Understanding Communities
Below are links to various materials we've created to support students' work on the unit theme: Picturing Places.
- Unit Bibliography: This is a list of supplementary materials to help you to meet the needs of individual students in your classroom.
- Classroom Activities: To extend instruction, here are some creative activities you can print and use in your classroom.
- Community Close-Up Brochures (Art/Language Arts/Social Studies)
- Putting It All Together (Math/Language Arts/Social Studies)
- Theme Project Organizer: This is a worksheet you can print and distribute to students to help them track their work on the Theme Project.
- Theme Project Links: Here are Internet resources for students to use while working on the Theme Project.
Here are links to Internet resources that can be used to support instruction of the “Think Like a Geographer” feature for this unit: How Does Climate Affect a Community?
- Color Landform Atlas of the United States
- The Color Landform Atlas of the United States contains topographical and political maps to the county level for each of the fifty states. Each state link brings up a menu of links to maps and other online information about the state.
- http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/states.html
- National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center
- The CPC issues the official United States climate outlooks. Get the latest drought, windchill, and El Niño updates. Clearly labeled maps and charts provide information at a glance.
- http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/
Here are links to Internet resources that can be used to support instruction of the “Citizenship” feature for this unit: How Can People Make a Cleaner Community?
- Exhibits Collection—Garbage
- This site demonstrates what actually happens to the solid waste and sewage produced by individuals and industries around the world. It is based on the PBS series Race to Save the Planet, funded by the Annenberg/CPB Projects.
- http://www.learner.org/exhibits/garbage/intro.html