5 Themes of Geography Worksheets

About this resource

Teaching the 5 themes of geography and need pages students can actually work on? This is a complete set for grades 6-8: five short readings, one for each theme (location, place, human-environment interaction, movement and region), each with a main idea box, an example box and two checks to answer with a letter. Students then match examples to the right theme, tell physical from human characteristics, fill in a one-page organizer, describe a place they know, answer short questions with room for four lines each, plan and write a claim-evidence-reasoning paragraph, take a twelve-item quiz and do three cut-and-paste sorts. Answer keys give the letters and a sample for every open answer.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (39 pages)

• 22 student pages in eleven kinds of page, each with a name line and one short instruction
• 68 scored items spread over fourteen pages, every answer taken from the same lists that print on the page
• 5 readings of 161 to 179 words, one per theme, each with a main idea box and an example box (3 ruled lines each) and 2 checks (10 checks in all)
• 1 Before You Read page with 4 true-or-false items
• 1 Words to Know page: match 8 words (latitude, longitude, equator, landform, climate, migration, adapt, region) to their meanings
• 2 sorting pages: name the theme for 8 examples; check physical or human for 8 characteristics of a place
• A one-page organizer for the five themes, and a page where the student describes a place they know with all five themes
• 9 short-answer questions across three pages, 4 ruled lines each
• 2 claim-evidence-reasoning pages: an organizer and an 18-line paragraph page
• 12-item quiz across two pages; 1 self check (8 statements)
• 18 cut-and-paste pieces on 3 sort mats (match the theme, physical or human, movement and human-environment interaction), 6 pieces each in a 3 by 2 grid
• 4 answer keys with a sample for every open answer; 1 tracker, 1 class grid, 1 team note, 1 family page
• 1 filled example (an invented student), 1 phrase bank (17 starters in 6 groups)
• A binder cover with type-in teacher and class fields, and a page of divider tabs (Readings, Sorts, Quiz, Keys, Records) with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and a how-to-read-a-page page

Built For The Student Holding The Page

A "My name" line, one short instruction with a small picture cue, a plain scalloped border and big ruled boxes. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult: the keys and records are on separate teacher pages. The cut pages have six pieces in a strip-and-grid layout, edge to edge, so there are only a few straight cuts. Clip art is kept to a globe, a map, mountains, a sun, an airplane, a backpack and a pencil. The file prints clean in black and white.

A Short Account, Not A Full Textbook

Each reading is a plain-words summary of one theme, written for this file, with textbook examples such as latitude and longitude, Iceland, the Netherlands, the Great Migration and the Panama Canal. It does not quote any source and it is not tied to a particular standard. Check it against your own textbook. The only student in the file is an invented example, and it says so.

Type In, Or Print

The name line, every answer box, every check box and every ruled work box are type-in fields in any PDF reader: click one, type, then save. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A set of geography readings and practice pages with the record-keeping around it. It is not a timed test, a screener, a clinical tool, or a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. There is no IEP goal language or eligibility wording anywhere in the file, and no claim of alignment to any standard.

If You Want More

Climate Zones Worksheets | Map, Sort, Compare, Write 6th-8th Grade; Lewis and Clark Worksheets | Sort, Match, Timeline 6th 7th 8th Grade; Articles of Confederation Worksheets | Sort, Match, Timeline 6th 7th 8th Grade.