Name: Kelli Cross

The Midwest Region

Name: Kelli Cross
Time Allotted: 30 min
Grade Level: 4th
Subject(s): Social Studies
Materials Required:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc1UCOm-8B4 with lyrics
Midwest Region PowerPoint
Midwest Region Graphic Organizer
Midwest Region Review
Materials for project
o Paper
o Posters
o Color pencils/markers
Midwest Region Project Rubric
Social Studies Alive!: Regions of Our Country (Book for differentiation)
http://schoolmediainteractive.com/view/object/clip/D011D31BE8214E977FEDB57DDB37850A (video
differentiation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Fr0tYgPgMvM&index=3&list=PL8fSH7NRQHgTx14SWxJDaDuIKYjBIPDei
Michigan Content Expectations:
4 G1.0.4 Use geographic tools and technologies, stories, songs, and pictures to answer geographic questions about
the United States.
* The question about the United States the students will be answering through the summative assessment is what are
some characteristics of the Midwest region? This lesson is in preparation for the standard: 4 G2.0.2 Compare
human and physical characteristics of a region to which Michigan belongs (e.g., Great Lakes, Midwest) with those of
another region in the United States. First we will learn about each region, and then compare other regions with the
Midwest.
Objective:
Objective 1: The students will identify characteristics about the Midwest so that they can create a project in which
they describe the Midwest where they demonstrate 3 out of 4 or higher proficiency on the rubric.
Assessment:

Objective 1 Informal Formative Assessment: Ask the students to show you with a show of thumbs how
well they understand resources, land, and water of the Midwest region. Thumbs up if they understand the
majority of what we have talked about and learned, thumbs to the side if they understand half, and thumbs
down if they do not understand the majority of it.
Objective 1 Formal Formative Assessment: Students will fill out a graphic organizer. Walk around and
make sure students are sharing at least one thing from each category with their group. Also make sure that
students have at least one thing written for each category. If multiple students have a blank category, revisit
that category and ask students questions about it to discover more characteristics within that category.

Name: Kelli Cross

Objective 1 Formal Interim Assessment: The students will identify the characteristics of Michigan by
answering selected response and short answer questions on the Midwest Region Review. This will not be
graded, however they will receive feedback on it.
Objective 1 Formal Summative Assessment: The students will work in groups of four to create a project in
which they describe at least four aspects (at least one involving water, one involving land, one involving
resources, and one involving climate) of the Midwest region. They will take on the role of travel agents and
promote the Midwest to someone who has never been there before. Students will have the option to create a
song, skit, brochure, poster, poem, commercial, or another project that must be approved by the teacher.

Using results from Objective 1 Formal Interim/Summative Assessment, I can generate data that would tell me who is
proficient with the characteristics of the Midwest region and who is not. With this data, I can make homogenous
groups for future lessons where we learn about regions, especially when we compare other regions with the Midwest.
I could do centers where I work with the students who are have not met the minimum level of proficiency while
proficient groups go deeper into their learning of different regions.

Instructional Procedure:
1

Anticipatory Set: (3 min)

a Play this video about the Midwest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc1UCOm-8B4) from 0:552:30. Give the students a copy of the lyrics to follow along.
b Say during this unit we have been learning about our home, and today we are going to learn about our
home as a region: The Midwest.
c Remind the students as always, I expect you to work hard and be respectful as you will be working
with your classmates. I also expect that you will try your best and to think outside of the box.

State Purpose and Objective of Lesson: (1 min)

a Say, I want you to learn about characteristics of the Midwest region so that you can work in groups to
create a project in which you describe the Midwest and earn at least 3 out of 4 on the rubric.
b Ask the students why is it important to learn about the region that we live in? Lead them to
understand this is important because it is our home and we want to be knowledgeable and grateful for
the uniqueness of our home.
c Say, This lesson is important because we will need to know this for future lessons. We will be
learning about all the regions in the United States and then we will be comparing other regions with
the Midwest to see how they are alike and how they are different.

Instruction: (total time: 23 min)

a Direct Interactive Instruction: (1 min)
i The teacher will present different aspects of the Midwest region to the students and allow them
to think for themselves about characteristics of the Midwest. The teacher will scaffold the
students into correctly understanding the characteristics of the Midwest.
ii The student will use what they already know to identify characteristics of the Midwest, as well
as learn from the teacher about the region. The student will work with others to present what
they have identified as characteristics in a unique project.
b Modeling: (10 min)

Name: Kelli Cross

i Ask the students to list off the states they think are in the Midwest region, if time allows, you
may write them on the board. Tell them there are 12 states in this region. Once they think they
have them all, put up the first slide of The Midwest Region PowerPoint to see which states
are actually in the region.
ii Ask if any students have ever visited another state in the Midwest region and call on 2-3
students to briefly share their experience.
iii Pass out the Midwest Region graphic organizer and instruct the students to fill it out while we
discuss and learn about the Midwest because they will need it for their final project.
iv Ask does anyone know what a nickname for the Midwest is? You can give them the hint of
using the lyrics. One nickname is The Heartland. Ask the students why they think this is.
Lead them to discovering it is because of its location in the center of our nation. Another
reason is because it is the greatest farming region. The Midwest sends products to the entire
country and other parts of the world.
v Ask if they know another nickname for this region. Another nickname is The Breadbasket.
Ask the students why they think this is. Lead them to discover that is it the countrys most
important region for producing nutritious food and that is can do this because it has some of
the best soil in the country. Other regions also provide food, such as sugar or chocolate, but we
do not need that to survive, whereas the Midwest produces nutritious food vital to survival.
Have the students talk with a partner about what crops they think the Midwest produces. Give
them a minute to talk, then call on each pair to share one of the crops they came up with. Show
and read the list of crops on the slide.
vi Next, ask the students to close their eyes and say, imagine that you were a giant, larger than
the whole earth. What would it feel like to run your hand over the Midwest region? Then
allow them to open their eyes call on a few students to answer and ask them to explain their
reasoning. Show the pictures of the Midwest plains on the PowerPoint slide and then ask again
what they think it would feel like. Tell them to run their hand over their sleeve or pants; it may
feel something like this that is smooth with a few bumps. It would feel very smooth because of
the many plains and farmlands. There would be a few bumps, such as a range of mountains in
Wisconsin and Minnesota.
vii Ask would your hand have gotten wet when you ran it over the Midwest region? Call on a
few students to answer and ask them to explain their reasoning. Lead them to discover that it
would get wet mostly from the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes. The Mississippi River is
the longest river in the United States. Ask if you spread the water in the Great Lakes evenly
across the United States, how deep do you think the water would be? Have the students talk
about it with a partner, then call on a few students to share. Inform them that the water would
be 12 feet deep because it holds one fourth of all the fresh water in the world. Michigan has
more freshwater shoreline than any other state.
viii (Objective 1 Informal Formative Assessment) Ask the students to show you with a show of
thumbs how well they understand resources, land, and water of the Midwest region.
c

Guided Practice: (6 min)

i Say, The last characteristic of the Midwest we will be looking at today is climate. For our
final activity, we will be working in groups of four. So I want you to get into your groups
(groups will be pre-assigned based on previous assessment data involving regions and will be
homogenous as possible) and we are all going to go outside. If it is not weather permitting,
instruct the class to look out the window and do a walk and talk around the room with their
group. Tell the students to talk within your group about the weather today, and what you have
experienced in the past. Write on your graphic organizer what you think the climate is like in
the Midwest region. Give them 2 minutes to do this and then bring the class back inside. Call
on each group to share one thing they wrote down. Lead the students to understand that the
climate of the Midwest can be very diverse. It is cool and rainy, warm and dry. It is humid

Name: Kelli Cross

throughout most of the region. Snow is common during the winter, especially in the northern
areas. The Midwest can receive more than 100 inches of snowfall in an average winter.
ii Instruct the students to share within your groups at least one thing you have written on your
graphic organizer from each category. (Objective 1 Formal Formative Assessment) At this
time walk around and make sure everyone is engaged and everyone has at least one thing
written for each category.
iii Then give each student the Midwest Region Review to complete individually. This will not
be graded, but will be given back with feedback so the students know what aspects of the
Midwest Region they will have to revisit before creating their final project.
d

Independent Practice: (6 min)

(Objective 1 Formal Interim/Summative Assessment) The students will work within their
group of four and take on the role of travel agents to promote the Midwest to someone who has
never been there before. They have the option to create a song, skit, brochure, poster, poem, or
commercial. They will work on this in class at a later time and out of class as needed. They
will present to the class tomorrow.

Differentiated Consideration
For a group who finishes quickly but may or may not have mastered the objectives, ask them to create
another project that is different than the first one. For example, if they wrote a song, encourage them to
create and perform a skit.
For students who struggle to complete activity/assessments, allow extra time, including allowing them to
take their project home, or if possible, allow work time in class later that day or the next day.
For students who show proficiency early, encourage them to go deeper in their thinking. If possible, allow
them to use the internet, specifically
http://schoolmediainteractive.com/view/object/clip/D011D31BE8214E977FEDB57DDB37850A, which
describes the Midwest in more detail, or the book Social studies alive!: Regions of our country to discover
more about the Midwest region and allow them to put that information into their final project.
For students who are still not proficient near end of lesson, allow them to utilize the book Social studies
alive!: Regions of our country to learn more, or meet separately with them at a different time.
For students who need different modes of learning or learn through a different multiple intelligence
strategies than what was delivered, allow them to access this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Fr0tYgPgMvM&index=3&list=PL8fSH7NRQHgTx14SWxJDaDuIKYjBIPDei or
http://schoolmediainteractive.com/view/object/clip/D011D31BE8214E977FEDB57DDB37850A. There
are also embed multiple options of assessment for students to choose how they best learn and how best
they would show proficiency. If the students think they can best show proficiency in a way other than a
song, skit, brochure, poster, poem, or commercial, they may ask to create a different project and they may
as long as they still describe at least four aspects (at least one involving water, one involving land, one
involving resources, and one involving climate) of the Midwest region.

Closure: (3 min)
a Today we learned about characteristics of the Midwest region so that you could create a project in
which you describe at least four aspects of the Midwest.
b Have the students share with a partner one thing they learned today about the Midwest. Call on 3-4
students to say one thing they learned today and ask them why it stuck out to them and/or why it is
important to them.
c Remind the students that they will learning about the other regions in upcoming lessons and will
compare the Midwest with those regions.
d Thank the students for their learning today.

Name: Kelli Cross

References:
Bower, B., Lobdell, J., & Teachers' Curriculum Institute. (2003). Social studies alive!: Regions of our
country. Palo Alto, CA: Teachers' Curriculum Institute.
Garca, J. R., & Silver Burdett Ginn (Firm). (1997). Regions and resources: Teaching guide 4. Parsipanny,
NJ: Silver Burdett Ginn.
Stopera, M. (n.d.). 100 Incredible Views Out Of Airplane Windows.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/100-incredible-views-out-of-airplane-windows/
Vesco. (n.d.). Midwest Region Song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc1UCOm-8B4

Name: Kelli Cross

The Midwest Song

In the Midwest,
the farms are the best
because of the Great and Central Plains.
Indiana grows beans,
Nebraska grows corn.

Lets dance, lets shake

by the Great Lakes
its Michigan and Wisconsin.
In Minnesota, its cold
and have you been told

In Kansas, we wave the wheat.

that Illinois is the Land of Lincoln.
The land is flat.
It gets lots of rain
in Iowa and Missouri.
The Dakotas, North and South,
bison roam about
because of the open prairie.

And if you want to learn about the heartland sing

it.
if you want to learn about the heartland sing it
It's the Midwest Region, so sing homie.
If you want to learn about the heartland sing
Ohio - oh - oh - oh - oh.
And if you want to learn about the heartland sing
it.
if you want to learn about the heartland sing it
It's the Midwest Region, so sing homie.
If you want to learn about the heartland sing

You'll see lots of scarecrows,

corn stalks in rows,
and cows in the pasture.
The wind always blows
and now its time to go.
This is the Midwest Region!

And if you want to learn about the heartland sing

it.
if you want to learn about the heartland sing it
It's the Midwest Region, so sing homie.
If you want to learn about the heartland sing.
Ohio - oh - oh - oh - oh.
And if you want to learn about the heartland sing
it.
if you want to learn about the heartland sing it
It's the Midwest Region, so sing homie.
If you want to learn about the heartland sing.

Resources
Water

Land

The
Midwest
Region
Climate

Midwest Region Review

Name one nickname of the Midwest.

True or False: The Midwest is the greatest farming region.

Which state below is not part of the Midwest Region?

a)
b)
c)
d)

Iowa
Kansas
South Dakota
Virginia

List four crops the Midwest produces.

Describe the climate of the Midwest.

True or False: The land of the Midwest is mainly filled with mountains
and valleys and has few plains.

True or False: The Mississippi River is located in the Midwest.

True or False: The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United
States.

Name the other major water source for the Midwest.

Midwest Region Review Answer Key

Name one nickname of the Midwest.
The Heartland or The Breadbasket
True or False: The Midwest is the greatest farming region.
True
Which state below is not part of the Midwest Region?
e) Iowa
f) Kansas
g) South Dakota
h) Virginia
List four crops the Midwest produces.
Wheat, corn, vegetables, meat, cheese, soybeans, apples, cherries,
plums, carrots, cucumbers, or asparagus.
Describe the climate of the Midwest.
It is diverse, cool and rainy/ warm and dry. It is humid throughout most
of the region. Snow is common during the winter, especially in the
northern areas. The region can receive more than 100 inches of
snowfall in an average winter.
True or False: The land of the Midwest is mainly filled with mountains
and valleys and has few plains.
False
True or False: The Mississippi River is located in the Midwest.
True
True or False: The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United
States.
True
Name the other major water source for the Midwest.
The Great Lakes.

Midwest Region Project Rubric

4

The students
created a project
in which they
described at least
four aspects (at
least one
involving water,
one involving
land, one
involving
resources, and
one involving
climate) of the
Midwest region.

The students
created a project
in which they
described at least
three aspects of
the Midwest
region, or did not
include at least
one involving
water, one
involving land,
one involving
resources, or one
involving
climate.

The students
created a project
in which they
described at least
two aspects of
the Midwest
region, or did not
include at least
one involving
water, one
involving land,
one involving
resources, or one
involving
climate.

The students
created a project
in which they
described at least
one aspects of
the Midwest
region, or did not
include at least
one involving
water, one
involving land,
one involving
resources, or one
involving
climate.

The students
did not create
a project or
did not
describe any
aspects of
the Midwest
region.