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Geography · Grade 3

Physical and Human Features

Every place has physical features made by nature (rivers, hills, lakes) and human features made by people (roads, bridges, farms, cities). Learners classify features, discover how rivers, flat land and lakes shaped where Chicago and St. Louis grew, weigh the benefits and costs of big changes such as Hoover Dam and Mississippi River levees, and describe a place using both kinds of features.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 75 minutes
  • Features check: 9 questions
  • Ways to answer: choose an answer, highlight a text, pin a map, match pairs, put in order and sort into groups
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What learners will discover

  • Sort the features of a place into physical features (made by nature) and human features (made by people).
  • Explain how physical features such as rivers, lakes and flat land affect where people build and settle.
  • Describe ways people change the land, such as dams, bridges and levees, and name a benefit and a cost of each.
  • Describe a place you have not studied using its physical and human features.

Lessons

  1. Physical or human? 5 steps3 practiceabout 16 min
  2. Why people build where they do 5 steps3 practiceabout 20 min
  3. People change the land 5 steps3 practiceabout 20 min
  4. Describe a place with features 4 steps1 practiceabout 19 min
  5. Features check 9 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Globe ExplorerSpin a real 3D globe, flip to the flat map, and find continents, oceans and countries.
  • Pin the PlanetDrag the pin onto wonders, cities and exact latitude and longitude points.
  • Mapmaker QuestFollow directions to make a map, then read its legend, compass rose and scale.

More 3rd grade geography

Guide for grown-ups