Trail Guide to U.S. Geography

Trail Guide to U.S. Geography is a family-friendly, multi-level geography curriculum guide for students in grades 3 through 12. With its trail markers (animal track icons) guiding your student along three different learning paths, this book can be used for more than one academic school year and works well if you have a number of students of varying abilities learning together.

There is not one exact way to use this unique course. It was designed with flexibility in mind to better meet various objectives when teaching geography. Trail Guide to U.S. Geography provides activities and assignments for a 36-week school year on U.S. Geography.

Atlas Drills

Spend 5-10 minutes a day with the atlas drills to develop and maintain map reading skills. Some folks use the book strictly for the Geography Trails section alone and say it’s worth every penny at that!

Geography Notebook

Add an outline map with a list of places to label and students have a smooth beginning to creating a great U.S. Geography Notebook. Additional assignment choices lead students deeper to learn about key places throughout the United States. You set your pace and objectives. Spend as much time as your schedule allows. You can always use the book again another year, with all new atlas drills questions.

There are three sections of assignments for each week. You can use all three sections or any combination.

[1]   Geography Trails Weekly: Days 1-4
In the weekly Geography Trails section you will find daily short atlas drills at three different levels. Students follow their assigned trail and, using the required atlas, answer two questions a day. They gain practical experience with map reading and atlas usage in a light-hearted and natural way. Many especially enjoy the challenge of finding the answers in this 5-10 minute activity.

[2]   Mapping Weekly
Weekly mapping lists provide opportunities for students to label an outline map for inclusion in their personal U.S. Geography Notebook. Most students will complete the mapping assignment in one sitting. (Outline maps are not included.)

[3]   Trail Blazing — Personal Research and Discovery
The Trail Blazing section fleshes out the remainder of the school week. Here you will find a number of various type of assignments to choose from. So, in addition to the five- minute atlas drills and the mapping activity students (or teachers) select two to four of these Trail Blazing assignments each week to complete. Assignments span all learning styles and cover many topics of interest.

Students will use outside resources, such as library or Internet for most of the Trail Blazing assignments. Some example of the kinds of assignments include: creating a chart or graph, research and study, art or craft, meal planning and preparation, designing a travel brochure, making flash cards or a crossword puzzle to aid in memorization, creating an illustrated geography dictionary, and so much more.

Literature Unit Component
The final weeks of the school year we change it up with a Literature Review Unit. Using family read-aloud time and The Captain’s Dog by Roland Smith, student will map the trail of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, learn about Native Americans, plants and animals that were discovered at that time and more. Some families do this six-week unit during the summer months as an introduction to the upcoming U.S. geography studies.

The three trails represent three levels of difficulty.

Elementary, 3rd-4th grades
Middle School, 5th-8th grades
High School, 9th-12th

When determining the level for your student you should rely more on the student's ability to read and use an atlas than on a specific grade.

Benefits

Using Trail Guide to U.S. Geography as your core, students will:

• Gain experience with map reading using an atlas;
• Create their own personal geography notebook, or portfolio;
• Develop critical thinking skills;
• Learn countries and capitals;
• Much more!

Resources used with Trail Guide to U.S. Geography
With the following required and optional resources, Trail Guide to U.S. Geography makes for an interesting year of geography studies and most can be used again when students have moved up a level:

• Desk Atlas of the United States — atlas used for daily questions and weekly mapping assignments
• 3-Level Trail Guide to U.S. Geography Notebook printable pdf files (or a good set of outline maps) form the core of the geography notebook. Of course, we recommend the Uncle Josh’s Maps book or collection on CD-ROM if you don’t choose to use the Student Notebook files.
• State Notebook includes stickers of state bird, flower and tree
• The Captain’s Dog — read-aloud novel for 6-week literature review unit

Optional Complimentary Resources
These optional resources meet more specific needs and aid in making this an even more interesting subject to study:

• Eat Your Way Through the USA — This cookbook is referenced in Trail Blazing assignments, and features complete meals for each of our fifty states. It is interesting how differently we eat across the country. Includes ingredients grown in the state, recipes the state is known for or, recipes submitted by families in that state. Food facts for each state add interest and provide opportunities for discussion while preparing the dish. Everyone loves to eat so cooking is an easy connection to any geography study.
• Geography Through Art — Introduces world and U.S. cultures in a medium children enjoy and relate to ... Art! They learn what children in countries around the world do for art and create their own from the instructions provided. Many projects come with fascinating information of historical significance. Step-by-step illustrating examples help students draw a number of different animals and more, and all projects include great simple-to-follow instructions. Nineteen art projects from the United States aid this study; there are 100 additional projects from around the world.
• Cantering the Country — Literature-based geography unit study curriculum which compliments the family geography study. For those who also have younger students, or who love finding real books from which to teach. Using this book in tandem with Trail Guide to U.S. Geography helps family members with different learning styles and of varying ages learn together by allowing each child to do activities and assignments selected just for them.
• Trail Guide to U.S. Geography Lapbook — For younger students or hands-on learning types, this lapbook adds depth to creating a fascinating geography notebook.
• USA PlaceMap — Great visual aid in a compact size. Includes handy state facts students can use when creating data charts.

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