How Does Location Influence Culture, Customs, and People?

Learning what it is to be human is a big deal. How much of our personality and culture is influenced by the environment? People who grew up on an island have different customs, foods, clothing, and even leisure activities than people from cities. This project aims to have your students discover just how much culture and life can be changed by where they live.

Differentiated Resources for Primary and Upper Elementary Students

This resource has been created for both upper-level and lower-level elementary students. Pages are marked and divided within the file for ease of use and quick printing. This research project has your students doing the following:

• Identify a region or environment of interest to them. (arctic, desert, rainforest, etc.)
• Research the clothing, food, climate, shelter, and leisure activities of their chosen environment, and complete a series of informational organizers to plan their project.
• Transfer their learning into groupings of informational templates designed to assemble as an informational poster project.

How to Prepare This Resource

To prepare this project for your students, choose the pages of the template matching your grade level band. Print one set of those pages and make each student a packet of materials. These will need to be printed single-sided. Give each student a packet, research material, and set them to work!

Turn this teaching resource into a sustainable activity by printing on cardstock and slipping it into a dry-erase sleeve. Students can record their answers with a whiteboard marker, then erase and reuse them. 

Additionally, project the worksheet onto a screen and work through it as a class by having students record their answers in their notebooks. 

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and Teach Starter Collaborator.