Grade: 3rd
Concept: Social Studies
TEKS:
§113.15. Social Studies, Grade 4, Beginning with School Year 2011-2012.
(7) Geography. The student understands the concept of regions. The student is expected to:
(B) identify, locate, and compare the geographic regions of Texas (Mountains and Basins, Great Plains, North Central Plains, Coastal Plains), including their landforms, climate, and vegetation; and
(C) compare the geographic regions of Texas (Mountains and Basins, Great Plains, North Central Plains, Coastal Plains) with regions of the United States and other parts of the world.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZyXSksHqho
Summary:
This is a song/video is a great way to learn about the different regions of the United States. It shows different images of each region. It shows and tells them where each one is and can be very catchy.
Instructional Strategy:
I think this is a great song for students in 3rd grade. It is something different and can be very helpful in learning. I think a map of the United states should be big and visible for the class to see when playing this video. I think after the regions are taught, you should show the video. Once you show the video, you should go over the regions again. Once they see the map and review, play the song/video again. The song can be easy to learn and I think it’ll make this lesson more fun to learn.
I really love the lesson plan that you put together with the instructional strategy included. I only learned this year the importance and benefits of incorporating song with various lesson types. I think that this is really a great way to get students interested in understanding geography. I could definitely see myself using this method and instructional strategy in my classroom to teach geography. The main reason that I love your instructional strategy is because it really utilizes the power of repetition in student learning. I think that content as complicated as geography and understanding locations it is important for teachers to realize that repetition is a powerful tool when trying to get students to remember these topics. I wonder how you could incoporate your instructional strategy to other content areas.
I love the song! 🙂 You’re right when you said it, because it is incredibly catchy, and I can see students finding it to be very engaging. Something that I wish it included more of though would be descriptions or more details about each geographic region. I’m sure this is something that you could include in your lesson when you use the larger map of the United States to dive deeper into the TEKS talking about comparing the different geographic regions. I agree with you as well that a larger map should be utilized during the video/song so that students can have some type of context of where the video is talking about when they reference a certain region.