The Five Themes Of Geography

The Five Themes of Geography Social Studies Mr. Chase Grade 5

The Five Themes of Geography 

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Location  Absolute Location  Relative Location Place  Human Characteristics  Physical Characteristics Human-Environmental Interactions  Humans adapt to the environment  Humans modify the environment  Humans depend on the environment

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Movement  People  Goods  Ideas Regions  Formal  Functional  Vernacular

LOCATION 

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"Where

are we?" Absolute location is a latitude and longitude (a global location) or a street address (local location). Beecher Road School: 40°58′ N North Latitude 73°44′ West Longitude Address: 40 Beecher Road Woodbridge, CT 06525 Relative locations are described by landmarks, direction or distance from one place to another. Beecher Road School: “Down the street from the Library”

PLACE 

What kind of place is it? What do you think of when you imagine China? Japan?

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 Food

Russia? Saudi Arabia?

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 Customs

Physical characteristics:

 Clothing

 mountains

 Religion

 rivers

 Languages

 soil

 Roads

 wildlife  vegetation

Human characteristics

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HUMAN/ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION  

How do humans and the environment affect each other? Humans depend on the environment.  We rely on the ocean in order to travel and to ship fuel.

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Humans modify the environment  People heat buildings in winter and cool them in summer (except for BRS)

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Humans adapt to the environment  We wear clothing that is different in the winter than in summer

HUMAN/ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION 

All places on Earth have advantages and disadvantages for human settlement.  Example: Some like the excitement of city life whereas others prefer rural areas.

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When we talk about environment in geography, we don’t just mean the air, trees and water. We think of a feeling.

QuickTimeª and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.

QuickTimeª and a decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Discussion Given the choice, where would you live? Why? What is the environment? How do people interact with the environment? How do the physical features affect us?  How have we adapted to or changed our landscape in Woodbridge? 

MOVEMENT 

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People everywhere travel from place to place and they communicate. We live in a global society and global economy  travel  trade  e-mail  political events

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Not only people, but ideas move.  fads  fashion  movements

Discussion How do we depend on people in other places?  How would our lives change if our movement options changed?  What would happen if we traveled by camel or horse?  How do we move from place to place?  How do we actually get food? 

REGION 

A region is an area that displays a unity in terms of:  government  language  land

form  situation

REGION 

There are three basic types of regions.  Formal

regions are those defined by governmental or physical boundaries. Woodbridge  Connecticut  USA  Great Lakes  The Himalayas 

REGION  Functional

regions are those defined by a function. If the function ceases to exists, the region no longer exists. Telephone Area Codes  Bus Routes  Television Broadcast Areas 

REGION  Vernacular

Regions are those loosely defined by people's perception The South  The Middle East 

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The Arctic