Simple Ways to Connect Geography Skills to History Lessons in Elementary Classrooms

Many elementary grade students feel as though history is a boring way to talk about the people of the past. Geography is a time to color a map or take a snooze. But when we connect these subjects together, students can develop a much better understanding of how people thought and lived.

Tips to Help Elementary Students Learn Important Geography Skills

You must make sure your students have a firm grasp of spatial concepts before they can understand and analyze details about an ancient civilization or a civil war. The focus of materials designed for elementary learning center on map keys, cardinal directions, and the difference between water bodies and landforms. Before you can really dive deep, you must make sure your students understand that the symbols on a "key" or legend are representative of real life. If a child struggles to recognize that a blue line represents a river, they will not adequately grasp why a group of settlers built a town in a certain location.

To teach students about spatial awareness, we must start out with our local neighborhoods and expand to the globe. During our lessons, it is essential that we emphasize that maps are bird’s-eye views of the earth. Once a student can identify a plateau or a peninsula on a physical map, they then have the tools to figure out why certain cultures developed unique ways of traveling or farming.

Use Maps to Explain How People Moved and Settled 

Human history is a record of people on the move. Whether we are discussing the Oregon Trail or the Great Migration, the "why" of the movement is almost always found when we study geography.

A great way to illustrate settlement is to analyze water sources. Most ancient cities began near rivers. This is because people needed water for drinking, transportation, and irrigating crops. If you have your students look at a map of the Nile River while working on a lesson on Ancient Egypt, they will see a narrow green strip of life smack in the middle of a vast brown desert. This visual makes it clear why the Egyptians worshipped the river, as it was a means for survival.

Teaching Location, Place, and Region Through Real Examples 

Geography is divided into themes that help us categorize the world. "Location" tells us where something is. However, "Place" tells us what it is like there. For example, if you are teaching about the Inuit people of the Arctic, you are teaching about a specific Place. People who resided there had no choice but to build homes from snow and ice since there were few trees, and the climate was freezing.

Regions are another vital concept. A region is an area with shared characteristics. You can connect this to history by discussing the "Breadbasket" in the Midwest or the "Cotton Belt" in the American South, and you can bring this material to life through creative visuals and three-D models your students can feel. When students see that the economy was dictated by characteristics of a region, such as its climate and soil, they will understand how certain conflicts occurred and how alliances were formed.

Integrate Small Daily Geography Activities Into History Lessons 

The good news is that you will not need an extra hour in the day to make geography part of your history lessons. Some creative enhancements will work just fine.

• The "Where in the World" Warm-up: Each morning, post a primary source image from your current history unit, such as a photo of a sod house or a Roman aqueduct. Ask the students to use a map to find a location where that structure would be practical.
• Mapping the News: If you discuss a current event, find that location on a large classroom wall map. Trace the route from your school to that distant land.
• Coordinate Bingo: Use latitude and longitude to find historical sites. You can say something like, "I am looking for the city at 30 degrees North and 31 degrees East." “Great! You found it! This is Cairo.”
• Topography Tracing: Have students feel the texture of a raised-relief map. While you read a diary entry from a pioneer, have them run their fingers over the Rocky Mountains. When feeling the bumps on the map, the students can imagine the difficulties pioneers faced and empathize with their struggles.

Strategies for Homeschool Settings

Homeschooling provides a unique opportunity to make geography three-dimensional. Since you are not confined to a classroom, you can use your local environment to creatively teach these concepts. If you are studying the American Revolution and you live near a creek, go outside. While there, you can discuss how a small body of water could be used as a defensive line.

Kitchen geography is also a favorite for home educators and for good reason. There are so many tools to creatively make what may seem dull and boring a great deal of fun. For instance, you can bake a "map cake" where blue frosting represents the oceans and chocolate chips represent mountain ranges. Creating salt dough maps is another excellent tactile project that many home educators recommend. As the child molds the dough into the shape of Italy or the islands of Greece, they are physically engaging with the terrain that shaped those civilizations. This hands-on work will make these lessons much more memorable.

Helping Students Gain a Historical Understanding Via Spatial Thinking

When we separate geography from history, we give students pieces of a puzzle without the box top. They might know what happened. However, they will have no idea why it happened there. Spatial thinking allows a child to look at a map and predict what might occur. If they see a city located at the mouth of a major river, they can guess that it became a center for trade. If they see a civilization tucked behind a massive desert, they can infer that it was protected from invaders for a long time.

This way of thinking builds critical skills that go far beyond the classroom. It teaches children to look at the world as a series of interconnected systems. They begin to see that our environment influences our choices, our conflicts, and our successes. By weaving these two subjects together, you are giving your students a richer, more vibrant view of the human story. You are helping them see that history is not just a timeline. Rather, it is a map that is still being drawn today.