Take 10 sheets of unlined white paper and fold them in horizontally in half. Staple the folded parts of the papers together to create a binding. Have the students design the first page as the title page and the last page as the back of the dictionary. The rest of the pages will be have one geography term, its definition and illustration on each page. Use more or less pages depending on the amount of terms you have. Use terms from physical geography such as "fault line, erosion, and igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks."
Jeopardy is a time-tested activity for teachers to review and test their students' knowledge of academic terms. This activity is suitable for fifth grade students who can even make the Jeopardy board themselves. Typical Jeopardy games have five categories such as "Physical Geography, American Colonial Geography or Geography of the Americas." Include five to 10 questions in each category. The questions go from 100 to 1,000 points and increase in difficulty. Teachers who have access to computer programs like PowerPoint can make a Jeopardy board on the computer. Jeopardy boards can also be made from foam board. Sample questions could include: "A slow moving river of ice is called a _____" and "The phenomena of the rise in the earth's temperature caused by excess carbon dioxide is called_____."
This is a group activity that engages the whole classroom. Divide the class into two groups. Each group draws a hangman with as many parts as you have geography terms. Ask each group a question about a geography term such as archipelago, cartographer, cardinal directions and compass rose. If one team gets the question right they get to erase a body part of their opponent's hangman. When one team's hangman is gone, the other team wins.
Crossword puzzles are a versatile independent classroom or homework activity that is suitable for reviewing geography terms. Crossword puzzles and word searches can be made for free and with ease online. Teachers can also make crossword puzzles by hand or with Microsoft Word on their own. This activity can be used for every geography unit in the school year. For example, a unit on water geography can use the terms canal, bay, cape, cove, delta, estuary, fjord and geyser.
This activity calls upon students to remember physical geography terms and apply them to the real world. Show your students colored pictures of different famous geographic formations such as the Grand Canyon and the Mississippi River. Make copies of the pictures for your students. Ask them to describe the formations using physical geography terms they learned such as erosion, sediment and inlets. They can either describe the formations in writing or together as a class.