Download COMMUNITIES VOCABULARY: community

COMMUNITIES
VOCABULARY:
community - a place where many different people live and work
law - a rule that people follow to keep order and to stay safe in a community
elect - to choose by a vote
government - the laws and the people who make them and carry them out
WHY DO PEOPLE LIVE IN COMMUNITIES?
People working and playing together can do things that one
person can’t do alone. (T.E.A.M.)
DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMMUNITIES:
 Sizes - BIG cities, small towns
 Growth - sometimes they grow BIGGER and sometimes they get smaller
 Age - An old community has been around for a long time. A new
community is just getting started.
OUR COMMUNITY:
Name - Oneonta
Size - small
Growth - getting bigger
Age - fairly old
Things that make our community special 1. SUCO & Hartwick Colleges
2. Brook’s BBQ
3. Oneonta Outlaws
GOVERNMENT:
 People make rules and laws to help people live together peacefully and
safely
 In the United States, adults elect lawmakers. The lawmakers make
the laws for their community.
 Our government makes the laws. They also build roads,
 bridges, parks, and schools for
 our communities.
COMMUNITIES
VOCABULARY:
location - the position of a place on the Earth’s surface
landform - a shape or feature on the Earth’s surface
plateau - an area that is higher than the land around it; may have steep sides
and a mostly flat surface
climate - the weather that an area has over a long period of time
WATER:
 People build communities near water because people, animals, and
plants need water to live.
 People drink fresh water.
 Although we cannot drink salt water, we can travel on it with large ships and
catch fish to eat and sell.
 Lakes are smaller than oceans and are usually filled with fresh water.
 Rivers are long, moving streams of fresh water that empty into oceans, lakes, or
other rivers.
Areas of Water on Earth
OCEANS
salt water
LAKES
RIVERS
x
x
x
usually fresh water
flowing
x
transportation
x
x
x
recreation
x
x
x
x
x
drinking water
fishing
x
x
x
ports
x
x
x
LAND:
 Mountain Communities * Mountains are high areas of land.
* People might live in the mountains to cut down forests or to dig for
gold or silver.
 Valley Communities * Valleys are areas of low land between mountains and hills.
* Often, farming is good in valleys.
 Plains Communities * Plains are areas of flat or gently rolling land.
* This land is good for farming and raising animals.
 Plateau Communities * Plateaus are areas of higher land with a mostly flat surface.
* Coal or other minerals is often found beneath the plateau.
 Island Communities * Islands are areas of land surrounded by water.
* They range is size from very small to very large.
CLIMATE:
 Weather is what happens in the air each day.
 Weather over a long period of time is called climate.
 A community’s climate is based on temperature and how much
rain or snow it gets.
 Climate can be hot, warm, or cold and rainy, snowy, or dry.
*Our climate is cold and snowy, in the winter and warm
and dry in the summer.
COMMUNITIES
VOCABULARY:
geography - the study of the Earth and its people and places
region - an area with one or more features in common
REGIONS OF THE EASTERN UNITED STATES:
1. Coastal Plains - The Coastal Plains stretch from Maine to Texas.
There are many port cities.
2. Appalachian Mountains - The Appalachians are a very old mountain range.
Wind and weather have worn away the peaks over thousands of years
leaving rounded tops.
3. Ozark Plateau - It is covered by forests. The plateau reaches across parts of
Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
4. Central Plains - The Central Plains are low plains.
5. Great Plains - The Great Plains are dry, flat grasslands and are higher
than the Central Plains. There are few trees on the plains.
REGIONS OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES:
1. Rocky Mountains - This mountain range is made up of high jagged
mountains with snowy peaks. They are higher and
longer than the Appalachians.
2. Colorado Plateau - The Colorado Plateau is made up of red and white
sand and stone. It covers parts of Utah, Colorado, New
Mexico, and Arizona. (This is where the Grand Canyon is.)
3. The Great Basin - One of the driest regions in the United States.
4. The Pacific Range - This region includes mountains, valleys, and plains that run
along the West Coast, next to the Pacific Ocean.
IMPORTANT LAKES AND RIVERS OF THE UNITED STATES:
1. The Great Lakes - 5 lakes that are between the United States and Canada.
2. Mississippi River - The most important river in the United States. It is nearly
2,000 miles long.
3. Colorado River - It is over 1,400 miles long. It formed the Grand
Canyon by wearing away the land over millions of years.
THE GREAT LAKES
1. Lake Huron
2. Lake Ontario
3. Lake Michigan
4. Lake Erie
5. Lake Superior
** Remember HOMES! **
HABITATS
VOCABULARY:
organism - a living thing
habitat - the place where an organism lives
environment - the things that surround an organism
* In order to survive, an organism must be able to get everything it needs from its
habitat.
 Things organisms need in order to live:
1. food
2. water
3. air
4. shelter
5. space
 Different types of habitats:
1. forests
2. rain forests
3. oceans
4. deserts
5. wetlands
ENVIRONMENTS
VOCABULARY:
endangered organism - a kind of living thing of which very few exist and
someday might not be found on Earth
extinct organism - a kind of living thing that is no longer found on Earth
pollution - anything harmful added to the air, water, or land
CHANGES TO THE ENVIRONMENT:
 Examples of how an animal can change the environment:
1. a beaver building a dam
2. a dog digging a hole
3. caterpillars eating leaves
 Examples of how people can change the environment:
1. pollution
2. starting a forest fire
3. building houses
 Examples of how nature can change the environment:
1. drought
2. flood
3. earthquake
 WAYS THAT WE CAN PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT:
1. Reduce the amount of garbage we make
2. RECYCLE!
3. Adopt an animal
4. Pick up litter
5. Reuse items, like plastic containers
COMMUNITIES AND HABITATS STUDY GUIDE
You will need to know:
VOCABULARY:
community
elect
location
plateau
geography
organism
environment
extinct organism
law
government
landform
climate
region
habitat
endangered organism
pollution
FROM YOUR NOTES:
 Why people live in communities
 Characteristics of different types of communities
 The purpose of government
 Communities built near areas of water
 Types of landforms (mountains, valleys, plains, plateaus, islands)
 What things climate is based on (temperature, rain, and snow)
 Regions of the Eastern and Western United States
 Important lakes and rivers of the United States
 5 things organisms need in order to live
 Examples of different kinds of habitats
 Ways that the environment can be changed by people, animals, and nature
 Things we can do to protect and conserve our environment