadays the people are known for their tolerance and a live-and-let-live attitude.
This region developed as ranching and mining areas which are only recently becoming urbanized. Fishing is an important industry up and down the coast. Lumber and mining are huge industries. Los Angeles, the second largest city in the nation, is known as the home of the Hollywood film industry. Silicon Valley in California is an important technology center. Hydroelectric power has helped many cities develop manufacturing industries. Seattle manufactures aluminum, used for many things, including airplanes.
Irrigation turned many of the West's driest places into good farmland. California is a huge wine producing state, as well as producing much of the nation's fruits and vegetables. Idaho potatoes are prized throughout our country. Both cattle and sheep are raised on the Great Plains in eastern Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Hawaii grows sugarcane and pineapples, coffee and macadamia nuts.
This region is known for its recreational activities such as fishing, camping, hiking and boating. Hawaii and Alaska welcome tourists to explore all they have to offer. Las Vegas is one of the gambling capitals of the world.
Southwest
Outside of the cities, this region is a land of open spaces, most of which is desert and many areas of grasslands, or prairies. There are large cities and thick pine forests and even some mountains. One of the biggest problems of this region is a limited water supply.
The lowest lands are along the Texas Gulf coast, part of the Coastal Plain, with fertile soil. The Central Plains spread through central Oklahoma and into Texas. This area is home to farms and ranches. As the land gets higher you can see cattle and sheep grazing on the short grasses. The Rocky Mountains go north from New Mexico. The Colorado Plateau begins at the western edge of the Rocky Mountains, covering much of northern New Mexico and Arizona.
The Colorado River cut beautiful canyons in this area, including the magnificent Grand Canyon. The Rio Grand River brings much needed water to the area. There are three large deserts in this region, the Sonoran Desert, the Chihuahuan and the Painted Desert in northern Arizona, a beautiful place to visit.
The climate is hot and dry, but varies from one area to another. Cities such as Phoenix, Arizonia have 300 days of sunshine a year!
This region is known as America's Melting Pot because of all the different nationalities of its people. This land, now bordering Mexico, once belonged to Mexico and it continues to influence the culture of the region.
The Southwest has many Spanish-American and Native-American people. More American Indians live in the Southwest than in any other region of the United States. There are many Indian reservations, including the Navajo, the Hopi, Zuni and Apache tribes.
The population in this region is growing rapidly, partly because of its ideal climate.
This area grows corn and wheat, and raises cattle and sheep. Texas is the country's leading cattle-producing state. Dams on the Colorado river have brought water to dry areas, allowing them to be used for farming.
Deserts are full of valuable minerals. Arizona produces about 2/3 of the copper mined in the United States. New Mexico is known for its silver mines.
All of the states in this region are rich in the fuels that supply energy. Uranium, used for nuclear energy, is mined in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Coal is mined in Texas. Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico all produce petroleum and natural gas. Texas produces more natural gas than any other state.
Northeast
New England does not have fertile land suitable for farming. Long ago glaciers covered much of the land, and as they moved they wore down mountains and carried away the fertile soil. This part of the region has broad valleys and rolling hills, with a few low mountain ranges, part of the Appalachian Mountains. New England farmers must choose crops that work well in the rocky soil.
Most of the land in the Middle Atlantic states are part of the Coastal Plain, the low land that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean. Crops grow well in this rich soil. There are several mountain ranges, including the Allegheny Mountains, the Pocono Mountains, the Adirondacks and the Catskills.
The most important waterway in the region is the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects many inland ports on the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. The Erie Canal connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Northeast has a varied climate, with four seasons each year. The winters are cold, the summers can be hot. The temperature becomes colder as you travel northward.
New Englanders are known for their hard work, shrewdness, thrift and ingenuity.
A group of people called the Amish live in Pennsylvania. They have an agricultural economy and also make most of the things that they use. Because of their religious beliefs, they do not use electricity or telephones in their homes, or use cars or tractors. They travel by horse and buggy.
The Mid-Atlantic states contain great shipping lanes, New York on the Hudson River, Philadelphia on the Delaware River, and Baltimore on Chesapeake Bay.
New York and Pennsylvania are centers of heavy industry, including iron, glass and steel. This helped to make this area a world center for trade. New York is also a major financial capital. Drug manufacturing and communications are other industries located here.
This region is also a center for book publishing. New England is famous for its lobsters, fishing and shipbuilding, and produces most of our country's blueberries and cranberries. Maine has lots of forests, and logging is a big industry there. Vermont is known throughout the world for its pure maple syrup. Its land is also good for raising dairy cows. Vermont also has the largest granite quarries in the country.
Southeast
This area is part of the Coastal Plain and is mostly flat. The soil is rich and crops have a long growing season, making it ideal for agriculture.
The Atlantic coast in this region is known for its beautiful sandy beaches. There are many rivers and oak and pine forests. Large coastal marshes form where the fresh water from the rivers mixes with the salt water from the ocean. The largest and best-known swamps in America are all in the Southeast, located in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana. The Everglandes, a huge low, wet land, covers much of southern Florida.
The Southeast region contains many important shipping ports, including Norfolk, Virginia and New Orleans, Lousiana. The Port of Miami is known as "The Gateway of the Americas." To the north and west of this region lie the Appalachian Mountains. The foot of the mountains, the fall line, is a great source of waterpower.
The Southeast region is part of the Sun Belt. It contains many climatic zones ranging from temperate, to sub-tropical, to tropical, to arid. The weather is very mild, and so many retirees like to live here.
There is much rainfall, good for farming. Along the southern Atlantic coast and the Gulf coast, summers are long and hot and winters are short and mild. This region is frequently hit by hurricanes from August through November, especially those states on the Gulf coast.
The South, also known as Dixie, was first settled by English Protestants who copied the ways of the English. The South is highly religious, often called "The Bible Belt" of America.
The people who live in the Appalachian Mountains have their own culture. Many are coal miners, or mine for other materials such as limestone and iron. They are known for their fine crafts and making things from wood.
It is also the birthplace of country music. The South gave us many great authors, including William Faulker, Thomas Wolfe, and Tennessee Williams. The South is also known for its wonderful cuisine, home of Tex-Mex, Cajun and Creole cooking, as well as "soul food." Coca-cola and Dr. Pepper started in the South.
Because of it's location, there are many people of Latin American decent, which has a large influence on the culture of certain areas, especially Miami, Florida.
This region is known for manufacturing and farming. Cotton and tobacco became important crops early in its history. Many types of food crops, such as peanuts, can be grown easily in its soils, and can be grown without frost for at least six months of the year. Some of farms are called plantations. They very large because of the great soil and long growing season.
Everyone loves Georgia's peaches and Florida's citrus fruits! These states also raise many farm animals such as beef cattle, dairy cows, pigs, and chickens. North Carolina raises more turkeys than any other state. Because it produces so many food products, it has also become a center for food processing.
Because it grows so much cotton, the Southeast is the center of our country's textile industry. Trees are also raised as a crop, giving us wood and paper. Parts of this region, such as North Carolina, grows lumber, and developed a large furniture industry.
The gulf coast produces oil and natural gas, from Texas to Mississippi, a very important resource for our country. The government created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to build dams and generate hydroelectric power.The Southeast is a favorite destination for tourists who love to golf, celebrate Madi Gras or visit Mickey Mouse!
Most of the Midwest is flat or rolling land, called the Central Plains. The grasses of this prairie help make the soil extremely fertile. The plains are surrounded on the east by the Appalachian Mountains and the Rockies on the west. There are many farms, especially throughout Kansas and Iowa. To the west of the Central Plains lie the Great Plains. Here the soil isn't as fertile, and there is less rainfall. The Mississippi River flows through this region, a great means of transportation. There are two other important waterways, the Ohio River and the network of routes within the Great Lakes. Four of the Great Lakes touch the Midwest, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior. Large ports on these lakes created major cities such as Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee.
The eastern part of this region receives from 20 to 40 inches of precipation each year, making it ideal for certain crops. This region is part of Tornado Alley, an area with the most frequent tornados in the country, with Kansas having the highest number of F5 tornadoes since 1880, and Iowa has the greatest number per square mile. Farmers much watch the weather closely. Strong winds are a danger to the flat treeless land of the Great Plains. Blizzards are another danger.
This region was settled by people of various nationalities, including Germans, Swedes and Norwegians, and is referred to as America's Heartland. The people are known to be open, friendly and straightforward, but also at times unsophisticated and stubborn.
The Republican Party started here to stop the spread of slavery in the new states. This was the first region in the country that was antislavery.
The region contains many top-ranking universities including the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and Notre Dame. This area contributed greatly to the music industry with the birth of the Motown sound from Detroit. Rock and Roll music was first identified by a Cleveland radio DJ, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located there.
The midwest has fertile soil, perfect for crops such as wheat, oats and corn. This area is called "The Nation's Breadbasket."
Livestock raised here include cattle, hogs and chickens. The northern grasslands are ideal for raising dairy cows. Wisconsin and Minnesota are both important dairy states. They also have a lot of forests and minerals.
To the north and west is part of the Great Plains. Here there is less rainfall and less fertile soil. Farmers grow wheat, especially in North Dakota and Kansas.
The Erie Canal helped to transport goods down the Ohio River to New York, helping to that city's wealth. The transportation routes provided by the Great Lakes have brought many industries to the cities along the shores.
There are also many natural resources such as coal and iron ore. Many factories and steel producing plants are located near the Great Lakes. Detroit, Michigan is called the "Motor City" because it is a center for the automobile industry, which gets lots of help from the steel manufacturing plants and nearby transportation routes.
West
The West is a region of scenic beauty and is the most geographically diverse. All of its states are partly mountainous. The mountains in the west are newer than those in the east, and therefore higher. They have not had time to erode as much. To the west of the mountains, winds from the Paciific Ocean keep the land moist. To the east, however, the land is very dry. West of the Rockies are the Sierra Nevadas and the Cascades, where you can find Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier, the tallest peak. There are also many fertile valleys, especially in California and Oregon.
Beyond the valleys are the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the south and the Cascade Range in the north. These are the highest mountains in the United States. The Cascades are volcanic, a famous one, named Mount St. Helens, erupted explosively in 1980.
East of these mountain ranges is a vast, arid land, including most of Nevada, Utah and Arizona, including the Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert. Rain Shadows help to form deserts in this area.
Beyond the deserts lie the Rocky Mountains, hundreds of miles wide, and run from New Mexico to Alaska. Some of the tallest peaks are located in Colorado.
East of the Rocky Mountains begins the Great Plains, a vast grassy plateau sloping gradually down to the forests near the Mississippi River.
The Pacific Coast lies over many fault lines, which increases the dangers of earthquakes. The most famous is California's San Andreas Fault, which is more than 600 miles long.
Alaska and Hawaii, being detatched from the other western states, are very different from the other states in this region, but are usually classified as part of the West. The northern part of Alaska is Tundra, frozen flat land. The Hawaiian islands were formed from volcanoes, two of which are still active.
Climate in this region varies with elevation. High mountains have a timberline. The temperature is too cold for trees to grow. Alaska has a unique climate. It is cold and wet for much of the year. Many places in Alaska receive as much as 100 inches of precipitaion a year.
San Diego, California is quite different. The weather there is hot and dry, and it only receives about 10 inches of rain a year. Hawaii enjoys a warm climate, but not too hot, due to cool ocean winds. Those winds also bring a lot of rain. The island of Kauai has the wettest place on earth, receiving almost 40 feet of rain a year.
Death Valley in the Mojave Desert, in Southeastern California and parts of Nevada, Arizona and Utah, is one of the hottest and driest places in the United States.
Much of this region has a sparse population. Steep mountain slopes are not good places for cities to develop. The federal government owns much of the undeveloped land. The big cities in this area, such as Salt Lake City, Utah and Denver, Colorado, are built in valleys or plateaus between mountains.
This area includes Alaska and Hawaii, each with its own culture and native traditions. There are many Mexican-Americans and Asians in the West. This region contains much of the Native American population in the country with many large reservations.
When you think of the American West, you also think of the stories of the old west filled with cowboys and frontier towns. It was the birth place of country and western music and artists such as Georgia O'Keefe. Nowadays the people are known for their tolerance and a live-and-let-live attitude.
This region developed as ranching and mining areas which are only recently becoming urbanized. Fishing is an important industry up and down the coast. Lumber and mining are huge industries. Los Angeles, the second largest city in the nation, is known as the home of the Hollywood film industry. Silicon Valley in California is an important technology center. Hydroelectric power has helped many cities develop manufacturing industries. Seattle manufactures aluminum, used for many things, including airplanes.
Irrigation turned many of the West's driest places into good farmland. California is a huge wine producing state, as well as producing much of the nation's fruits and vegetables. Idaho potatoes are prized throughout our country. Both cattle and sheep are raised on the Great Plains in eastern Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Hawaii grows sugarcane and pineapples, coffee and macadamia nuts.
This region is known for its recreational activities such as fishing, camping, hiking and boating. Hawaii and Alaska welcome tourists to explore all they have to offer. Las Vegas is one of the gambling capitals of the world.
Southwest
Outside of the cities, this region is a land of open spaces, most of which is desert and many areas of grasslands, or prairies. There are large cities and thick pine forests and even some mountains. One of the biggest problems of this region is a limited water supply.
The lowest lands are along the Texas Gulf coast, part of the Coastal Plain, with fertile soil. The Central Plains spread through central Oklahoma and into Texas. This area is home to farms and ranches. As the land gets higher you can see cattle and sheep grazing on the short grasses. The Rocky Mountains go north from New Mexico. The Colorado Plateau begins at the western edge of the Rocky Mountains, covering much of northern New Mexico and Arizona.
The Colorado River cut beautiful canyons in this area, including the magnificent Grand Canyon. The Rio Grand River brings much needed water to the area. There are three large deserts in this region, the Sonoran Desert, the Chihuahuan and the Painted Desert in northern Arizona, a beautiful place to visit.
The climate is hot and dry, but varies from one area to another. Cities such as Phoenix, Arizonia have 300 days of sunshine a year!
This region is known as America's Melting Pot because of all the different nationalities of its people. This land, now bordering Mexico, once belonged to Mexico and it continues to influence the culture of the region.
The Southwest has many Spanish-American and Native-American people. More American Indians live in the Southwest than in any other region of the United States. There are many Indian reservations, including the Navajo, the Hopi, Zuni and Apache tribes.
The population in this region is growing rapidly, partly because of its ideal climate.
This area grows corn and wheat, and raises cattle and sheep. Texas is the country's leading cattle-producing state. Dams on the Colorado river have brought water to dry areas, allowing them to be used for farming.
Deserts are full of valuable minerals. Arizona produces about 2/3 of the copper mined in the United States. New Mexico is known for its silver mines.
All of the states in this region are rich in the fuels that supply energy. Uranium, used for nuclear energy, is mined in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Coal is mined in Texas. Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico all produce petroleum and natural gas. Texas produces more natural gas than any other state.
Northeast
New England does not have fertile land suitable for farming. Long ago glaciers covered much of the land, and as they moved they wore down mountains and carried away the fertile soil. This part of the region has broad valleys and rolling hills, with a few low mountain ranges, part of the Appalachian Mountains. New England farmers must choose crops that work well in the rocky soil.
Most of the land in the Middle Atlantic states are part of the Coastal Plain, the low land that stretches along the Atlantic Ocean. Crops grow well in this rich soil. There are several mountain ranges, including the Allegheny Mountains, the Pocono Mountains, the Adirondacks and the Catskills.
The most important waterway in the region is the St. Lawrence Seaway, which connects many inland ports on the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. The Erie Canal connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Northeast has a varied climate, with four seasons each year. The winters are cold, the summers can be hot. The temperature becomes colder as you travel northward.
New Englanders are known for their hard work, shrewdness, thrift and ingenuity.
A group of people called the Amish live in Pennsylvania. They have an agricultural economy and also make most of the things that they use. Because of their religious beliefs, they do not use electricity or telephones in their homes, or use cars or tractors. They travel by horse and buggy.
The Mid-Atlantic states contain great shipping lanes, New York on the Hudson River, Philadelphia on the Delaware River, and Baltimore on Chesapeake Bay.
New York and Pennsylvania are centers of heavy industry, including iron, glass and steel. This helped to make this area a world center for trade. New York is also a major financial capital. Drug manufacturing and communications are other industries located here.
This region is also a center for book publishing. New England is famous for its lobsters, fishing and shipbuilding, and produces most of our country's blueberries and cranberries. Maine has lots of forests, and logging is a big industry there. Vermont is known throughout the world for its pure maple syrup. Its land is also good for raising dairy cows. Vermont also has the largest granite quarries in the country.
Southeast
This area is part of the Coastal Plain and is mostly flat. The soil is rich and crops have a long growing season, making it ideal for agriculture.
The Atlantic coast in this region is known for its beautiful sandy beaches. There are many rivers and oak and pine forests. Large coastal marshes form where the fresh water from the rivers mixes with the salt water from the ocean. The largest and best-known swamps in America are all in the Southeast, located in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana. The Everglandes, a huge low, wet land, covers much of southern Florida.
The Southeast region contains many important shipping ports, including Norfolk, Virginia and New Orleans, Lousiana. The Port of Miami is known as "The Gateway of the Americas." To the north and west of this region lie the Appalachian Mountains. The foot of the mountains, the fall line, is a great source of waterpower.
The Southeast region is part of the Sun Belt. It contains many climatic zones ranging from temperate, to sub-tropical, to tropical, to arid. The weather is very mild, and so many retirees like to live here.
There is much rainfall, good for farming. Along the southern Atlantic coast and the Gulf coast, summers are long and hot and winters are short and mild. This region is frequently hit by hurricanes from August through November, especially those states on the Gulf coast.
The South, also known as Dixie, was first settled by English Protestants who copied the ways of the English. The South is highly religious, often called "The Bible Belt" of America.
The people who live in the Appalachian Mountains have their own culture. Many are coal miners, or mine for other materials such as limestone and iron. They are known for their fine crafts and making things from wood.
It is also the birthplace of country music. The South gave us many great authors, including William Faulker, Thomas Wolfe, and Tennessee Williams. The South is also known for its wonderful cuisine, home of Tex-Mex, Cajun and Creole cooking, as well as "soul food." Coca-cola and Dr. Pepper started in the South.
Because of it's location, there are many people of Latin American decent, which has a large influence on the culture of certain areas, especially Miami, Florida.
This region is known for manufacturing and farming. Cotton and tobacco became important crops early in its history. Many types of food crops, such as peanuts, can be grown easily in its soils, and can be grown without frost for at least six months of the year. Some of farms are called plantations. They very large because of the great soil and long growing season.
Everyone loves Georgia's peaches and Florida's citrus fruits! These states also raise many farm animals such as beef cattle, dairy cows, pigs, and chickens. North Carolina raises more turkeys than any other state. Because it produces so many food products, it has also become a center for food processing.
Because it grows so much cotton, the Southeast is the center of our country's textile industry. Trees are also raised as a crop, giving us wood and paper. Parts of this region, such as North Carolina, grows lumber, and developed a large furniture industry.
The gulf coast produces oil and natural gas, from Texas to Mississippi, a very important resource for our country. The government created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to build dams and generate hydroelectric power.The Southeast is a favorite destination for tourists who love to golf, celebrate Madi Gras or visit Mickey Mouse!
The Five Regions of the United States
The Five Regions of the United States
Grade Level: Third
Discipline: Communities and Geography
Specific Lesson Topic: Exploring the characteristics of the five regions of the United States using maps, charts, and photographs.
Author: Jennifer Hughes
Standards
Florida Sunshine State Standards (Third Grade):
SS.3.A.1.1: Analyze primary and secondary sources.
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.A.1.3: Define terms related to the social sciences.
SS.3.G.1.1: Use thematic maps, tables, charts, graphs, and photos to analyze geographic information.
SS.3.A.1.1: Analyze primary and secondary sources.
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.A.1.3: Define terms related to the social sciences.
SS.3.G.1.1: Use thematic maps, tables, charts, graphs, and photos to analyze geographic information.
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