Characteristics of major California environments

Standards: H-SS 1.2.4: Describe how location, weather, and physical environment affect the way people live, including the effects on their food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and recreation.
Objective: Students will learn about the four areas of California (Mountains, Deserts, Coasts, and Valleys).
INTO
• Teacher will review the vocabulary already taught to the students from the previous lessons in this unit.
• Teacher will introduce the two vocabulary words from this unit: weather and shelter.
• The class will watch a video on different environments in California.
• The class will work collaboratively to list the characteristics of the different environments.

THROUGH
• The class will see a picture file of the four different environments in California.
• The students will work with their partner to identify the pictures as mountains, beaches, farms, and deserts.

BEYOND
• The students will work in groups to create a poster of the four different areas of California.
• Students will share their posters with the rest of the class and describe their drawings.
• Students will take a quiz to check for understanding of the lesson.
• For homework, students will complete the Where do you live? Worksheet.