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Europe BUNDLE
Give your students a solid background in European Geography with the Geography of Europe Bundle.
- 3 Google Slides lessons with note-taking guides: Europe’s Physical Geography, Society and Culture of Europe, Economics and politics of Europe
- 15 Daily Openers with student worksheets
- Activity Packet (print, digital, editable, and answers)
- Intro Diagnostic Activity
- 6 Map Quizzes: Northern, Western, Central, Eastern, Southeastern, Southern and Southwest Europe.
- Unit Project: Standard of Living Country Report Presentation
- Unit Test: regular multiple choice, modified version with fewer choices, answer key and study guide
PLANNING this MINI-UNIT
Europe’s Politics and Economics is the second mini-unit or topic taught in the “European Geography” unit. This topic covers: Political boundaries, historic events, the Ancient Worlds of Rome, Greece and Byzantium, how World Wars affected political boundaries, the European Union, Brexit, financial centers, market and command economies, trade and government.
Pacing
Teachers should plan 4-5 days to teach this unit on a traditional schedule with one-hour class periods. However, for those on a block schedule with 1 1/2 hour classes, teachers should plan for 1-2 days. During this mini-unit, students will begin working on their Standard of Living Country Report. Students will not finish this project until after the 3rd mini-unit: Society and Culture of Europe. An effective way to structure this unit includes:
DAY #1
- Begin the unit with an opener from a selection of 5 daily openers on Politics and Economics (more information below). Teachers can also introduce this mini-unit by assigning all 5 openers prior to starting the lecture.
- There are five pages of lecture notes for this unit. Teachers should plan on teaching the first page of lecture notes on the first day. (see Europe’s Politics and Economics Google Slides)
DAY #2
- Choose another opener in the Politics and Economics of Europe section.
- Lecture on “Politics and Economics of Europe” note-taking guide page #2
- After the lecture, have students complete the “Economic Analysis” special purpose map and critical thinking questions found in the Europe Activity Packet.
DAY #3
- Choose another opener in the Politics and Economics of Europe section.
- After reviewing the opener, continue the lecture, page #3 of the “Politics and Economics of Europe.”
- Introduce the project “Standard of Living Country Report.” SEE PRODUCT HERE
- Assign a different country for each student to complete this report. RESEARCH TASK #1 on the Instruction Page
DAY #4
- Choose another opener in the Politics and Economics of Europe section.
- After reviewing the opener, continue the lecture, page #4 of the “Politics and Economics of Europe.”
- Assign the “CIA World Factbook Research Page” to students for their “Standard of Living Country Report.” RESEARCH TASK #2 on the Instruction Page
DAY #5
- Choose the last opener in the Politics and Economics of Europe section.
- After reviewing the opener, finish the lecture, page #5 of the “Politics and Economics of Europe.”
- Assign the “In The News: Current Event” research page to students for their “Standard of Living Country Report.” RESEARCH TASK #3 on the Instruction Page
Openers
The “European Geography” unit has 15 openers that review the following topics: the European Union, per capita income, travel advisories, population analysis, UNESCO, physical geography and more. CLICK HERE for more information on openers for the “European Geography” unit.
OPENER TOPICS
Politics and Economics
- CIA Factbook: Belarus
- Magna Carta
- The European Union: Strategic Agenda
- Europe’s Per Capita Income
- Travel Advisory: Serbia
Society and Culture
- Italy’s Population Pyramid
- UNESCO Predictions
- The Highland Games (Scotland)
- The Louvre
- Population Growth in Europe
Physical Geography
- Peninsulas of Europe
- The Danube River
- Europe and Movement
- Switzerland Climograph
- Peat in Ireland
Google Slides
GOOGLE SLIDES: After the opener, begin the 
Google Slides lesson. Students can take notes on paper using the note-taking guide provided with the Google Slides lesson, or they may take notes digitally with the electronic version (also included with the Google Slides).
TEACHING TIPS
⭐️ TEACHER TIP: I post a PDF version of the Google Slides to Google Classroom so that students can review their notes if they are absent. Click “File, Download, PDF” on the Google Slide to do this.
⭐️ TEACHER TIP: Some teachers post Google Slides in their Google Classroom and digital note-taking guides for students to complete as homework.
⭐️TEACHER TIP: When pressed for time, I will edit the note-taking guides to include answers for some boxes or delete boxes and slides entirely. Teachers should feel free to modify the lesson to meet their student’s needs and individual learning targets.
Activities
Note-Taking Guides
This Politics and Economics of Geography Note-Taking Guide should be paired with Google Slides (see above). Teachers can walk students through these notes or post lecture notes on their chosen platform and have students record the information. Here is a preview of the print and digital versions of the note-taking guides
Student Worksheets & Activities
There are eleven pages of activities to choose from to enhance any of the Geography of Europe mini-units.
- Political Map
- Latitude and Longitude Practice
- Physical Geography Questions
- Physical Geography Labeling and Elevation Coloring
- Data Analysis: Per Capita Income
- World Bank Data: Student-created special purpose map using mapchart.ent with video tutorial
- Population Analysis France and Spain
- Europe’s Green New Deal Reading
- Europe’s Green New Deal Infographic
- 5 Themes of Geography Paragraph
- Current Event Research
UNIT: Introduction Diagnostic Activity
Helpful Videos
Break up direct instruction by showing a video that reviews concepts they just learned.
Key Terms & Vocabulary
HISTORICAL topics
- Black Death
- Renaissance
- Protestant Reformation
- Industrial Revolution
- ANCIENT GREECE: City-state, poleis, citizens, Athens, Acropolis, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
- ANCIENT ROME: Republic, Christianity, Constantine
- ANCIENT BYZANTIUM: The Great Schism, Constantinople, Ottomans
POLITICAL topics
- European Union
- Democratic Indices: Judicial Independence, Media Integrity, Free Political Parties, Clean Elections
ECONOMIC topics
- Debt Crisis
- Financial Centers: London, Zurich, Frankfurt
- Mixed Economy
- Market Economy
- Command Economy
OTHER topics
- Transcontinental
- Great Britain v. The United Kingdom
- Brexit
- Microstate
LEARNING TARGETS
- Students can identify the relative location of Europe.
- Students can define the term Transcontinental and identify Europe’s four transcontinental countries.
- Students will be able to outline events of historic significance in Europe, particularly: the Black Death, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and the Industrial Revolution.
- Students can compare and contrast three ancient Empires: Greece, Rome and Byzantium.
- Students can describe elements of early democracy in Ancient Greece and Rome
- Students can compare and contrast the ancient philosophers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
- Students can explain how the Great Schism affected Religion in Europe.
- Students can explain how World War I changed political boundaries in Eastern and Central Europe.
- Students can explain the differences between Great Britain and the United Kingdom.
- Students can define the European Union and identify the E.U.’s major goals.
- Students can evaluate how successful the E.U.’s is in achieving its goals by analyzing: Per Capita Income, Debt, and Brexit.
- Students can define Brexit and explain the benefits and drawbacks of the United Kingdom leaving the E.U.
- Students can define and identify the major financial centers in Europe.
- Students can define the following terms: Mixed Economy, Market Economy, and Command Economy.
- Students can list Europe’s major exports.
- Students can analyze how per capita income differs in each European region.
- Students can compare and contrast Germany and Romania in terms of: Government, Economy and Society.
- Students can define Microstates and identify Europe’s six microstates.
- Students can evaluate the level of political stability in Europe by examining: Judicial independence, media integrity, political parties, and clean elections.
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Thank you for stopping by Teacher Bistro. I created this place as a resource for educators who wanted an easy way to find resources. In my first ten years of teaching, I can’t tell you how many hours I spent gathering lesson plans, video guides, and lectures. Hopefully, you have added this site to your bookmarks, and this place can make teaching a little bit easier.