Introduction
Our group completed a unit plan on the United States region of the West. We decided to do this region because overall as a group we felt we had a lack of knowledge about this area. Therefore, each of us wanted to expand our personal knowledge of this region. Since we as teacher candidates were educated in Northeastern school districts, we concluded that our future students (assuming we teach in and around the Northeast) could benefit from a deeper understanding of the West as well. This unit also covers all ten NCSS standards and the four Pennsylvania standard areas of history, civics, geography, and economics.
This unit plan is incorporated into a yearlong study of Pennsylvania and the U.S regions that was adapted from States and Regions by Harcourt Social Studies. August through October the students will study Pennsylvania so they have a solid understanding of their own state’s history, geography, economics, and civics before exploring those components in other regions. Since Pennsylvania is part of the Northeast region, we will spend November and the beginning part of December studying the Northeast. We also found this appropriate since Thanksgiving would happen during that time and the first Thanksgiving took place in the Northeast.
The rest of December and January the students will study the Southeast. February into mid March is a study of the Southwest. The remainder of March and April is allotted to the Midwest. In May and June we have the students “exploring the West”. This way we started on the East coast and worked our way across the U.S to the West coast.
This unit plan is incorporated into a yearlong study of Pennsylvania and the U.S regions that was adapted from States and Regions by Harcourt Social Studies. August through October the students will study Pennsylvania so they have a solid understanding of their own state’s history, geography, economics, and civics before exploring those components in other regions. Since Pennsylvania is part of the Northeast region, we will spend November and the beginning part of December studying the Northeast. We also found this appropriate since Thanksgiving would happen during that time and the first Thanksgiving took place in the Northeast.
The rest of December and January the students will study the Southeast. February into mid March is a study of the Southwest. The remainder of March and April is allotted to the Midwest. In May and June we have the students “exploring the West”. This way we started on the East coast and worked our way across the U.S to the West coast.
Need a Hard Copy?
For an original copy of any of the information, lesson plans, or resources presented in this unit plan,
Feel Free to contact Amanda Reichert at [email protected]
Feel Free to contact Amanda Reichert at [email protected]