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Teacher Resources
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/natureofgeoinfo/c2_p11.html
This website has a Flash tool that helps teach about map coordinates, but it could be used to generate the coordinates in each state, which the teacher will then write down on slips of paper and hand out at random to the class.
http://www.random.org/
This site could be used if the teacher desires to have a truly random distribution of coordinates among the class. The teacher could simply assign each student a number and the program could generate a number for each of them.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/geography/teacher-resources/6642.html
This site has tons of printable maps and other geography resources.
http://education.usgs.gov/common/secondary.htm#geography
This site, organized by the US Government, has a variety of maps and interactive tools for teaching geography.
http://geographyworldonline.com/teach.html
This site has links to the web sites of several geographical organizations and could be used as a starting point for creating other geography units.
http://www.50states.com/tools/
This site contains information about statehood dates, which is a requirement for the students' Wikis, brochures of the 50 states, Fill-in-the-capitals worksheets, and other useful tools.
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/teachers/free-lesson-plans/us-geography-the-northeast.cfm
This site, a National Geographic subdivision, provides lesson plans for different regions of the United States, which could be used to supplement the regional group work.
http://www.statemaster.com/index.php
This site may be too advanced for the third grade classroom, but it allows you to compare different data sets between any two states. This could be useful in comparing population sizes, even though it can compare almost anything else, from crime rates to housing costs.

Lesson Plan
A: Third grade Social Studies class, 25 students: 15 Caucasian, 6 Hispanic, 3 African American, 1 Asian. It is the third quarter of the school year, and students have had several lessons in reading maps and using relevant computer applications such as Google Earth. In addition, students are able to recall all 50 United States. Students’ learning styles are an even mix of verbal, visual, and tactile.
S: SS.3.G.2.2: Identify the five regions of the United States.

A: Third grade Social Studies class, 25 students: 15 Caucasian, 6 Hispanic, 3 African American, 1 Asian. It is the third quarter of the school year, and students have had several lessons in reading maps and using relevant computer applications such as Google Earth. In addition, students are able to recall all 50 United States. Students’ learning styles are an even mix of verbal, visual, and tactile.
S: SS.3.G.2.2: Identify the five regions of the United States.
SS.3.G.2.3: Label the states in each of the five regions of the United States.
SS.3.G.2.5: Identify natural and man-made landmarks in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
SS.3.G.2.6: Investigate how people perceive places and regions differently by conducting interviews, mental mapping, and studying news, poems, legends, and songs about a region or area.
SS.3.G.4.3: Compare the cultural characteristics of diverse populations in one of the five regions of the United States with Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean.
-Students will be able to identify* the five regions of the United States and the states that make them up on a written exam with 90% accuracy.
-Students will be able to report the unique characteristics of the given states in their websites with mastery.
-Students will be able to design an effective website on Wikispaces with mastery.
*Bolded words denote level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
S: Materials:
-Computer hooked up to projection screen
-Laptops for student use with Google Earth software installed
-Internet access
-Several political maps of the United States for students to use in groups
-Slips of paper with the coordinates for different states written down, excluding home state.
-USB drive for each student
U: Teacher will present a map of the United States from Google Earth on the projection screen. He or she will ask introductory questions such as “How many states are there?” “What does ‘contiguous’ mean?” “Do you think that the country could be divided any other way besides into states?” “What are ‘regions?’” “What are ‘coordinates’ and what are they used for?” Ask several students to answer each question, giving their own interpretation. Introduce the five regions of the United States: The West, Midwest, Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast.
Next, teacher will pass out slips of paper with coordinates on them. Ask, “what do the numbers on the papers mean?”
Teacher will present project: Each coordinate is located in a different state. Students will use Google Earth to find out which state is theirs, and will do a research project on that state. After research is completed, students will create individual Wikispaces to report their research. Students will then present their Wikis to the class on a projector and present a five question quiz following the presentation.
Block 1: Students will type their coordinates into Google Earth to find out what state they will be researching. Then they will find 20 facts using an online search engine, and meet in regional groups to discuss similarities between the states. Students will save their information to a Word document of their USB drives.
Block 2: Students will use Google Earth to find a landmark in their state. They will click on the camera icons to view images of landmarks and choose their favorite. Then, students will research the landmark and write one paragraph about it. Students must also find a few photos of the landmark and the link to the state website, and save all of this information to another Word document on their USB drives.
Block 3: Students will plan a fictitious trip to the landmark for June 3-7. Using travel websites, they will find the price of plane tickets, hotel, and car rental. They must also find out if their landmark requires a ticket to visit and include that on the page. Finally, they must create a list of no more than 20 items that they would pack, using the weather a guide. They should once again save this information to another Word document on their USB drives.
Block 4: Students have already had a lesson in creating a Wiki, so today they will independently log into their Wikispaces accounts (which they created in the Wiki-creating lesson) and create a new Wiki titled the name of their state. They will copy and paste all the information from their 3 Word documents and format it on the Wiki. Finally, they will create the 5 questions for their “quiz” page.
Block 5: Students will use this time to finish their Wikis and participate in peer review of the Wikis. Students must have at least one other student review their Wiki, and in turn review that student’s Wiki. The following day, students will present the Wikis.
R: Student research will be independent, with occasional group work. Students will be essentially “teaching” the rest of the class about their state and quizzing them about key facts.
E: Student Wikis will be reviewed during presentation by the teacher and given a grade. Review the quality of student Wikis. If students had a hard time using Wikispaces, adapt the lesson next time by finding a different program or by requiring a brochure or poster created on a word processor or on Glogster (for example). If students had difficulty researching their states, next time provide some websites as a starting point.
Rubric for student wikis:
-Wiki must contain three pages: Basic Information, Landmark, and Quiz
-Basic Information: This is where students list the 20 facts about their state. Must include population size, year it became a state, state bird, flower, flag, etc., average temperature for this time of year, and any other points of interest. The information can be in either paragraph form, like a report, or in bullets. Page must contain at least 3 photos or images pertaining to the state, such as a map, a photo of a landmark, etc. Must also contain link to state government website and one other relevant link.
-Landmark: This page must contain at least 3 paragraphs about the landmark and several photos of the landmark (at least 2.) If possible, students should include a link to an official website for the landmark.
-Quiz: This page will be shown to the class as a way of measuring their understanding of the presentation. Questions can be multiple choice or short answer, and students will answer them verbally by raising their hands. Questions must be about information that was clearly presented in the previous pages, but should still be challenging. The page must contain exactly 5 questions. Answers must be written in a very small yet readable font at the bottom of the page.

Thursday: You should still remember how to create a Wiki from our lesson last month, so today we will be creating our Wikis. Use the same Wikispaces accounts you used in our lesson last time, but create a new Wiki. Title it with the name of your state. Create the four pages you will need, and title them as I outlined in the rubric. Past the information from your Word documents into the proper pages and format it so it looks presentable. You will remember that to change the font and color, we click the letter "T" with a paint palette on the top of the "Edit" page. Add in any photos you wish to include, and create the links by using the buttons on the "Edit" toolbar. Finally, create your five questions on the "Quiz" page. See the rubric for details.
Friday: You will use this time to finish up your Wikis. If you are finished, have someone else from your regional group review your Wiki while you review his or hers. Tell each other if any changes need to be made, and make the changes. Everyone must review at least one Wiki and have their reviewed by one person. On Monday, you will present your Wikis to the class.
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Important Links:
The Weather Channel will help you find the temperatures and climate of your state.

Student Activities {united-states-map.jpg}
{united-states-map.jpg}
In this project, you will be researching a particular state, assigned randomly, and creating a webpage of your findings using Wikispaces. Now that you all have your coordinates, here is our schedule for the next week!
Monday: You will type your given coordinates into Google Earth to discover what state you will be researching. After that, use Google and other resources to find out 20 facts about your state. This information will make up the first page of your Wiki. See the rubric for what type of information you need. Next, you will meet with your regional groups (groups of students whose states are located in the same region of the US) to discuss any similarities or differences between your states. Save your facts in a Word document on your USB drive. In addition, you will need to find the official website of your state. It will probably end in ".gov" instead of ".com." Copy and paste the web address to the Word document too.

Student Activities {united-states-map.jpg}
In this project, you will be researching a particular state, assigned randomly, and creating a webpage of your findings using Wikispaces. Now that you all have your coordinates, here is our schedule for the next week!
Monday: You will type your given coordinates into Google Earth to discover what state you will be researching. After that, use Google and other resources to find out 20 facts about your state. This information will make up the first page of your Wiki. See the rubric for what type of information you need. Next, you will meet with your regional groups (groups of students whose states are located in the same region of the US) to discuss any similarities or differences between your states. Save your facts in a Word document on your USB drive. In addition, you will need to find the official website of your state. It will probably end in ".gov" instead of ".com." Copy and paste the web address to the Word document too.

Student Activities
In this project, you will be researching a particular state, assigned randomly, and creating a webpage of your findings using Wikispaces. Now that you all have your coordinates, here is our schedule for the next week!
type your given coordinates into
Tuesday: Today you will again use Google Earth to find a landmark in your state. Type in your coordinates to get to your state. Click on the little camera icons throughout the state to view photos, and choose your favorite landmark. This will be the basis of your second Wiki page, and you will write one paragraph about the landmark to go on that page. Do a Google image search to find some images of your landmark, which you will also use on your Wiki page. Place your landmark paragraph and your images into a Word document and save it to your USB drive.
Wednesday: Today you will plan a trip to your landmark. Use websites like Expedia.com or Travelocity.com to find all the information you need, listed in the rubric. In addition, you may need to find ticket prices for your landmarks. Again, save all the information to a Word document on your USB drive. At this point, you should have 3 Word documents on your USB drive: one for each page of your Wiki.