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Types of Communities

Author: Justine Rutherford
Lesson Plan:

 

 Different Types of Communities

 

Objectives:

The students will:

o      discuss experiences they have had in the mountains;

o      identify North America on the map;

o      discuss what they notice in pictures of the Colorado mountains;

o      discuss what they notice in pictures of the mountains of Nepal

o      travel from Colorado to Nepal using Google Earth and discuss what they notice

o      write diary entries from the perspective of people in the mountains of Nepal

 

Standards:

  • Technology Standards:
    • Standard 5: Technology
      • Students will apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs.

 

  • Geography Standards:
    • Standard 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective
    • Standard 4: The physical and human characteristics of places
    • Standard 6: How culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions

 

Anticipatory Set:

      Start a discussion about traveling to the mountains. Ask if anyone has ever been to the mountains; ask the class to describe their experiences; ask the class to tell us what they did in the mountains (hiking, skiing, camping, etc.)

 

Teaching:

o      Show the class a map of the world and have them locate the United States of America. Locate mountains in North America and begin a discussion of what life is like in those mountains.

o      Show the class Colorado. Show pictures of life in the mountains of Colorado. Discuss what the class notices. Discuss what life would be like. Refer back to their experiences in the mountains. Discuss how life in the mountains is very similar to life in their hometown.

o      Using Google Earth on the SMARTboard travel from the mountains of Colorado to the mountains of Nepal. Show the class Nepal on the map of the world as well. Discuss what they noticed about the journey. What do they now notice about life in the mountains of Nepal?

o      Using the Landruk section of National Geographic’s Trekking Nepal site, show the class pictures of Nepalese people and houses. Ask students to describe what the people are doing? What do their houses look like? How do the students feel about what they see?

o      Explain that although the mountains of Colorado and Nepal look similar, the people who live there have very different lives. Discuss the differences they notice.

 

Closing:

  • Have the children discuss what it would be like to live in Nepal. Chart their responses.
  • Have the class go off and write a diary entry as if they lived in the mountains of Nepal.
  • Come back together to share their writing.

 

Independent Practice:

  • Once the children are on the right track with their diary entries. Have them continue and write daily for a certain period of time. They can create pictures to accompany their entries. When finished, the students will have created mini-journals describing life in the mountains of Nepal.

 

Materials:

 

Duration:

      This lesson is approximately 50 minutes long. Additional time will be needed for student writing. This can last up to a week or two to create a complete mini-journal.