"Rip" Roarin' Regional Fun

One of the units I teach in Social Studies is the regions of the United States. Specifically, how regions are formed. This is usually based upon similar climates and geographical features, landforms, products, agriculture, natural resources, waterways, culture, industry, etc. I like to introduce students to the various regions and how the states can be grouped by having them create a color coded map using tiny torn pieces of construction paper. They use a different color for each region. I think this provides a fun fine motor strengthening activity that gives our kinesthetic and visual learners a way to comprehend this concept.

This is an up close photo of our torn mosaic maps.
I had the kids label each region
after they were laminated.

This is the hallway display of our torn mosaic region maps.

After all of the regions have been introduced, each class in my grade level focuses in on one region to really dig into the  physical geography, products, natural resources, and landmarks within regions. To help make this a fun experience that kids will remember, I pretend we are embarking on a train tour of the Northeast, as it is a major hub for all railroad systems in the U.S. As students come back in from lunch recess, they receive a train ticket to board our classroom train (chairs lined up in rows). Sometimes something as simple as moving chairs can get kids excited to learn new things. This is where we embark upon our virtual tour of the region. I use a powerpoint with colorful photos and important information about my key teaching points coupled with links that take us directly to some virtual tours of landmarks along the way. For the most part, I chose the locations that our "train" would stop because they embodied one or more of the key elements I need to teach as part of my third grade geography unit. For example, one that stands out is the virtual tour of the Hershey Chocolate factory in Pennsylvania. I chose it because of its location. The factory chose to locate in this state because its climate and landforms allow for excellent dairy farming, which is needed in milk chocolate production. This year I had my kids "hop off the train" and work in the factory for an afternoon where they each took on a role packaging Hershey Kisses. Although this can work as a very basic introduction to economics (which comes later in the year), I used it  more of a way to help kids remember the humid climate and rolling plains associated with this area in the U.S.A. 

This is an example of one of the train tickets each student received,
along with there very own VIP pass to work at the
Hershey Chocolate Factory in PA for an afternoon.

This unit continues to be tweaked and updated every year that I teach it but the inspiration for the virtual tours and activities came from various teachers who also share their resources via blogging/classroom websites. Hopefully this post will inspire others to continue to make their teaching interactive and engaging.