GEOGRAPHY The Five Themes 6th Grade Charlene Roth

1. GEOGRAPHY The Five Themes 6th Grade Charlene Roth

2. GEOGRAPHY is the study of the physical features of the earth, the space that surrounds the planet and of human activity as it affects and is affected by these. It is… • LOCATION • PLACE • MOVEMENT • HUMAN/ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION • REGION

3. LOCATIONanswers the question: "Where are we?" Location may be absolute or it may be relative. • An absolute location is a latitude and longitude (a global location) or a street address (local location). • Relative locations are described by landmarks, time, direction or distance from one place to another and may associate a particular place with another. Hi, my name is Geo. I am your guide. Click on red text to reveal more information.

4. Your home, where you live, is geography. It is a location in the city of Los Angeles. Blue text is a hyperlink. It’s clickable. Can you find the global location of Los Angeles on a map? Your home has an absolutelocation. It has a street address and an apartment number. You can find it on a map. Los Angeles has a global location--longitude and latitude.Go to acess maps and find your home on a map.

5. The middle school, T. S. King, is also an example of geography. It is a location. It, too, has an absolute location. The street address is 5201 Fountain Avenue. You can find it on a street map (look for the little red school house symbol on the map pictured) or at Google Earth.

6. The middle school, T. S. King, like your home and city, also has a relative location. A street map is a excellent source of location information. It is across the street from the Korner Grill and it is south of Griffith Park. What is the relative location of your home? Make a list of landmarks your home is near. Are they south, east, north or west of your home?

7. People, too, have absolute and relative locations. For example, students can be found on a school campus that has a street address, and at specific locations on campus. What is the absolute and relative location of these T. S. King students? What is your absolute location? What is your relative location? Draw a map of the campus. Label the landmarks, like buildings and the Indian statue. Mark your current location.

8. Placeanswers the question: “What kind ofspaceis it and how do I feel about it?” Places have physical characteristics, humancharacteristics and images. • Physical characteristics include the shape of the land, water forms, wildlife, plants, soil type and more. • Human characteristics are the ideas and habits of inhabitants but also the changes they made to the environment like roads, buildings and irrigation systems. • An image is a mental or actual representation or idea based on personal experience of a place. Imagine an interestingplaceyou have visited. How you feel and what you see in your mind is animage of that place.

9. A city, like your hometown, Los Angeles, is geography. It is a place. Write a paragraph describing how you feel and what you imagine about the place, Los Angeles. Los Angeles has physical characteristics, human characteristics and it has an image.

10. T. S. King Middle School is also a place. Build a topographical map of the campus. It has physical characteristics. Notice the stairs in the photograph. They lead to the 6th grade classrooms. The 6th grade classrooms are on the ____? Discuss the landforms, plants, water sources and wildlifeof the campus with your partner. Make a list of these physical characteristics.

11. T. S. King Middle School is a place with human characteristics. Find the map In your planner that shows campus buildings. Humans have made changes to the original environment of the campus. The T. S. King population has habits. They also have ideas. Discuss the human characteristics of King with a nearby partner team.

12. T. S. King Middle School is a place withan image. Write a paragraph describing your thoughts and feelings about King? What is your image of the school? Our mascot is a lion. How does this mascot affect the image or perception of T. S. King Middle School? How do you feel about being a King lion?

13. Movement examines the travels of: people, goods, and ideas. • People physically move, temporarily or permanently, from place to place. • Goods like food, clothing, fuel and etc., also travel--they are imported and exported into and out of a place. • Mass communication of ideas (methods used to share information) is another kind of movement. How do ideas travel. What are some of the tools and methods we at King use to share ideas?

14. People move around Los Angeles everyday. Why do people move around the city? People use many different types of public and private transportation to move around Los Angeles. Brainstorm with your partner and make a list of types of transportation available to Angelinos.

15. Goodsmove in and out of T. S. King Middle School What other kinds of goods are imported to the campus? Can you think of any goods that are exported? Make a list. LAUSD food buyers choose cafeteria goods (food) at markets off campus. Once purchased, the food is loaded onto trucks and delivered to the campus. It is imported. Food that is not used is exported. It is delivered to charitable facilities. Thus, food goodsmove onto and off the King campus.

16. Ideas also have movement. What are some of the methods students use to move ideas from one person to another on the King campus? Discuss this with your partner. Make a chart that shows your conclusions. Computers are tools we use at King to move ideas, via the internet and email, from places near and far, into the classroom. Cell phones also can be used to move ideas across distances.

17. Human-Environmental Interaction answers the question, “How do humans and the environment affect one another. . • Humans adapt to the environment. We change our habits to be more comfortable in the environment in which we are living/working. • Humans modify the environment. We change the environment to make it an easier place in which to live and work. • Humans depend on the environment. For example, we need to produce food and access clean, fresh, drinking water to survive. It is important to understand that human/environmental interaction can be positive or negative.

18. Humans adapt to the environment. We change our behavior to be comfortable. We live in an area prone to earthquakes. Earthquakes are negative. What do people do to adapt for earthquakes in Los Angels. Go here for ideas. . We wear clothing that is suitable to the weather in the area where we live. We change our clothing when the weather changes. On warm days, students at T. S. King adapt and wear short-sleeved shirts.

19. Humans modify the environment. We also depend upon it. We add to, or remove, from the environment to fit and fulfill our needs. How important is water to Angelinos? What modifications have we made to the environment to assure a water supply for our city? Is this a negative or positive interaction? Both? . This is a photograph of the manmade Rowena Reservoir. The city of Los Angeles has the climate, and originally had the plant and animal life, of a coastal desert. Humans have modified the environment to better fit our needs. List some of the many changes humans have made to the Los Angeles environment.

20. Human\Environmental Interaction can be positive or negative. . We at T. S. King Middle School produce a lot of trash. How is this a negative human/environmental interaction? What can we do to make it a positive interaction? Write a paragraph that suggests a way in which King teachers and students can improve their human/environmental interactions on campus.

21. A region is the basic unit of study for geography. It is an area that has common traits or qualities. Regions can be formal, functional or vernacular. . • Formal regions are defined by governments. They are official regions. The state of California is an official region. • Functional regions are areas that serve a specific function. LAX is a functional region. It is a transportation hub. • A vernacular region is one defined by what people think or perceive an area to be. The Middle East is a vernacular region.

22. The city of Los Angeles is a formal region. . Los Angeles has official boundaries. These are clearly visible on a map and protected by national state and local laws. Is your home a formal region? Discuss this with your partner.

23. T. S. King Middle School is also a formal region. Think nationally, is the United States a formal region? Make a list of formal regions throughout the world. . It is a middle school campus, which is a formal region within the city of Los Angeles. It has official, legal boundaries. You can find the school on a map.

24. T. S. King Middle School is also a functional region. Brain storm with your partner. Make a list of other functional regions within the city of Los Angeles. . T. S. King Middle School is designed to educate 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. It has a specific task to accomplish. It is a region that is functional.

25. Write a paragraph to describe what makes a middle school unique. How is T. S. King different from your elementary school, different from a high school? How is it avernacular region? Los Angeles is a vernacular region. People all over the world describe Los Angeles as the film capital of the world. . T. S. King Middle School is a middle school. It too, is a vernacular region. How do people, in general, perceive middle schools? Interview two adults. Ask them how they perceive T. S. King.

26. Lastly, SHOW ME WHAT YOU KNOW… Write an answer to each of the following questions. Use complete sentences. LOCATION. Our 1st theme studies where places can be found. Places have absolute and relative locations. The address of T. S. King Middle School is: 4201 Fountain Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90029. T. S. King is south of Griffith Park and east of Sunset Boulevard. Based on this information, what is King’s absolute and relative location? PLACE. The 2nd theme refers to the physical and human characteristics of an area. T. S. King is home to approximately 3,000 middle school students and over 100 teachers. King Middle school is mostly flat land with one hill where the 6th grade classrooms are located. Based on this information about place, analyze King. What are the physical characteristics and what are the human characteristics of the place? MOVEMENT. The third theme studies how humans communicate and travel around a place. Students and teachers at T. S. King walk to move around the campus. We communicate ideas by talking, writing, using computers, the public address system and cell phones. Based on this information, how do people on the T. S. King campus move from place to place and move ideas? HUMAN/ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION. The 4th theme refers to the positive and negative effects of interaction between people and the environment. On King’s campus, humans produce tons of paper and plastic trash every year. The community club has set up recycling stations to collect reusable trash and move it to recycling bins. They also sponsor awards for students who recycle. Based on this information about human/environmental interaction at King, what is a positive interaction and what is a negative interaction. REGION. The 5th theme of geography examines specific features that are unique to an area and set it apart from surrounding places. List any special characteristics that you can think of that sets King apart, makes it different from the city blocks surrounding it. .