Description
What our United States Northeast Region lesson plan includes
Lesson Objectives and Overview: The United States commonly divides into five different regions. United States Northeast Region focuses on the states in the Northeast. Students will learn facts about each of these states. For one, most of the 13 original colonies of the U.S. are part of the Northeast region. Students will also be able to identify important landmarks and traits about the region overall. This lesson is for students in 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade.
Classroom Procedure
Every lesson plan provides you with a classroom procedure page that outlines a step-by-step guide to follow. You do not have to follow the guide exactly. The guide helps you organize the lesson and details when to hand out worksheets. It also lists information in the yellow box that you might find useful. You will find the lesson objectives, state standards, and number of class sessions the lesson should take to complete in this area. In addition, it describes the supplies you will need as well as what and how you need to prepare beforehand. This lesson requires colored pencils, markers, construction or poster paper, and scratch paper. Students will also need access to the internet.
Options for Lesson
There are suggestions in the “Options for Lesson” section of the classroom procedure page for additional activities or ideas. Students may work alone or in groups for the activity. They could create a tourism poster for one of the states, either that you assign or that they choose on their own. Students create one poster showing information for all 11 states. Give students butcher paper to make a large map of the region. Have them identify rivers, mountains, landmarks, etc. Use postcards and have students write out facts about the states on the cards. They could then use them for a “Geography Bee.” Students create a board game based on information about the northeast region. Assign landmarks of the region for further research by the students.
Teacher Notes
The teacher notes page provides an extra paragraph of information to help guide the lesson and remind you what to focus on. Students should familiarize themselves with all the regions of the country. The blank lines on this page are available for you to write out thoughts and ideas you have as you prepare the lesson.
UNITED STATES NORTHEAST REGION LESSON PLAN CONTENT PAGES
States in the Northeast Region
The United States Northeast Region lesson plan contains five pages of content. There are 50 states that compose the United States of America. However, we often divide the country into five geographic regions: northeast, midwest, west, southwest, and southeast. Of course, it is still a single country, but the different regions can be defined by natural or artificial features such as language, government, ideology, religion, forests, wildlife, and climate.
The northeast region of the United States includes eleven states. It is the smallest in land area of the five regions. We often divide it further into two other smaller regions: the New England states and the Mid-Atlantic states. The region is home to the most populated city in the country as well, New York City. There are over 8.4 million people in the 305-square-mile area of New York!
However, about 60% of the northeast region is covered in forest land, about twice the national average. Plus there are large portions of cropland and grassland. Besides New York City, there are many other large urban (city) areas as well, such as Philadelphia and Boston.
Geography and Climate
Overall, the region has rolling hills, broad valleys, and low mountains, such as the Appalachian Mountains that stretch from Maine to Alabama. The mountain ranges in the Northeast include the Allegheny Mountains, the Pocono Mountains, the Adirondack Mountains, and the Catskills. It also includes the longest hiking trail in the world. The Appalachian Trail stretches 2,000 miles from Maine to Georgia and includes valleys, hills, and rivers.
The highest peak in the Northeast is Mount Washington (6,288 feet) in New Hampshire. It is one of the windiest places on Earth, exceeding 75 miles per hour over 100 days each year. The highest wind speed ever recorded there was 231 miles per hour!
The lower part of the northeast region is good for farming, but the soil in the upper part is very rocky. Millions of years ago, glaciers covered much of the northeast region. As they moved across the land, they wore down the mountains and carved deep grooves into the coastline, carrying away the fertile soil. The rocks and sand that the glaciers left behind formed many islands and capes.
The Erie Canal is the most important waterway in the region and connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. It is 363 miles long. Before the canal was built, there was no waterway that crossed the Appalachian Mountains. In addition, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie form part of the border of the region.
The climate of the area varies throughout the year. It is one region of the U.S. with four distinct seasons. The weather ranges from warm and hot, sunny summer months to bitterly cold winter months. The Northeast experiences many snowstorms. A special storm called a northeaster can bring over a foot of snow at one time. During the winter, Lake Erie can freeze over completely.
Wildlife and Industry
Wildlife of the northeast region includes deer, rabbits, rodents, squirrels, woodpeckers, owls, foxes, and bears. In the New England region, you could find crab and the American lobster living along most of the Atlantic coast. The American black bear lives throughout most of New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. In addition, the Atlantic Ocean along the coast is home to a large variety of marine life such as whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and seals.
The growing season in the Northeast is short, but farmers grow some fruits and vegetables like potatoes and cranberries. Massachusetts is called the Cranberry Capital of America and produces two million barrels of cranberries each year. The region is also an important manufacturing center of the United States. Throughout the area, they produce iron, steel, glass, and chemicals. The chemicals go into things like shampoos, paints, and medicines.
History of the Region
All the states in the northeast region were once a part of the original 13 colonies in the United States. During the 1600s, many colonists from Europe settled in much of the region. The first European settlers were called Pilgrims. The Pilgrims arrived in 1620 and settled in Massachusetts and established the Plymouth Colony. The Massachusetts Bay Colony, now Boston, formed ten years later when a large group of Puritans arrived. In 1636, the Connecticut Colony and Providence Plantations were established.
In 1609, in the Mid-Atlantic area, an explorer named John Hudson, claimed present-day New York for the Netherlands. Another explorer, William Penn, wanted a place for Quakers to practice their religion. He founded Pennsylvania in 1681.
The Northeast region is home to the most history regarding the creation and founding of the United States. Besides the first settlements in America, the region was integral during the American Revolution and the Civil War. Today, it is the richest area in the country. Many of the coast’s cities and suburbs blend together while other areas have distinct urban and suburban characteristics.
Traits of the States
The lesson provide a chart with information on each of the 11 states in the northeast region. This includes the state populations as of 2021, rounded to the nearest thousand. First up is Connecticut, birthplace of Mark Twain and home of Yale University. The capital is Hartford, and the total population comes to just over 3.6 million people.
Delaware earned the nickname the First State since it was the first state to ratify the Constitution. You can find the oldest Protestant church still in use in the U.S. here as well. Maine, despite its fairly large size, has only about 1.4 million residents. It boasts over 2,500 lakes and 5,000 streams. The state also produces 98% of the nation’s blueberries.
Maryland has lots of tourist attractions, such as Harpers Ferry, Goddard Space Flight Center, and National Aquarium. Massachusetts is the birthplace of four presidents and is famous for the Cape Cod beaches. New Hampshire’s state motto is, “Live free or die.” The capital is Concord, and its population is a little under 1.4 million people.
Rhode Island was considered a rebellious state because the people refused to participate in the War of 1812. It also declared early independence from Great Britain. Vermont has famous ski areas like Stowe and Mt. Snow. There are only 646,000 residents in the whole state. Nicknamed the Garden State, New Jersey produces a lot of garden vegetables.
The Empire State is the nerve center of the United States. New York’s attractions include the Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, and the United Nations. Finally, Pennsylvania is the Keystone State. It is home to Little League baseball and the Gettysburg National Military Park.
UNITED STATES NORTHEAST REGION LESSON PLAN WORKSHEETS
The United States Northeast Region lesson plan includes three worksheets: an activity worksheet, a practice worksheet, and a homework assignment. These worksheets will help students demonstrate what they learned throughout the lesson and reinforce the lesson concepts. The guide on the classroom procedure page outlines when to hand out each worksheet to your students.
ACROSTIC POEMS ACTIVITY
For the activity, students will need to write an acrostic poem for two states. You can explain what this type of poem is if your students do not already know. You may also have students pair up or divide into groups. Then you can assign which states the students will write poems about.
DEFINITIONS AND LISTS PRACTICE WORKSHEET
Students will have to use their memories for the practice worksheet. It is divided into two parts. The first part requires students to match a fact with the correct term. For the second part, they will first list the states in alphabetical order. Then they will list them again in order of most to least populated.
UNITED STATES NORTHEAST REGION HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
The homework assignment is also divided into two parts. First, students will match states to their landmarks and cities. Afterward, they will write the capital for each state of the Northeast region.
Worksheet Answer Keys
If you choose to administer the lesson pages to your students via PDF, you will need to save a new file that omits these pages. Otherwise, you can simply print out the applicable pages and keep these as reference for yourself when grading assignments.
