Continents of the World Lesson Plan: Geography and Migration

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This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Continents of the World, and supports the standard of understanding that geographic regions have unifying characteristics. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Prompt students to reflect on the characteristics of their geographical location, and how it compares to other places. Ask students: 

• How would you describe the place where you live? For example, do you live near the ocean? Are there mountains? Valleys? 
• How does where you live compare to other places in the world?

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

• Read the description on the Continents of the World topic page.
• Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
• Have students read one of the following Related Reading articles: “Famous Faces” or “Way Back When”. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.
  

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Continents of the World Challenge and Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about continents of the world while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

• Make-a-Movie: Imagine you are on a journey to all seven continents! Create a travelogue of your experience, describing the different characteristics of each.
• Make-a-Map: Make a concept map comparing and contrasting two continents. Include details about their geographic features, climate, and peoples. 
• Creative Coding: Code a sorting game that asks players to sort geographic places into different categories. 

More to Explore

Sortify: Continents and Oceans: This game challenges players to sort by attributes, such as size of land mass, population, and more.  

Geography Unit: Continue to build understanding around continents and oceans with more BrainPOP topics 

Teacher Support Resources:

• Pause Point Overview: Video tutorial showing how Pause Points actively engage students to stop, think, and express ideas. 
• Learning Activities Modifications: Strategies to meet ELL and other instructional and student needs.
• Learning Activities Support: Resources for best practices using BrainPOP.