The Five Themes of

Geography

Social Studies
Mr. Chase
Grade 5
 The Five Themes of Geography
 Location  Movement
 Absolute Location  People
 Relative Location  Goods
 Place  Ideas
 Human Characteristics  Regions
 Physical Characteristics  Formal
 Human-Environmental  Functional
Interactions  Vernacular
 Humans adapt to the
environment
 Humans modify the
environment
 Humans depend on the
environment
 LOCATION
 "Where are we?"
 Absolute location is a latitude and longitude (a global
location) or a street address (local location).
 Beecher Road School:
 40°58′ N North Latitude 73°44′ West Longitude
 Address: 40 Beecher Road
Woodbridge, CT 06525
 Relative locations are described by landmarks, direction or
distance from one place to another.
 Beecher Road School:
“Down the street from the Library”
 PLACE

What kind of place is it? What do you

Human characteristics


think of when you imagine China? Japan?
Russia? Saudi Arabia?  Food
 Customs
 Physical characteristics:
 mountains  Clothing

 rivers  Religion

 soil  Languages

 wildlife  Roads

 vegetation 
 HUMAN/ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION

 How do humans and the environment affect each other?

 Humans depend on the environment.
 We rely on the ocean in order to travel and to ship fuel.

 Humans modify the environment

 People heat buildings in winter and cool them in summer
(except for BRS)

 Humans adapt to the environment

 We wear clothing that is different in the winter than in
summer
 HUMAN/ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTION

 All places on Earth have advantages and disadvantages for

human settlement.
 Example: Some like the excitement of city life whereas
others prefer rural areas.

 When we talk about environment in geography, we don’t just

mean the air, trees and water. We think of a feeling.
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 Discussion
 Given the choice, where would you live?
Why? What is the environment? How do
people interact with the environment? How do
the physical features affect us?
 How have we adapted to or changed our
landscape in Woodbridge?
 MOVEMENT

 People everywhere travel  Not only people, but ideas

from place to place and they move.
 fads
communicate.
 fashion
 We live in a global society  movements
and global economy
 travel
 trade
 e-mail
 political events
 Discussion
 How do we depend on people in other
places?
 How would our lives change if our movement
options changed?
 What would happen if we traveled by camel or
horse?
 How do we move from place to place?
 How do we actually get food?
 REGION

 A region is an area that displays a unity in

terms of:
 government
 language
 land form
 situation
 REGION

 There are three basic types of regions.

 Formal regions are those defined by
governmental or physical boundaries.
 Woodbridge
 Connecticut

 USA

 Great Lakes

 The Himalayas
 REGION

 Functional regions are those defined by a

function. If the function ceases to exists, the region
no longer exists.
 Telephone Area Codes
 Bus Routes

 Television Broadcast Areas

 REGION

 Vernacular Regions are those loosely defined by

people's perception
 The South
 The Middle East

 The Arctic