Students will build structures based on American coastal, mountain, or plain environments. Each group will receive an informational text about the geographic conditions within the location. Students will decide which building materials will work best within the environment.

Students will analyze primary source images of Native Americans interacting with the environment. The images show different aspects of how Native Americans dressed, hunted, and lived.

Students will attempt to build a sod house by making choices regarding the construction of their house. Too many wrong answers and the house will collapse! This engaging and lighthearted activity will help students understand the challenges settlers faced while trying to survive on the open prairie.

After learning about how a community functions and looking at how our local community works on a day to day basis.  Students work together to create an imaginative community including all the elements that make a community run smooth.  Students will use Google Draw to learn how to "draw" a house on a chromebook for the mural as well as using Kahoot! to take a survey about the naming the community, what materials to use, and what would students want to include to take the community complete.

In this lesson, students will research the Adopt a Highway program available in the United States. Students will communicate their ideas of road clean up by writing letters to the principal of their school to convince him/her to be a part of the Adopt a Highway program. This lesson was developed by Amy Smereka as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will hear a story about the effects of trash in Africa and how it is making people and animals sick. This lesson was developed by Amy Smereka as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will investigate trash collection in the United States and how it is different from poorer countries such as countries in Africa. This lesson was developed by Amy Smereka as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will hear inspirational stories about youth who made a big difference in his/her community or village. Their creative ideas and courage helped many people and saved poor villages from famine. This lesson was developed by Amy Smereka as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students use data from visuals and graphs to make inferences about places. Students discover that human characteristics of places depend upon the natural resources found in environment in their community. Natural resources also affect jobs that are available in the area as well.

This lesson will address the physical and human characteristics of the local community. Students will build geographic vocabulary as well as use map skills.

In this lesson, students review the types of communities, examine physical and human characteristics of place, and compare the characteristics of communities.

In this lesson, students learn about how natural resources become products. Students also learn that people are both producers and consumers of goods and services.

This inquiry explores how communities develop and sustain themselves by examining the positive and negative impacts of development on community environments. In considering the idea that communities grow and change over time, students develop an argument with evidence that answers the compelling question "How do we shape our environment?"

This video series is broken up into two-part mini programs which each include a short video history lesson followed by a second video with a craft activity. These videos are designed to be viewed together to learn about history of Vance Birthplace State Historic Site in the mountains of North Carolina and life in the 1800s.

Students use data from visuals and graphs to make inferences about places. Students discover that human characteristics of places depend upon the natural resources found in environment in their community. Natural resources also affect jobs that are available in the area as well.

Students will cook one or more historical maritime recipes and then compare the foods they eat to what was served on ships in the past.

In this lesson, students learn what forests were like before European settlement and discover how Native Americans altered forests to provide their basic needs. To accomplish this, students read a journal of an explorer, note specific details, and draw an illustration.

Students brainstorm and display on a map a variety of ways they are connected to the ocean.

Students learn about how natural resources become products. Students also learn that people are both producers and consumers of goods and services.