Central America PDF

Central America is the fifth unit in the People & Place geography course. In Central America you will learn about human migration and the countries of Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, and Guatemala.

Each People & Place unit includes a skill section about human populations, government, or economics followed by a focus on a specific region of the world. By the time you complete the entire four year cycle of Layers of Learning Geography you will have covered the entire world and learned the skills and knowledge needed to analyze and understand maps, cultures, people, governments, and the planet all over the world.

This unit is a guide for the mentor to use in creating lessons and directing discussions and learning. It is not a textbook for the student.

This unit includes sections on:

• Human Migration
• Nicaragua
• Panama
• El Salvador
• Guatemala

Hands-on Learning

This is an activity based curriculum. You pick activities to do as you read books and watch videos about the countries of Central America. Here are some of the activities found in this unit:

• Make a notebooking page about the three types of migrants: economic, political, and environmental
• Take a survey of friends and family to find out what push and pull factors have caused them to move from one place to another
• Build a doll house from a cardboard box to represent a safe home for refugees
• Color and label a map of Central America
• Make a shark hat as you learn about the sharks in Lake Nicaragua
• Build a clay model of a lock on the Panama Canal
• Draw, color, cut, and write a shape book about a Central American animal
• Make papusas, the national food of El Salvador
• Paint a picture in the style of Fernado Llort
• Craft a diorama of a Guatemalan coral reef
• Plus much more!

See Inside

This is double page spread of the inside of the Central America unit:

Each Layers of Learning Geography unit includes library lists of books, a family read-aloud suggestion, hands-on activities, printables and paper crafts, sidebars for extra learning, and tools to help you assess student’s progress and mastery. Learn more about how Layers of Learning works.

Flexibility

This unit was written to be used for a month but contains plenty of content for many more weeks of learning if you choose. This is a pick-and-choose curriculum, meant to be cycled back to in the future when your child is older. As such, it intentionally includes far more material than you can possibly cover in a month.

Central America is also part of the overall People & Place course, the fourth Year of the four-year Layers of Learning Geography cycle. If you use the program in order, it will take you though the geography of the world from continents and the physical planet in Year One, to mapping skills in Year Two, then to cultures in Year Three, and finally, to government and society in Year Four.  Every year is also a tour of the whole planet, making stops on every continent. However, each unit stands alone and can be used independently of any other unit.

Printable Pack

This unit comes with a downloadable Printable Pack that includes all the student worksheets. The printables can be copied as many times as needed for your family or class.

You can download the Printable Pack from your receipt or from your account at Layers of Learning.

Extra Resources

This unit comes with extra weblinks and a YouTube video playlist on the People & Place Resources page.