Lesson Plan Title : American Landmarks

Age Range: Grade 6 through Grade 8 (Middle School)

Overview and Purpose: Where is the world's largest ball of twine? How about the tallest building? Students will enjoy embarking on this journey of discovering new places and what those places have to offer.

Objective: The student will be able to

*name the city or state where ten famous landmarks are found.

*name at least one fact about the landmark.

Resources:

Wall map of the United States

Pictures of twenty famous American landmarks

Multiple facts about each landmark

2 pictures of a cartoon family in a car

Activities:

The object of this lesson is to be the first team to move your family's car across the country by answering questions about famous landmarks.

Choose a route the cars must take to cross the US and place both cars at the starting point. Divide the class into teams. Hold up a picture of a landmark. The first group must name the landmark, tell where it is located, and name one fact about. If they can do that they can move their car. If they miss any of those questions, then the other group has a turn. (You could also have prepared questions that you ask them about the monument instead of just asking for a fact.)

The first team to cross the continent is the winner!

Wrap Up:

In addition, you could have the students mark all the places they have travelled to (with sticky notes) on the same map. If they have not travelled, before, then maybe you could ask them to mark a special place that they have always wanted to visit!