There are several common minerals that tend to be referenced and used in texts, NY Regent Tests and released Virginia SOL tests.

I call these the Super 8.
Sulfur | Magnetite | Mica | Halite | Pyrite | Calcite | Quartz | Diamond

This resource requires samples of each mineral be sorted and available for manipulation. Students should perform this lab in small groups 3 or 4 and use the spreadsheet provided write the features observed according to categories the teacher wants students to master.

The lab should take about 20-30 minutes.

The Earth Science textbook by Glenco or the attached reference sheet may be used by students.

There are several common minerals that tend to be referenced and used in texts, NY Regent Tests and released Virginia SOL tests.

I call these the Super 8.
Sulfur | Magnetite | Mica | Halite | Pyrite | Calcite | Quartz | Diamond

This resource requires samples of each mineral be sorted and available for manipulation. Students should perform this lab in small groups 3 or 4 and use the spradsheet provided write the features observed according to categories the teacher wants students to master.

The lab should take about 20-30 minutes.

The NY Regents Earth Science Reference Table or a textbook reference may be used as a group reference for look up.

is a guide to these mounds, built between 100 B.C. and 1700 A.D. to bury important members of tribes and to serve as platforms for temples or residences of chiefs. This website highlights 11 mound sites and includes itineraries and three essays that provide historical context for these sites.

Introuction to physical and human geography of Southwest Virginia, highlighting places visited by AP Human Geography teachers. Coal mining is highlighed, focusing on resource extraction techniques, impacts on the environment and possible solutions.

The second of two lessons on Islamic Empires, students examine maps showing the territorial extent of each of the three major Islamic Caliphates. This examination, showing the same territory through different time periods, provides a springboard for analyzing historical factors underlying the territorial changes. Students also explore cultural, economic, and political factors that account for the changing borders as they match explanations associated with the changes in the maps. Key questions: How did the borders of the Islamic Empires change through time? What cultural, economic, and political factors could account for the changing borders?

The first of two lessons on Islamic Empires, students examine physical maps and assess the possibility of geographic obstacles to the diffusion of Islam. They also explore connections among locations that are incorporated into the succession of empires. Students tie events and locations together through the creation of an annotated map based on selected events. The lesson concludes with an examination of a concentric circle map that provides a rough estimate of distances among the various locations. Key questions: How has physical geography influenced the expansion of the Islamic Empire? Why and how did Islam diffuse so rapidly?

This Story Map Journal emphasizes geography’s impact on United States’ strategy in fighting World War II in the Pacific.  Students, through the use of Library of Congress resources explore geography’s impact on the average soldier in the Pacific.  They will also chart the progress that the armed forces made in their attempt to hop over non-strategic islands in their attempts to get ever closer to the home islands of Japan. Based on the images obtained from the Library of Congress, students will  be able to critically assess the toll that the geography of the Pacific took on soldiers. Contains links to student materials and teacher materials for creating lesson plans.

visits 65 historic places along 75 miles of Route 15 in Virginia's Piedmont. Stops include homes of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe; sites of some of the bloodiest battles in the Civil War; and other places that evoke the soldiers, statesmen, farmers, and slaves who fought, toiled, and governed there.

Ever seen a Mooselope? How about a Bighorn Bison? See what kinds of strange creatures you can make.It's good fun for everyone.

explores Kingston's over 300 years of history using 24 historic places that recall past eras when settlers and Native Americans warily shared its plains, proud Revolutionaries and angry British armies walked its narrow streets and when coal, limestone and even patent medicines flowed along its canals. The Dutch established Kingston 1652 and it became an active participant in the American Revolution and a major river-port during New York's 19th-century canal and steamboat era.

The purpose of this lesson is for students to understand that economic activity can be classified as primary, secondary, tertiary, or quaternary; students will define the different levels of economic activity and categorize various activities by its level.

Students will use an Edpuzzle video to label their own map of the United States. The video is structured so students have to pause and label ten states at a time, in alphabetical order. The outcome of this activity is a completed US map for students' later reference. The second activity is a drag and drop game in which students drag labeled states into the appropriate spot on a map of the US. (Note: The state names in the activity have been color-coded according to geographic region. Students and teachers could use this later in the year to discuss regions and state locations.)

Students are expected to know the location of the latitudinal climate zones on the SOL assessment.  This is a simple Google Form you can use as a bell ringer, review, or quiz for students on low, middle and high climate zones.  The form is collecting email addresses, but you can unclick that box on settings (top right of the form) and it will work like a survey.  You can then go over how the entire class answered without revealing anyone's answers. There are other settings you can change to suit yourself including locking the quiz so that it can only be used on chromebooks.  

highlights 29 places that illustrate the transformation of the city from a small frontier post during the Revolutionary War into a center of economic, intellectual, and political activity. Photos, maps, and essays are included.

Every Virginia communicty has a cultural landscape that is layered with multiple evidences of religious practices, ethnic identities, expressions of language, indigenous tradition, political values and more that provide opportunities for interpreting the ways in which human features are shown and seen and why they are so. Students can explore these local geographies through field experiences as a class or on their own. Ideas presented were mostly introduced in APHG Academies that have been sponsored by the VGA, NCGE meetings, AP Annual Conferences, workshops, and through collaboration with colleagues. This collection is intended to help get new teachers started or to move others to grow their curriculum and enhance the experiences of their students and build geographic skills by promoting the inclusion of local geographies into classrooms and through personal observation and data collection in local environments.

Every Virginia community has eonomic activity that can be used in a geography class. It could be the local work of watermen and shipping industry, extraction industry in Appalachia, paper mills, furniture outlets, tourism, energy production, technology industry, banking, chicken farms and slaughter houses. Use these opportunities to apply concepts and processes like region, landscape, agglomeration, deindustrialization, economic base, pollution, and urbanization. Ideas presented were mostly introduced in APHG Academies that have been sponsored by the VGA, NCGE meetings, AP Annual Conferences, workshops, and through collaboration with colleagues. This collection is intended to help get new teachers started or to move others to grow their curriculum and enhance the experiences of their students and build geographic skills by promoting the inclusion of local geographies into classrooms and through personal observation and data collection in local environments.

Broadly this lesson examines how natural resources shape the economic, social, political, and environmental features of Southwest Virginia. Students should be able to recognize economic and natural resources in the region. In turn, they can evaluate the affect of these resources on economic, social, political, and environmental development. This helps students understand alternative perspectives and further their own sense of place, so that they can work to solve problems and develop positive outcomes for other groups of people.

provides an overview of an exhibit which explains the historical role of transportation in visitors exploration of National Parks -- from the stagecoach to the automobile.

This resource demonstrates the use of census data for exploring local geographies. Not all of the html links are current, but type of useful variables for understanding local geographies can be gained. Ideas presented were mostly introduced in APHG Academies that have been sponsored by the VGA, NCGE meetings, AP Annual Conferences, workshops, and through collaboration with colleagues. This collection is intended to help get new teachers started or to move others to grow their curriculum and enhance the experiences of their students and build geographic skills by promoting the inclusion of local geographies into classrooms and through personal observation and data collection in local environments.