Lesson Title: Exploring American Geography in Elementary School
Take your elementary school students on a journey across the diverse landscapes of the United States with this dynamic and hands-on geography lesson.
From towering mountain ranges to sprawling plains and iconic landmarks, this lesson plan is designed to captivate students' curiosity about the country's landforms, crops, and monuments. After learning key concepts, students will apply their knowledge through an exciting Scavenger Hunt-inspired interactive experience, where they'll work in teams to answer fun questions and complete missions.
It’s the perfect blend of learning and adventure, sure to keep your classroom engaged and energized!
Grade: 3 - 6
Subject: Social Studies, History, Geography
Learning Objectives:
- By the end of this lesson, students will:
- Identify key landforms in the United States.
- Recognize major crops grown in different regions.
- Recall popular monuments and their locations across the U.S.
- Apply their knowledge through an interactive Goosechase Scavenger Hunt.
Materials:
- Mobile devices or tablets with the Goosechase app installed.
- Projector or smart board
- U.S. map (physical or digital)
- Handouts with a U.S. map outline (optional)
Preparation:
- Create an Experience on the Goosechase app with a series of Geography focussed Missions
- Develop Missions that require students to demonstrate their understanding of landforms, crops, and monuments. Example Missions:
- Landform Challenge: "Find a picture or a drawing of a mountain, river, or desert in the U.S.!"
- Crops of the U.S.: "Which crop is commonly grown in the Midwest? Oranges, Corn or Coffee?
- Monument Match: "Where can you find the Statue of Liberty? Type the city and state."
- Landform Locator: "Take a picture of a map and point to the location of the Rocky Mountains."
- Monument Master: "Draw or take a picture of a famous U.S. monument, and tell us where it's located."
- Climate Clues: "Is the Southwest of the U.S. mostly desert, forest, or grasslands?"
- Travel Plans: "What is a state you've never visited, but want to? Share where and why."
- Find example Missions in the Goosechase Templates below.
- Adapt the difficulty of the Missions based on the proficiency levels of your students to keep the activity inclusive and engaging for everyone.
- Prepare hints or resources that might help students solve the Missions if needed.
- Divide students into teams and assign each team a mobile device with the app, or have students complete the scavenger hunt individually.
- Run your Experience during one class period or for the entire week.
- App Set-Up
- Dedicate time to ensuring all students have the Goosechase app downloaded and joined to the Experience to avoid any tech issues.
Lesson Plan Outline:
- Introduction
- Begin by showing a map of the United States on the board.
- Discuss the different regions of the U.S. (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and West) and briefly describe the type of landforms and climates typically found in each.
- Key Landforms:
- mountains (e.g., Rocky Mountains), plains, rivers (e.g., Mississippi River), deserts, forests
- Key Crops:
- corn (Midwest), cotton (South), wheat (Great Plains), oranges (Florida/California), etc.
- Popular Monuments:
- Statue of Liberty (New York), Mount Rushmore (South Dakota), the Golden Gate Bridge (California)
- Goosechase Scavenger Hunt
- Read through Missions with students, emphasizing the importance of evidence and analysis in their responses.
- Monitor progress and provide assistance as necessary.
- If working in teams, encourage them to strategize and collaborate to solve the Missions.
- Sit back and enjoy watching your students collaborate and demonstrate their learning.
- Debrief and Reflection
- Review the activity, discussing which missions were the most challenging or fun.
- Discuss how teams collaborated and solved problems together.
- Review any educational content covered through the Goosechase missions.
- Optionally, award prizes to the team(s) with the highest score.
Optional Post-Experience Activities:
- Presentation
- Students work in small groups and are assigned a U.S. region (e.g., Northeast, Midwest, Southwest).
- Create a short presentation highlighting the key landforms in their region, any crops or industries the region is known for and famous landmarks or monuments.
- Students can draw maps, make posters, or use slides to enhance their presentations
- Creative Project
- Students create a model or drawing of a famous U.S. landmark they learned about during the lesson. They can use craft supplies, recycled materials, or even design it digitally using tools like Google Slides or Tinkercad.
- Each student or group can present their creation, explaining its significance and where it's located.
Assessment
- Observe students’ engagement, teamwork, and participation during the scavenger hunt.
- Use Goosechase’s platform to evaluate each team’s completed tasks and creativity.
- Optionally, have students write a brief reflection on what they learned from the activity.
Ready Made Experience Templates to Try
5th Grade California Landmarks
A fun and informative experience for students in Grade 5 to learn about the various landmarks in California!
5th Grade Texas Landmarks
A fun and informative experience for students in Grade 5 to learn about the various landmarks in Texas!
Want a copy of this lesson plan to use with your class?
What is Goosechase EDU?
Goosechase is an online platform that helps educators create and run interactive learning experiences in their classrooms and beyond. Sign up and try creating an Experience, or contact us to learn more about our school and district-wide solutions!
