ACTION PLAN

Lesson/Unit Title: Greatest Places Around You

Teacher: Anne LaLonde-Laux

Teacher Information: St. Louis Park Junior High

2025 Texas Ave. South

St. Louis Park, Minnesota 55426

Overview: Allow students to select the greatest places in their city, state and region.

Grade Level: Middle School/Junior High

Greatest Places Themes:

Local Connections

Diversity

Landforms

Unity

Geography Standards Alignment:

• How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools and technologies to acquire, process and report information from a spatial perspective
• Physical and human characteristics of place
• How to use maps to organize information
• Analyzing spatial organization of people, places, and environments and Earth's surface
• Physical processes that shape the patterns that shape the patterns of the Earth
• How physical systems affect human systems
• How to apply geography to interpret the past

Outcomes: For students to have a better understanding of the beauty and history of physical features within their own area

Time Needed: 3 - 50 minute class periods

2 periods for introduction, research and creation

1 period for assessment/sharing

Materials: Maps of the city, state and region you live in.

Travel brochures from your city, state and region

Activities: Divide students into small groups of 3-4 students. Assign some groups their city, other groups their state, and the remaining the region you live in. Discuss with the students that all over the world there are great physical and political places. Have the students come up with a definition for "great". As part of this lesson they are going to explore the greatest physical features in their area. Groups need to pick seven features from the area they have been assigned. For each of the seven they should answer the directions attached. Once students have completed the task they can share their presentation with the entire group, or share from group to group.

Assessment Strategies:

***

YOU LIVE AMONGST

SOME OF THE GREATEST PLACES

Your group has been given an important task!

You are to search for some of the greatest places within your__________________. Start your mission by searching maps and tourism brochures for information about physical features in the area.

Remember you are searching for physical features not political features!

Once you have a list of several possibilities you should narrow your choices down to seven places. When you have your seven places...

• Create an outline map of your area
• Locate and label the seven spots on the map
• Create a brief description of each of the places that includes basic facts and history