Glastonbury Foreign Language

Glastonbury Foreign Language Program
Spanish Curricular Unit: Geography of Central & South America
Grade: 5
Subject/Topic Area(s) : The Geography of the Americas
Key Words : Central America, South America , geography, mapping, political maps, physical maps, environment, climate, landforms

Standards :

Major standards — 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1
Supporting standards —

Brief Summary of Unit (including curricular context and unit goals) :

The Geography unit is the introduction to the grade 5 overarching theme of the Americas . Grade 5 students will continue on the themes covered in grade 4: locating, naming, and identifying countries of the Caribbean and States in the United States connected to the Explorers Unit.

• The students will review the continents.
• The students will identify, name, and locate specific continents, countries, and capitals.
• The students will identify, name, and locate general landforms of the Americas .
• The students will understand how climate, elevation, and natural landforms have an affect on political boundaries.
• The students will discover why certain locations are/are not habitable.

Number of days for activity : 3-4 weeks

Materials and resources (including technology and multimedia) :

Physical and political maps (world and of the Americas )
Globes
Culture Grams
Flashcards with names of continents, countries, capitals, and landforms
Posters and photographs of locations within Central America and South America
Prepositions flashcards
Preposition rhyme
Preposition song “Por Arriba Por Abajo” by Ricky Martin (adapted by Maryanne Boscarino)
Preposition toast
Song “Los Países Hispanos” from Sing, Dance and Eat Tacos 2
DVD Video Clip “La Mitad del Mundo” from ¡Ven conmigo! Level 1 (Holt, Rinehart and Winston)
Compass

Identifying Desired Results

• What essential questions will guide this unit and focus teaching/learning?

• What do political and physical maps look like?
• How does geography determine where people live?
• How do people adapt to the environment?
• How does geography determine where animals live?
• What is the weather and climate like in the Americas ?
• How is the weather affected by surrounding natural landforms?
• What are the boundaries between the continents and countries?
• What is the climate like in each hemisphere?

• What enduring understandings are desired?

Students will understand…

• That the northern and southern hemispheres have opposite seasons.
• That some of the boundaries are due to landforms.
• That the environment affects where people choose to live.
• That the environment affects where animals live.

• What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?

Students will know…

• The names of the countries and capitals of Central and South America
• The general landforms that exist in the Americas
• That the climate in the two hemispheres are affected by the seasons, elevation
• That people adapt to the environment (physiologically)
• The names of some animals that live in the different landforms of Central and South America

Students will be able to…

• Identify, name, and locate countries and capitals on a map or globe
• Name the landforms that affect the boundaries between continents and countries
• Understand how the environment affects where people choose to live
• Understand that people adapt to the environment
• Apply grammatical concepts such as: prepositions, possessive “de” i.e “La capital de…” verb “estar” in present tense i.e. “¿Dónde está(n)?” and adjectives

• All relevant structures/vocabulary/grammar

Structures:
¿Pueden nombrar los continentes y los océanos?
Los continentes y los océanos son…
Hay tres Américas: América del Norte, América Central y América del Sur.
¿Pueden nombrar países en América del Norte, América Central y América del Sur?
Los países de América del Norte son...
Los países de América Central son...
Los países de América del Sur son...
¿Cuáles son las capitales de los países en América del Norte, América Central y América del Sur?
La capital de...es...
¿Cuáles son los países y las capitales donde se habla el español?
¿Cuáles son los países y las capitales donde no se habla el español?
América del Norte y América Central son parte del continente de América del Norte.
América Central es un istmo que conecta los continentes de América del Norte y América del Sur. América Central es como un puente entre los dos continentes.
En América Central hay montañas, lagos, volcanes, bosque tropicales, ríos, canal, golfos
En América del Sur hay montañas, desiertos, lagos, volcanes, selva, pampas, cataratas, ríos, islas, altiplano, la línea del ecuador, minas
América del Norte está en el hemisferio norte.
América del Sur está en el hemisferio sur.
¿Cuáles son las estaciones del año?
Las estaciones del año son el otoño, el invierno, la primavera y el verano.
Cuando es invierno en el hemisferio norte es verano en el hemisferio sur.
Cuando es primavera en el hemisferio norte es otoño en el hemisferio sur.
Si es verano en el hemisferio norte, ¿qué estación es en el hemisferio sur?
El clima está afectado por la altura y la estación del año.
En América del Sur la temperatura se mide en grados Celsius.
¿Cuál es la temperatura en la ciudad de...?
La temperatura es...grados...
¿Cuál es la temperatura en La Paz?¿Por qué?
La temperatura es...porque está en las montañas. La Paz está en el hemisferio sur y es... (otoño, invierno, primavera, verano).
¿Cuál es la temperatura en Quito? ¿Por qué?
La temperatura es...porque está en la línea del ecuador.

Vocabulary :
el mundo, el hemisferio, el hemisferio del norte, el hemisferio del sur, latitud, longitud, la línea del ecuador, el continente, el océano, el lago (Titicaca), el país (countries of the Americas), la capital (capitals of the Americas), Cuzco, Machu Picchu, el clima, las estaciones, la isla (de Pascua), las montañas (Andes), el río (Amazonas, de la Plata, Orinoco, Paraguay, Paraná), el desierto (Atacama), las pampas, las cataratas, las minas, la selva tropical, el volcán, el canal, el golfo, el altiplano, los pulmones, el corazón, las piernas, los brazos

Grammar :
prepositions (izquierda, derecha, delante, detrás, cerca, lejos, abajo, arriba, enfrente, encima, entre, al lado de, dentro, afuera, en, alrededor de, en medio de), possessive “de”, verb “estar”, adjectives

• What do they already know that will help them learn new information? Where and when did they learn it?

• Numbers, Colors, Body Parts (1 st grade)
• Continents and Oceans, Mexico and Canada (2 nd grade)
• Animals, Ghana , Spain , China (3 rd grade)
• Explorers, Caribbean , Seasons (4 th grade)

Determining Acceptable Evidence

• What evidence will show that students understand?

Performance Tasks:

• Complete a color coded map of the world depicting continents and oceans
• Complete a color coded map of the western hemisphere according to a listening comprehension activity
• Complete a political map of Central and South America labeling the countries and capitals

Quizzes, Tests, Prompts, Work Samples:

• Quiz on continents, oceans, hemispheres, etc.
• Quiz on countries and capitals of South America

Unprompted Evidence (observations, dialogues):

Student Self-Assessment:

Lessons:

Lesson 1: Mapping

Links to Relevant Web Sites: In progress