North America is the sixth unit in the People & Planet Geography course. In this unit you will learn about climate zones, where they are, and why they are where they are. North America has every major climate zone so you’ll get to tour through the continent as you learn. Then you will learn about the landscape, countries, and people of North America.
This unit is a guide for the mentor, not a textbook for the student.
This unit includes sections on:
- Climates
- North American Landscapes
- People of North America
This is an activity based curriculum. You pick activities to do as you read and watch videos about North America. Here are some of the activities found in this unit:
- Make a climate map and flap book combination
- Using data sets calculate the climate classification of four different cities in North America
- Make a rotating six sided display of six National Parks from North America, each in different climates
- Use what you know to draw and design a fantasy climate map of a pretend planet
- Craft a watercolor collage of North American landscapes
- Use a student atlas to color and label a giant poster map of North America
- Make a West Indies Archipelago booklet
- Create a four sided display of North American city skylines
- Plus much more!
See Inside
This is double page spread of the inside of the North America unit:
The sidebars contain extra information to add your learning including facts to read, additional information to pursue, extra books to read, things to discuss as a group, and writing ideas. The center, large section of the book is filled with ideas for hands on learning to fill out the things you learn from your reading and to make homeschool fun. The hands-on can be done as a group, the whole family learning together.
The beginning of the North America unit includes a Library List of book titles we recommend to go with this unit. It also contains a set of search terms to use at your library to take advantage of the resources that are available. The Library List is pick and choose as well, just select the titles that are available and interest you.
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.
North America is also part of the overall People & Planet, the first 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 & Planet Resources page.
katemichelle07 –
This unit really surprised me in a good way, it was really fun to learn about climates around the world and it only focus on climate change. There were certainly times and space to talk about that but it’s been sometimes challenging to talk about climate.
Then we focused on the areas and landforms that made up North America and not just the states that occupy it