Overview

Course Description:  Students will learn the locations of places and features around the world.  They will be able to identify the physical and cultural features, which make those places unique, and will learn to utilize the tool, which help them to study and describe those places.  Students will make and use maps, globes and graphs to gather, analyze, and report geographic data.  Students will be able to utilize, analyze and explain information about the human and physical features of places and regions.  Students will use geography to understand the world by interpreting the past, knowing the present and preparing for the future.

1st Semester

Unit 1 - Introduction to Geography

Unit 2 - North America (U.S. and Canada)

Unit 3 - Latin America

2nd Semester

Unit 4 - Europe

Unit 5 - Africa

Unit 6 - Asia

Unit 7 - Australia, Oceania, and Antarctic.


UNIT 1:

INTRODUCTION TO GEOGRAPHY:

Unit Learning goal: Students will be able use the five themes of geography and three types of maps to create a brochure of Skagway that includes an explanation of Skagway to each of the five themes and a physical, political and thematic map of Skagway. 

TEXTBOOK Readings:

Chapter 1:  Five Themes of Geography

8/20 – 8/29

Chapter 2: Physical Geography- forces that shape it

9/2 – 9/9

Chapter 3: Physical Geography – Climate and Vegetation 

9/10 – 9/15

Chapter 4: People and Places

9/16 – 9/22

 Unit Objectives:

Students will be able to

1)  Explain how geographers study the world

2)  Define location and explain how geographers describe it

3)  Explain the themes of place and region and identify the differences among forma, functional, and perceptual regions

4)  Explain the geographic theme of human-environment interaction

5)  Explain the theme of movement and distinguish among linear, time, and psychological distances.

6)  Compare the advantages and disadvantages of maps and globes and identify three types of maps.

7)  Describe how geographers use satellites and other tools.

TERMS TO KNOW: 

Geography, absolute location, relative location, hemisphere, equator, prime meridian, latitude, longitude

 

ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS:

 What are the five themes of geography?

How does external forces shape the Earth (flooding etc.)?

How does internal forces shape the Earth (tectonic activity, etc.)?

Types of climates and seasons.

Types of Vegetation.

Human geography (defining and identifying elements of culture, world religions, terminology and skills for studying population, economic types [primary, secondary, tertiary], types of government, cultural diffusion)