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Back to Geography Lesson Plan
The Branding of America
(And Your State)

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Subjects

  • Arts & Humanities
    --Language Arts
  • Educational Technology
  • Social Studies
    --Economics
    --Geography
    --History
    ----U.S. History
    ----State History

Grade

  • K-2
  • 3-5
  • 6-8
  • 9-12
  • Advanced

Brief Description

Students discover the products their local area contributes to the U.S./world economy.

Objectives

Students will

  • learn about the origins of some major U.S. brands.
  • learn about local products that stimulate the economy.
  • create a map showing where those products originate.
  • contribute to a Library of Congress Web site of local products (optional).

Keywords

economy, economics, products, brands, companies, consumer, advertising, map, geography

Materials Needed

Lesson Plan

Noted 11/09/2006: The project that is part of this lesson is no longer available online, but creative teachers might adapt the ideas in this lesson in other ways.

This activity uses and builds upon a resource from the Library of Congress (LOC). That special activity resource, The Branding of America, provides a U.S. map of 20 products with U.S. origins (for example, Campbell's Soups, Kellogg's cereals, and Steinway pianos). The original intent behind this project was that students could contribute products from their own home towns to the map. Since the project is not longer active, we suggest you share the project with students as a way of introducing a class project in which students do a similar project on a map of their own state. Students will research brands that are native to their own state and place billboard icons on a state map. Extend yarn from each billboard to students' research about the brands, which will surround the state map.

Extend the Activity

  • Develop your own Branding Our Town activity. Post a map of your city/town and investigate products that originated or were manufactured there. Have students write about the product, then post their work around a map of the city/town. Extend yarn from the write-ups to the location on the map where each product originated.
  • Talk about how the companies on your map affect your community, region, or state. What benefits does each company bring to the area? What would the area be like if that company was not around?
  • Collect advertising samples (ads, catalogs, brochures...) from those companies to learn how they present themselves to consumers.

Assessment

Produce a matching activity for students. In one column write ten towns/cities (from your own state or city/town map); in the second column write in random order a product associated with each of those locations. Have students use the classroom map as a resource for completing the activity. Students should correctly match at least 8 of the 10 locations and products.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World (with resources from the American Memory Collection from the Library of Congress.)

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

LANGUAGE ARTS: English
GRADES K - 12
NL-ENG.K-12.8 Developing Research Skills
NL-ENG.K-12.12 Applying Language Skills

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Economics
GRADES K - 4
NSS-EC.K-4.6 Gain from Trade
NSS-EC.K-4.10 Market Institutions
NSS-EC.K-4.14 Entrepreneurs
GRADES 5 - 8
NSS-EC.5-8.6 Gain from Trade
NSS-EC.5-8.10 Market Institutions
NSS-EC.5-8.14 Entrepreneurs
GRADES 9 - 12
NSS-EC.9-12.6 Gain from Trade
NSS-EC.9-12.10 Market Institutions
NSS-EC.9-12.14 Entrepreneurs

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Geography
GRADES K - 12
NSS-G.K-12.1 The World in Spatial Terms
NSS-G.K-12.2 Places and Regions

SOCIAL SCIENCES: U.S. History
GRADES K - 4
NSS-USH.K-4.2 The History of Students' Own State or Region
GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-USH.5-12.1 to 5-2.10 All Eras

TECHNOLOGY
GRADES K - 12
NT.K-12.1 Basic Operations and Concepts
NT.K-12.5 Technology Research Tools

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