Historical fiction book report from a chosen state

Read poetry that reflects Americana

Learners research and report on a state of their choice

News magazines (e.g., Scholastic News Weekly Reader)

Kids Voting (https://www.k12northstar.org/Page/8808)

Constitution Day (September 17) activities

Participate in Student Council

Visit the United States Congressional office

Write a letter to an United States senator or representative

Journeys: Unit 1, Lesson 1; Unit 1, Lesson 2 ; Unit 1, Lesson 4; Unit 5, Lesson 22

Use primary and secondary resources to explain cultural change in the United States.

Some groups are recognized by the FNSBSD School Board through resolutions (https://www.k12northstar.org/Page/3170).

Project-based learning to discover contributions of various cultural groups

Village Journey by Justice Thomas Berger

Google Earth (https://www.google.com/earth/index.html)

Use the internet to make virtual tours of states and regions.

Mystery Skype

Read poetry that reflects Americana

Play songs that represent the American experience

Study United States region maps that have various purposes (e.g., population, climate, or industry); compare and contrast.

“Mail Race” (https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/articles/yl_200219.pdf)

"Flat Stanley" state project (http://www.flatstanleyproject.com/)

Learners mark places they have lived or visited on a map of the United States.

Google Earth (https://www.google.com/earth/)

Locate states and their capitals on a blank outline map.

Participate in the Geography Bee (https://www.k12northstar.org/Page/8805)

Junior Achievement Junior Achievement (https://www.juniorachievement.org/web/ja-usa/home)

Use Thinking Maps^® to show movement of goods and services.

Take Charge America (https://www.takechargeamerica.org/)

Create and laminate Mega Maps from the National Geographic website for the Contiguous 48, Alaska and Hawaii and use them to display what is learned about regions. (http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/maps/united-states-mapmaker-kit/?ar_a=1)

Use MapMaker Interactive from the National Geographic website and explore the climate, population density and land cover layers. (http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/interactive-map/?ar_a=1)

Discuss how National Geographic came up with these U.S. regions: (http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/maps/united-states-regions/?ar_a=1) and compare with the regions on this Local Learning Network map: (http://locallearningnetwork.org/regional-resources/).

On the Google Maps website, use this KMZ file to study the 50 states. (http://www.snap.uaf.edu/cmkennedy/kml/US_States.kmz)

On the Local Learning Network and Library of Congress websites, discover folk art from various regions and explore U.S. culture. (http://locallearningnetwork.org/regional-resources/) (http://www.loc.gov/folklife/sampler/index.html)

Use the Two Earths portion of GetTeach.com to explore the United States regions looking at different layers. (http://getteach.com/two.html)

After studying the Pacific Rim, invite an expert (e.g., someone from Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation, UAF economics professor, grad student) to answer questions about the flow of goods there.

Have students read The Scrambled States of America by Laurie Keller as a way to introduce the concept of regional cultural differences (Square Fish, 2002, 978-0-805-06831-3).