Social Studies Grade 5: Using Geography Themes September 9, 2015

Geography Geography is the study of the earth in all of its variety. Geographers study the earth as the home of people. There are Five Geographic Themes.

The Five Geographic Themes Location Place Human/Environment Interaction Movement Region

LOCATION Location means knowing where you are. Every place on earth can be given an exact position on the globe, which is called Absolute Location. The Equator is an imaginary line that circles the earth midway between the North Pole and South Pole. The Equator divides the earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Prime Meridian divides the earth into the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

LOCATION Lines of Latitude and Longitude cross one another in the form of a Grid System. A Grid System is a network of imaginary lines on the earth’s surface, formed by the crisscrossing patterns of the lines of latitude and longitude. Relative Location is the position of a place on the earth’s surface in relation to another place.

PLACE Place has a special meaning in geography. Place describes the typical characteristics that distinguish one place from another. What features make this location similar to or different from another place? Features that describe a place may be physical characteristics: land shape, plants, animal life or climate. They may also be characteristics of people and culture: language, clothing, buildings, music or ways of making a living.

Human/Environment Interaction Throughout the history of the world, humans have changed their environments or natural surroundings. People have blasted through mountains and cut down forests to build roads, homes and communities. Some human interaction has damaged the natural environment. Our environment influences the way people live. People adapt their lives to their environmental conditions. (Cold climate, hot or dry climate)

Movement Movement describes how people in one place make contact with people from another place. The theme of movement helps us understand the relationship among places. People, ideas, information, products and technology are constantly moving around the world by internet, phone, satellite or by transportation and in person. When people want something not in their area, they can trade with people in areas that have what they want. (Food, technology, etc.)

Region Geographers often think about the world in Regions. Regions are areas that share some common characteristics. Regions can be small (neighborhood, city, county,) Regions can be large (States or Countries) An area can be called a region because of its physical features – landscape or climate. A region can be determined by human traits- language, politics, religion.

Section 1 Review What is the starting line for determining longitude? What is the starting line for determining latitude? What are the five themes of geography? What is relative location? What two kinds of features are used to describe a place? What are some characteristics of Demarest: landscape, climate, etc.