American Centuries

Pocumtuck Valley
Memorial Association

American Centuries > Lessons > History Lessons By Teachers > The Five Themes of Geography

The Five Themes of Geography

Details

Author
Ellen V.
Topic/Subject Area
Land, Environment, Geography
Historical Era
Revolutionary America, 1763–1783, The New Nation, 1784–1815, National Expansion and Reform, 1816–1860, Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877, Rise of Industrial America, 1878–1899, Progressive Era, World War I, 1900–1928, Great Depression and World War II, 1929–1945, Counterculture, Civil Rights, and Cold War, 1946–1989, New Millennium, 1990–Present
Grade Level
Elementary (K–5)
Creation Date
2010
Last Revision Date
2024

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About This Lesson

Summary and Objective

Students will understand that there are five themes of geography in images. By reading and reviewing a short video to learn to recognize the themes, they will then be able to successfully sort historical pictures from the digital collection and present day photographs into these categories.

Materials & Resources

Collection Items
Websites

Teaching Plan

  1. Students will read and discuss the definitions of the Five Themes of Geography found on the Five Themes of Geography web page. In addition, they will watch a short video found on the Pursuit of History website, The Five Themes of Geography.
  2. The students will work in small groups to sort pictures provided by the teacher. The teacher may choose to supplement the images from the online collection with modern representations from magazines or local pictures or postcards. The pictures will be sorted into the categories of Place, Location, Region, Human Environment Interaction, and Movement. Examples of each theme have been taken from the online collection but there are many more examples that can be found easily.
  3. Each group will report their findings with the class. This will allow discussion to take place as sometimes these themes and pictures might overlap.
  4. An extension of this activity might include a discussion and/or analysis of how the five themes change over time or stay the same.