Geography Regions Project

Name: ______State: ______

Over the last couple weeks our class has been studying the regions of the United States. The students have broken the United States up into 5 separate regions which include the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, and West. They have explored the physical features that are located in each region including lakes, oceans, plains, deserts, mountains, and swamps. They have also learned about the climates of each region and some of the natural resources and products that they are known for.

For this project, each of the students was able to select a region in which they wanted to explore further. The students were then assigned a state within that region that they are going to be expected to complete the following 3 parts. The first 2 parts will be completed primarily in school while the 3rd part will be expected to be done at home as homework.

In-School Work:

1. Map/Drawing of the State

-Students will make a scale drawing/map of their state and include the following important features:

a. Outline of the state’s boundaries (shape of the state)

b. State capital listed

c. Physical features shown with a key (mountains, rivers, deserts, etc)

d. Large cities indicated

e. Any other important feature to add to a map

2. Travel Brochure

-Students will create a brochure that could be given to a person to convince them to come to their state. The brochure will need to include the following:

a. Persuasive writing piece

i. Why live or visit this state?

- Climate, location

ii. “Places of Interest” -Events, landmarks

b. Pictures to represent what the writing says

Work to be Completed at Home (DUE JUNE 1 st ) :

3. Recipe/Food/Cuisine of the State

-Students will be expected to bring in a small sample of food or a recipe for food of their state to share with the class

-Students will need to write a short 4-5 sentence paragraph on why this food/recipe/cuisine is important or unique to their state (example: background information to show reasoning for their choice)

-Possible Options Include: a. What food is a specialty of your state?

i. Examples: gumbo=Louisiana, grits=Georgia, deep-dish pizza=Illinois

b. A common cuisine to the area

c. A name brand food product that is manufactured and produced in the state

i. Example: Hershey Chocolate=Pennsylvania

The home portion of this project is expected to be completed by June 1st. From June 1st-3rd the students will be asked to bring in their recipe or food to share with their classmates. The students will work on the school portion of this project for the next month at school and their completed project (Map and Brochure) will be presented during our portfolio sharing day on June 7th. To aid your student in completing this project, you can help him/her in selecting and creating their food. Also, if you have any books or sources of information on states, the students are encouraged to use those at school while completing their map or brochure, but resources will also be provided.