Social Studies
The first unit in social studies is geography. Geography includes the study of the earth's natural surface, its climate, the distribution of plant, animal and human life, and the effects of human activity on an area. Studying geography better enables students to see and understand their own home and culture and their relationships to other cultures and environment. Also, in order to understand history, it is important to understand the connection between geography and history. Understanding the geography of an area is often the key to understanding why events happened. We start by studying the five themes.
Theme 1: Location
Everything is located somewhere. Location can be very specific (Absolute) as in latitude and longitude, or relative, as, for example, Catskill is in New York State, south of Albany.
Theme 2: Place
Every place has something that makes it different from other places. It might be climate, the type of people who live there, or the natural setting. Catskill has the Catskill Mountains (a natural characteristic) and the Rip Van Winkle Bridge ( a cultural characteristic).
Theme 3: Human Environment Interaction
All human beings interact with their environment. We raise crops, dig up minerals, build roads, houses and a variety of other features on the landscape. How we do it is a reflection of our culture and our particular level of technological development. For example, we depend on our environment for our basic needs. We adapt to our environment by the clothes we wear and the types of houses we build. We change our environment by building a new school.
Theme 4: Movement
Movement is a basic concept in geography. We can talk about the movement of natural phenomena, such as wind patterns, and rivers flowing, or human phenomena, such as the movement of goods, people and ideas. We are linked to people who live in other places ( a mental link) and the Rip Van Winkle Bridge links Greene and Columbia Counties (a physical link).
Theme 5: Regions
Areas that share a common characteristic or set of characteristics can be identified as regions. There are many types of regions. We can talk about natural regions or cultural regions. For example, the Hudson River Valley is identified as a natural region because of the Hudson River. It is identified as a cultural region because we are English speaking and because of the numerous apple orchards.
Your child's only textbook during this unit will be the Nystrom Atlas. The unit includes a variety of worksheets and activities that should be kept in your child's social studies binder. Please look for the atlas, the binder, and the homework assignment pad on a daily basis.
Parents are still a child's first teacher. You can help your child better understand geography by doing some of the following activities: Watch the news together and locate the areas that are being talked about on a map or globe; include your child in planning any trips by letting them use a map to navigate; discuss world events at the dinner table; and use the internet together to explore different countries and cultures.
As we conclude this unit, we will post a review that you can study with your child for the final test on geography.
 | |
| |
|
Updated October 30, 2003
`