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The Integration of Geography
and
Language Arts Standards
Why GeoLiteracy?
To increase student achievement on statemandated tests
To promote geographic education
To practice reading and writing skills
To maximize classroom instruction time
Why GeoLiteracy?
 To
assist in meeting North Central
Accreditation goals
 To help students with limited English
language skills
 To create a link between tested language
arts skills and geography standards
What are GeoLiteracy lessons?
K-8 lessons that:
 Integrate geography
standards with reading
and writing standards
 Improve student skills
 Motivate student
learning
 Assess student
achievement
How do GeoLiteracy Lessons
Motivate?
GeoLiteracy lessons
motivate students
through:
 Oral histories
 Hands-on activities
 Map making activities
 Short writing projects
such as public service
announcements and
newspaper articles
How do GeoLiteracy Lessons
Assess Student Achievement?
GeoLiteracy lessons assess
achievement in reading,
writing, and geography
by using:
 The 6 Trait Writing Rubric
 The format of Stanford
Achievement Test
questions
 Observation assessments
 Multiple choice tests
Who created the lessons?
 Teacher Consultants from the Arizona
Geographic Alliance
 National Board Certified Teachers
 An Assessment Specialist from Mesa
Public Schools
 Department of Geography personnel
from
Arizona State University
Who funded the development
of the GeoLiteracy Project?
What are some of the 23 lessons
for grades K-3?
 If These Walls Could Talk:
Learning about human features
of a community
 A Walk Around School:
Mapping how to get from one
place to another
 Catch Me If You Can:
Recognizing relative location
terms
 Me on a Map:
Comprehending that homes
make neighborhoods and
neighborhoods make a
community
 Recycle, Reduce, Reuse, and
Save Trees: Conserving
natural resources
 Sticks, Stones, Sinews and
Stuff: Using the environment
to meet basic needs
 Nina Bonita: Mapping Nina’s
world and understanding
tolerance
 I Am a Rock. I Am an Island:
Identifying landforms and water
bodies
What are some of the 25 lessons
for grades 4-5?
 Westward Ho: Reading
fictional diaries and mapping a
journey on the Oregon Trail
 Birth of a Rocky Mountain
Town: Learning how humans
respond to natural features
 Let’s Travel: Creating a travel
brochure of state landmarks
explaining why tourists should
visit them
 Take Me to The River:
Recognizing how a dam has
affected the humans living in
the area
 The Mountain Community:
Understanding how physical
landscapes and economic
conditions influence the
settlement of people
 Maize to Maquiladoras:
Tracking the historical
movement of people, ideas, and
goods from Mexico to the U.S.
 But We Need More:
Examining pollution and water
conservation issues
What are some of the 33 lessons
for grades 6-8?
 Over and Through:
Categorizing physical
geography terms
 Is There a Map in That
Story? Drawing a map from a
written description
 Name that Place: Discovering
the word origins of place names
in the U.S.
 Letter from a Leader: Writing
a letter as if students lived in an
ancient civilization
 Who’s a Noodlehead?
Examining cultures to find
commonalities
 Welcome to My World:
Learning how being born male
or female in some countries can
influence a person’s future
 Desertification: Determining
the causes and effects of
desertification
 Three Gorges Dam:
Analyzing the pros and cons of
building a controversial dam
Wow!
A total of over 80
lessons
Each is classroom
ready
Available on CD
ROM or as
paper copies
Lessons Per Grade Level
Number of
Lessons
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
K-3
Gr 4-5
Gr 6-8
And Wow!!
Student
samples
for some
of the
lessons!
How do I know the lessons work?
 Piloted with over
5,300 AZ students
 Piloted by 100+ AZ
teachers
 Piloted in more
than 20 AZ school
districts
How do I know the lessons work?
Piloted
with
diverse
ethnic
populations
How do I know the lessons work?
Percentage of Students on Free
or Reduced Lunch
Piloted with
economically
diverse
populations
Over 75%
51%-75%
Less than
25%
26%-50%
Distribution of Economic Status of Schools
in Pilot Program
What are the language backgrounds
of the piloted students?
Percentage of ESL Students in Pilot Program
English Speaking
Students
89%
ESL
11%
What are the grade level distributions of
the ESL students?
Grade Distribution of ESL Students in Pilot Program
32%
Gr 4-5
K-3
Gr 6-8
53%
15%
How successful were
the lessons?
Preliminary piloting showed:
 85% of students scored 80% or higher on
the geography assessment
 84% of students scored 80% or higher on
the reading assessment
 78% of students scored 80% or higher on
the writing assessment
What are the costs of
implementing GeoLiteracy?
 Grades K-5 would ONLY need GeoLiteracy to
teach ALL of the AZ geography standards
Cost per school for GeoLiteracy materials for grades K-5 are
Approximately $475
 Grades 6-8 would enhance BOTH their social
studies and language arts curriculum with
GeoLiteracy
Cost per school for GeoLiteracy materials for grades 6-8 are
Approximately $635
What do the costs include?
High quality
children’s books
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National Geographic
series:
Windows on Literacy
Reading Expeditions

Familiar children’s
literature
How can the costs be reduced?
MANY of the
GeoLiteracy materials
are in your library:
 River Ran Wild
 Ramona Quimby books
 Gingerbread Man
 Red Riding Hood
 The Lorax
 The Cherokee
 Nina Bonita
 Year of the Ranch
 Noodlehead Stories
 Edward and the Pirates
 Talking Walls
 Alejandro’s Gift
 Me on the Map
 The Desert is Theirs
 Rosie’s Walk
 Roxaboxen
 This is the Tree
How can the Arizona Geographic
Alliance help you?
We can:
 Provide expert training for using the GeoLiteracy
program
 Offer more components as they are developed
 Provide maps and information on our website
How can the Arizona Geographic
Alliance help you?
Included on the CD are over 60 COPYRIGHT
FREE maps that have been produced by Arizona
State University, Department of Geography
Cartographer, Barbara Trapido-Lurie and her
staff.
Which districts have lent
support to GeoLiteracy?
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Avondale
Bisbee
Cartwright
Cottonwood
Deer Valley
Flagstaff
Gilbert
Hebrew Academy of Tucson
Homeschoolers
Madison
Marana
Mesa
Kyrene
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Osborn
Page
Paradise Valley
Peoria
Private Schools
Sacaton
Sierra Vista
Somerton
Sunnyside
Tanque Verde
Tempe
Tucson
Washington
Why should you consider
GeoLiteracy?
 Innovative approach to integrating
geography and language arts
 Based on Arizona and national standards
 Based on mandated tests
 Preliminary results show it teaches
geography as well as reading and
writing
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Thank you
for considering our
GeoLiteracy Program.