What Should I Teach the First Week of Geography?

The first week of geography is ideal for students to get to know one another and is a great time to help them get used to working in cooperative groups. Of course, you want to have a day when you go over your classroom rules and expectations. Outside of this, geography-based icebreakers and gently introducing them to geography basics are effective ways to start. My very first assignment is centered around the 5 Geographical Themes — Location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region. Go deep into teaching it! Take one day each week to focus on one theme, so they get a deeper understanding. Then, use the themes periodically in your lessons throughout the year for reinforcement.

Let’s take “location” for instance. It not only focuses on the general location of a place, but also the absolute location (latitude/longitude) of its location. You take some time to teach them how to find the absolute location. You do this by using the game Battleship (see below). When teaching the movement of people, goods, and ideas, you can look at human migration push and pull factors.

Here are some geography-based icebreakers to get you started: