Unit Plan 1 (Grade 5 Social Studies): Geography of the Americas
Explore how landforms, waterways, and climate shape life across North America in this 5th-grade geography unit, as students map major regions, examine Indigenous homelands and colonial regions, and explain how environment influences settlement, culture, and economies.
Focus: Identify major landforms, waterways, and regions of North America, and explain how the environment shapes human activity, including Indigenous homelands and colonial regions.
Grade Level: 5
Subject Area: Social Studies (Geography • History • Inquiry/Skills)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 50–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Students use maps, images, and short texts to explore the Geography of the Americas, with emphasis on North America. They identify major landforms (mountain ranges, plains, plateaus), waterways (rivers, lakes, oceans, gulfs), and regions (physical and cultural). Students begin connecting environment to human activity, including Indigenous homelands, colonial regions, and modern settlement patterns and economies.
Essential Questions
- How do landforms, waterways, and climate influence where people live and work in North America?
- In what ways have Indigenous nations and later colonists adapted to and used different regions?
- How can maps help us ask and answer questions about how the environment shapes communities and economies?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Locate and label major North American landforms, waterways, and regions on a map.
- Describe how landforms, waterways, and climate influence settlement patterns and economic activities.
- Identify examples of Indigenous homelands and colonial regions and connect them to physical and cultural regions.
- Use maps with scale, grid, and legends to trace simple routes and estimate distance.
- Frame and refine a compelling question about geography and human activity in the Americas.
Standards Alignment — 5th Grade (C3-based custom)
- 5.C3.Geo.1: Locate and compare colonial regions and Indigenous homelands; analyze physical/cultural regions.
- 5.C3.Geo.2: Use/create maps with scale, grid, legends, and routes to analyze exploration, trade, and migration.
- 5.C3.Geo.3: Explain how landforms, waterways, and climate shaped settlement patterns and economies.
- 5.C3.Inq.1: Frame compelling and supporting questions about U.S. beginnings and civic ideals.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can point out and label important landforms, waterways, and regions of North America on a map.
- I can explain with examples how environment (land, water, climate) affects where people live and how they make a living.
- I can ask a strong geography question and begin answering it with map evidence and text evidence.