Index: Resources/Collections of Geography Lessons, The Five Themes of Geography, Geographic Features/Landforms/Biomes, Maps, Geography WebQuests, Oceans, Continents/World, Africa, Specific African Countries, Middle East, Asia, Specific Asian Countries, Oceania/Pacific Rim, Australia/NZ, Europe, Specific European Countries, Polar Regions, Latin America (Mexico, Central America, South America, Caribbean Nations), Canada, US States and Regions, Return to Educational Resources and Lesson Plans, Go to the NCSS National Standards for Social Studies    

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For additional resources on China, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, Spanish-speaking countries, and Sweden, go to the World Languages Page.

Resources/Collections of Geography Lesson Plans
World Geography
A large, well organized collection of geography lesson plans and links from my friend Mr. Donn.

Geography at About.com
An excellent resource with weekly articles about geography, annotated links to hundreds of sites for maps and geographical information, an online world atlas, a glossary, weekly quizzes, a forum and chat room for geographical discussion, a free e-mail newsletter, etc.

Geography World  
Another extensive resource. See also What is Geography? for a definition and other information.

Xpeditions
From the National Geographic Society, this site features an interactive geography museum with exhibits keyed to the National Geography Standards, a collection of standards-based lesson plans, special interactive Family Xpeditions, links to outstanding geography sites, resources for teachers and parents, and a global atlas of outline maps specially designed for print out.

Geography from the Educator's Reference Desk
Formerly Ask Eric, this site offers a long alphabetical list of lesson plans for all grade levels.

Teaching Ideas for Geography
K-5 lesson plans. Also, take a look at Geography Educators Network of Indiana Web Project, a very good resource that includes a section titled, "What is Geography," an annotated list of geography links, and Internet-based geography lessons.  

National Geographic Geography Lessons and Ideas
Great geography lessons organized by grade level. Many are constructivist.

Geography Lesson Plans
About 40 lesson plans from the Department of Geography, University of North Alabama.

Cities of Today, Cities of  Tomorrow
Six units on urbanization from the UN CyberSchoolBus.

Nystromnet.com
Geography lesson plans, games, quizzes, and teaching tips.

Geo-Images Project
An excellent resource for finding images on the Internet (mostly photographs) that are useful in teaching geography

MCREL Resources: Lesson Plan Library - Geography
Many lesson plans organized by topics.

World Wise Schools
Global education lesson plans, stories of Peace Corps volunteers, videos, slide shows, posters, and enrichment projects all from the Peace Corps.

Geography and Economics Lesson Plans for Children's Books
Thirty-two lesson plans for grades one to five.

USGS Learning Web
Scroll down the page to find lesson plans for working with maps. There are sets of lesson plans for grades K-2, 5-8. and 7-12.


The Five Themes of Geography Lesson Plans
The Five Themes of Geography
A concise description of the five themes. Click here for a similar page.

5 Themes of Geography
Many lesson plans from my friend Mr. Donn.

Five Themes of Geography
A middle-school lesson plan.

The Five Themes of Geography
A lesson plan for grades 5-8 in which students review of the five fundamental themes of geography.

Five Themes of Geography and Current Events
A lesson plan for grades 4-12.

Education World's Five Times Five
Five activities for teaching each of geography's five themes.

National Geographic - Five Themes of Geography
Explanations and activities for teaching the five themes.

Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport
A 3rd-grade lesson plan examining the five themes of geography.
   
Exploring the Five Themes of Geography with Lewis and Clark
Many ideas and resources related to the geography of Lewis and Clark.

Five Themes of Geography and Current Events
An ongoing activity adaptable to grades 4-12.

Five Themes of Geography Assignment
A secondary-level assignment to be given following definitions and examples of the five themes.

Geography and Your Dream Job
A lesson plan for grades 6-7 that introduces students to the five themes by demonstrating ways they could use geography knowledge and skills in their "dream jobs."

Five Themes of Geography: Mr. Help
A 6th-grade lesson plan.

Looking at Our Community
A lesson plan for grades 9-12 from Learning to Give combining the five themes and philanthropy! See also Looking at Our Community: Earth Day.

New Hampshire and the Five Themes
A middle or high school lesson plan in pdf format.  Teachers from other states could, perhaps, use this lesson as a model for teaching about the five themes as they relate to their states.

Minnesota Road Trip
An intermediate to middle-grade lesson plan exploring four of the five themes of geography (location, place, movement, and regions) as they relate to Minnesota through the detailed planning of a seven-day trip around the state. Though this lesson plan is specific to Minnesota, the lesson concept could be used for teaching the geography of any state.

Geographic Features/Landforms/Biomes Lesson Plans
Ecosystems-Biomes
Links to information and lesson plans from The Teacher's Corner. Scroll down the page to find the lesson plan links.   

Nearctica Biomes/Habitats/Ecoregions
Information about and links to many pages dealing with biomes, habitats, and ecoregions.

Biomes of the World Lesson Plans and HyperStudio Stacks
A unit for grade 5.

Biomes/Ecosystems
An Internet-based, cooperative learning lesson plan.

Biomes of the World
An Internet-based middle school unit.

Biomes: Land of the Inuit
A computer-based lesson plan for grades 6-8 from Discovery School.com.

Oceans Biome
In this lesson plan for grades 3-6 students learn how oceans affect people who live by them or travel on them.

Prairies
A 1st or 2nd-grade lesson plan using Peter Murray's book by this title. The lesson is from Opening Doors to Social Studies With Children's Literature. For other lesson plans and resources on prairies, click here.  

Lovely Rivers
A lesson plan for grades 5-9 integrating geography and music.

Deserts
A 6th-grade unit with nine lesson plans. See also Desert Animals and Drylands/Deserts Themes Page.

Desert Lesson Plans
Links to several lesson plans and activities in English and Hebrew!

Mountain Lesson Plan
A 3rd to 6th-grade lesson plan about mountains. See also Living in the Mountains and Biome: Mountains.

Maps Lesson Plans
Map Skills
Lesson plans and resources from Mr. Donn's pages.

An Introductory Lesson on Maps
A lesson plan for grades 1-2.

Map Drawing Skills
An elementary lesson plan.

You Can find It
A lesson plan for grades 3-12 on longitude and latitude.

Where in the World Are We Vacationing?
A lesson plan for grades 3-8 in which students use longitude and latitude coordinates to locate vacation destinations.

Latitude and Longitude
A high school lesson plan which provides an " introduction to coordinates on a sphere: how latitude and longitude define locations on Earth; and similarly, how declination and right ascension define locations on the celestial sphere."

Map Adventures
A Teacher's Guide and 7 lesson plans from the USGS suitable for grades K-3.

What Do Maps Show?
A middle-grade packet from the USGS consisting of a Teacher's Guide and 4 lesson plans.

Geography, Map Skills & the Internet
A lesson plan for grades 6-8.

Exploring Maps
Also from the USGS, this site provides an interdisciplinary set of materials on mapping for grades 7-12.

Where Am I? Navigating Around the World
A 3rd-grade unit on the use of maps.

A Place of My Own: A Study of Maps
A 4th-grade unit integrating writing and math with map skills.

Altapedia World Maps On Line
Full color physical and political maps as well as key facts and statistics on countries of the world.

Quick Maps
Maps and information about any country or region of the world.

National Geographic
Maps and information about magazine and TV features.

Geography WebQuests
Where in the World?
An elementary-grade WebQuest in which students create a postcard regarding a world region they have chosen.

Map Explorers
A WebQuest for elementary students.

Grade Eight WebQuest
Students develop a promotional package for a learning vacation.

Embassy Quest . . . Destination Unknown
For an 8th-grade world geography course.

Latin America WebQuest
Part of a unit for grade 6.

African Geography WebQuest
A WebQuest in which students create a virtual scrapbook to illustrate their learning.

Travel Canada
A WebQuest for grade five that fits the Saskatchewan social studies curriculum. See also Geography of Western Canada WebQuest.

Bosnia and the Former Yugoslavia
A webquest incorporating the five themes of geography.

Atlantis Quest
A high school Webquest on the lost continent of Atlantis.

Maryland Geography WebQuest
For grade 4.

WebQuest Locator: Geography
Links to several WebQuests.


Oceans Lesson Plans
Oceans All Over
A hands-on elementary lesson plan in which students learn the names and locations of the world's oceans. See also 4 Ocean Song.

Using Maps in Ocean Research
A middle school lesson plan from National Geographic's Xpeditions.

Understanding Oceans
A lesson plan for grades 6-8 from Discovery School.com.

Oceans Unit
Lesson plans and assessments for an 18-day intermediate-grade unit.

Oceans Biome
In this lesson plan for grades 3-6 students learn how oceans affect people who live by them or travel on them.

Celebrate the Year of the Ocean
Many lesson ideas from Education World. See also An Ocean of Activities.

The Physical Geography of East Asian Tsunamis
A Web-based lesson plan.

Tsunami Lesson Plans
Links to lesson plans and resources from Teachnology.

Under the Deep Blue Sea
An interdisciplinary K-2 unit

Sea Education Association
Many lesson plans for a variety of grade levels on oceanography, nautical science, and marine biology.

Oceans of Possibility
An interdisciplinary high school unit in which students explore the ocean's physical features, resources, and ecology.

Ocean Explorer
Many lesson plans about oceans from the NOAA, though most seem more related to science than geography.

Continents/The World Lesson Plans
Getting to Know the Seven Continents
An inquiry-based lesson plan for grades K-2.

Creating the Continents
A lesson plan for grades 3-4.

Build The Continents
A hands-on lesson plan for grades 4-6.

The Continent Game
A lesson plan for grades 5-6 in which students learn to correctly order the continents in terms of area, population, and other characteristics.

Atlantis Quest
A high school Webquest on the lost continent of Atlantis.

The Equator
A lesson plan for grades 6-8.

World Fact Book
Resource for information, flags, maps of virtually any country. The index is alphabetical.

The Greatest Places
Explore seven great places (Amazon, Greenland, Iguazu, Madagascar, Namib, Okavango, and Tibet) through maps, pictures, and text.

Lonely Planet: Destinations
Information, maps, slide show for virtually every country in the world.

Africa: To find posters, videos, books, or online activities to supplement your unit on Africa, go to Social Studies School Service.  

Africa: It's Not a Country
A large collection of elementary lesson plans for teaching about a variety of topics including African geography, culture, folktales, arts, and languages

Are There Really Fifty-Three Nations Within Africa?
One elementary lesson plan from the above site.

Jambo Means Hello: An Introduction to Swahili
Another elementary lesson from Africa: It's Not a Country.

Peace Corps World Wise Schools - Africa Lesson Plans
Many lesson plans about Africa and specific African nations.

Daily Life in Africa
Many elementary lesson plans.

Africa: One Continent, Many Worlds
A nice collection of lesson plans and resources for a variety of grade levels as well as maps of African countries.

Africa: Geography and Culture
One of the categories of lesson plans from Africa: One Continent Many Cultures, these lesson ideas are designed to help students locate individual countries and their related cultural groups. See also Africa: Country-Specific Information, a clickable index of African countries.

Countries and Issues in Africa
An intermediate-grade lesson plan in which students learn about Africa's geography and challenges through puzzles.

African Art and Culture
A K-4 unit designed to familiarize students with Africa, its art, and its culture. The unit also integrates math, primarily through patterning and symmetry, and the language arts.

Sahara Desert
An early elementary lesson plan in which students create and label a watercolor picture of the Sahara Desert.

The Seven Natural Wonders of Africa
Another early elementary lesson plan.

African Geography
A high school lesson plan in which students identify the major geographic characteristics of Africa and predict their impact on trade and travel.

The African Slave Trade
An elementary grade lesson plan.

The Africa Quiz
An online African Geography quiz.

Specific African Countries:
Scenes from Cameroon
A lesson plan on the geography of Cameroon for students in grades 3-8.
A Geography Lesson on Egypt
Five 4th-grade lesson plans that use the Internet. For an elementary lesson plan about Cairo, see The Day of Ahmed's Secret. For lesson plans on ancient Egypt, go to Egyptian Antiquities (grades 6-8) or Ancient History (many lesson plans).

The Achievements and Challenges of Egypt
A unit from The Odyssey: Teacher Zone.

Cairo: Living Past Living Future
An interactive web unit exploring history, culture, society, geography, and environment of this fascinating city.  See also The Nile for a middle-grade lesson plan.

Material World: How Do American Children Compare To Ethiopian Children?
A lesson plan for the elementary grades.

A Trip to Gambia
A lesson plan for the early elementary grades. See also A Voyage to West Africa: The Gambia.  

Communities Around the World: Virtual Ghana
A 3rd-grade lesson plan in which students use the Internet to learn about Ghana. 

Kenya
A 2-week unit for grades 4-5 on the African country of Kenya. See also Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain for an elementary grade lesson plan.

Bringing Water to a Village in Lesotho
A simulation for the middle grades from a unit titled Water in Africa. See also Lesotho.

The Achievements and Challenges of Mali
An elaborate web-based unit from The Odyssey: Teacher Zone.

Genocide In Rwanda
A high school lesson plan.

The Senegalese Miracle
A Peace Corps Volunteer's story her experiences in Senegal and two related lesson plans for grades 6-12 from the Peace Corps' World Wise Schools.  See also Eating Senegal Style.  

A Child's Daily Life in South Africa
A lesson plan for the early elementary grades. See also Appreciating Freedom: An End to  Apartheid in South Africa and  South Africa: The Day the Apartheid Ended.  

Grinding Corn in Swaziland
An elementary-grade lesson plan on the African nation of Swaziland.

Journey to a Wildlife Park in Tanzania
A lesson plan for the early elementary grades. See also This is Tanzania.

Physical Geography of Africa South of the Sahara: Tanzania
A Web-based lesson plan.

The Achievements and Challenges of Zimbabwe
Lesson plans and resources for learning about Zimbabwe from The Odyssey: Teacher Zone.  See their Southern Africa - Teachers Guide for additional lesson plans..

Africa: Country-Specific Information
A clickable index of African countries.

Middle East
See also World/Comparative Religions for resources and lesson plans on Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, and go to World Languages for resources and lesson plans on the Arabic language.  

Middle East - Teachers Guide
Many lesson plans on a variety of topics from The Odyssey: Teacher Zone.

Geography of the Middle East
A lesson plan for grades 10-12.

Middle East Primer
A lesson plan for ages 10 and up from the World Peace Society.  

Israeli Palestinian Conflict: Classroom Simulation
An excellent 7th-grade activity.

Peace in the Middle East
Another lesson plan from World Peace Society.   See also Exploring Peace in the Middle East.

Israeli Palestinian Conflict: Classroom Simulation
An excellent 7th-grade activity.

Middle East WebQuest
See also A Quest for Peace in the Middle East WebQuest.

Exploring the Middle East: Hands-On Approaches
Three lesson plans developed during the 2002 Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

Holy Land. A Troubled Land: Can There Be Peace?
Though this 10th-grade lesson plan mostly examines the history of Middle Eastern conflicts, it could be very useful in a thematic unit.

Jerusalem
A lesson plan for grades 6-8 which explores the importance of Jerusalem to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. See also A Trip to Jerusalem WebQuest.

Culture Goggles: Same Holy Land, Different Holidays
Students learn how culture and experience influence perceptions of the Holy Land. 

The Middle East
Lesson plans from the New York Times Learning Network unit for middle school and high school students focusing on recent events.

Middle East: Water and Life
An interdisciplinary 10th-grade lesson plan. 

The U.S Recognition of the State of Israel
Although this excellent  lesson plan using Internet documents deals primarily with history, it is impossible to separate history from the geography of the region.  See also Teaching Israel Resources.

Peace in the Middle East
Another lesson plan that emphasizes the history of the Middle East.

Asia
Asia for Educators
An extensive resource from Columbia University with teaching units on China and Japan.

Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources on Southeast Asia
Fourteen lesson plans from Northern Illinois University.

Eastern Hemisphere Countries
A large selection of K-12 lesson plans and activities  from Mr. Donn's pages.

Geography of Southeast Asia
A high school lesson plan.

Ask Asia
Excellent site with resources and lesson plans for teaching about Asia. To access lesson plans, click on "Teachers." 

Teaching about East Asia
Resources for secondary teachers from Duke University.

Knowledge Quest: Asian Geography Quiz
A weekly quiz.

East and Southeast Asia: An Annotated Directory of Internet Resources

Specific Asian Countries (Organized Alphabetically):
Afghanistan Today: Civil War and Human Rights
A high school lesson plan from PBS. Go to the Afghan Info Center for background information and news on Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: Land in Crisis
Four lesson plans (one for each level: primary, intermediate, middle, and secondary) and a downloadable map of Afghanistan from National Geographic.  

China: An Ancient Country in a Modern World
A "lesson planning article" from Education World that provides many suggested teaching activities appropriate for a variety of grade levels.

China: Thematic Unit Activities
Many activities and worksheets suitable for the elementary grades.

China
An extensive unit for grades 2-6 organized on the basis of the book titled, Life in Changing China by Trudie BonBernard, and covering information about China ranging from geography to festivals.

How Many Chinese Are There?
A lesson plan for grades 6-10 in which students compare and contrast the land areas and populations of the United States and China.

Mapping Perceptions of China
A lesson plan from AskAsia.org.

And Now . . . Taiwan: Teacher Page
Information for a high school unit.

Hong Kong Betrayed?
Activities and discussion questions related to the transfer of Hong Kong from British control to The Peoples Republic of China.

India
Links to many lesson plans from Mr. Donn.

India's Diversity
A unit complete with printable worksheets that explores how India's geographic diversity has contributed to its cultural diversity. Click here for other activities, worksheets, and other instructional materials pertaining to India.

Water: A Key to Understanding India
A lesson plan for grades 9-12.

Contacts and Conquests
A lesson plan on the history and geography of the Indian subcontinent. Though no grade level is specified, the lesson would appear appropriate for the middle grades and up.

Money in Indonesia
A lesson plan for the upper elementary grades. Go to the Catholic Relief Services Lesson Plans Page to find similar lessons for middle and high school students.

Indonesia: Thematic Worksheets
Worksheets and lesson ideas suitable for the elementary grades.

Center for Japanese Studies
Teacher resources from the University of Michigan. For an excellent source of information on Japan, go to JAPAN - A Country Study.  

Feudal Japan and the Geography of Japan  
A 5th-grade unit from Core Knowledge.  For information on Japanese children, see Kid's Web Japan.

Korea
A multidisciplinary unit on Korean geography and culture. See also Korean Geography for a lesson plan from AskAsia.org. 

What's Mongolia Really Like?
A lesson plan adaptable to grades 3-8 in which students look at Mongolian culture through the eyes of a Peace Corps volunteer.

The Mongol Empire
A lesson plan, complete with handouts, appropriate for the middle or high school levels, dealing with the geography and people of Mongolia.

Village Children in Northern Pakistan
Elementary lesson plans exploring the physical landscape, climate, and people of Northern Pakistan.

The Geography of the Philippines
A high school lesson plan complete with a quiz.  See also Human Rights in the Philippines and Rice in the Philippines for two additional lesson plans.

Law in Southeast Asia: Singapore Law
A high school lesson plan.

Rice from Thailand
A 1st-grade lesson plan designed to help students learn about Thailand through the exploration of rice. See also Takraw for information about the national game of Thailand, which is similar to hackeysack, and for a virtual field trip, see Explore the Essence of Thailand.

Teaching Tools for the Study of Tibet
Curricular ideas, questions, a glossary, and timeline of Tibetan history from Global Source Education. See also Getting in the Picture: Tibetan Youth Immigrants in India.

Turkey Unit
From Outreach World. The unit is in pdf format.. For additional information about Turkey, go to THUS About Turkey.  

Earthquake in Turkey
A lesson plan using constructivism. Scroll past the Constructivist Lesson Plan Guide to find this lesson.

Vietnam: A Children's Guide
Information from a  2nd-grade class that has been studying about Vietnam. Click on Teacher Resources for teaching activities, sample student work, and scoring rubrics. See also The Crystal Heart for a for reader's theater activity based on a Vietnamese legend.

Oceania/Pacific Rim
Oceania:: Pacific Palaces
A 5th-grade lesson plan.  Click here for a map of Oceania.

Canada and Its Pacific Neighbours
Units for grade 7 from  Saskatchewan Education's Evergreen Curriculum.  

Guam: Where America's Day Begins
From ThinkQuest.

Indonesia: Thematic Worksheets
Worksheets and lesson ideas suitable for the elementary grades.

Australia and New Zealand
Australia and New Zealand
A long list of lesson plans and resources from Mr. Donn.

Australian Units
Many units for teaching about Australia.

Lesson Plans for Australian Animals and Biomes
Many activities for grades 4-12.