Geography Skills for Georgia's Grade 6 and 7 World Area Studies
Geography Skills for Georgia's Grade 6 and 7 World Area Studies
If you teach Georgia's Grade 6 or Grade 7 world area studies, Geography Complete – Middle School can carry the map, location and physical geography side of the course. It gives you 60+ no-prep resources on geographic inquiry, latitude and longitude, landforms, climate zones and natural resources. What it does not include is regional content on Latin America, Europe, Africa or Asia; you bring those case studies.
View the geography unitsGeography Complete – Middle School ($149.90, Grades 6–8) is a skills-first geography program: geographic inquiry with maps, atlases, data and graphs; absolute and relative location; map types and spatial patterns; and physical geography from landforms to climate zones and plate movement. For Georgia's world area studies in Grades 6 and 7 it supplies the geography tools students apply to each region. It has no region-by-region units and is not matched to Georgia's standards.
The resources
Geography Complete – Middle School, Grades 6–8
Start with the first resource; the others are optional add-ons. Open any cover for the full contents and price.
Geography Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School Geography
World History Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School History
Environmental Science Units Bundle | Climate Change, Climate Data, Ecosystems, Resources & Climate Ethics | 5 Units | Grades 8–12
Teach-Life-Balance: The Complete Time-Saving Course for Teachers (incl. Planner, Guides & Templates)
The real problem
Two years of world regions, one set of map skills
Georgia does not teach a stand-alone middle school geography course. Under the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) for Social Studies, Grade 6 covers Latin America and the Caribbean, Canada, Europe and Australia, and Grade 7 moves to Africa, Southwest Asia (the Middle East), and Southern and Eastern Asia. Grade 8 then turns to Georgia Studies. World Geography itself only appears later, as a high school GSE course. In practice, a sixth-grade teacher has to teach history, government, economics and geography for each region, all in one year, and the geography often gets squeezed into a quick map quiz at the start of every unit. Students then meet a climate map of Southwest Asia or a physical map of South America without ever having practiced reading one carefully. The gap is skills: latitude and longitude, map elements, comparing map types, reading climate data, and explaining how landforms and resources shape where people live. Those skills are the same in Grade 6 and Grade 7, which is why many teachers want them taught well once and reused for every region.
Why it fits
Which parts of the program help in Grades 6 and 7
The program is organized by geography skill and theme rather than by continent, which suits a course that changes region every few weeks.
- Map elements and map types prepare students for every regional map in Grades 6 and 7.
- Absolute and relative location, latitude and longitude, give each new region a fixed starting point.
- Climate zones and weather lessons support comparing Europe and Australia, or South and East Asia.
- Natural resources and ecosystems tie physical geography to the economics strand in each region.
- Data and graph tasks train students to read the climate and population charts you add.
- Differentiated tasks suit mixed-ability classes, from struggling readers to students who finish early.
Getting started
Fitting the program into a world area studies year
One possible way to use it, offered as a suggestion. Adjust it to your district pacing guide.
- Open with a map skills unitSpend the first weeks on map elements, map types and location. Students who can read a map properly will move faster through every region later in the year.
- Set up each region with locationWhen a new region starts, use a latitude and longitude or relative location task on that region's map, which you provide, to anchor it before the history begins.
- Use physical geography as the framePull the landform, climate zone and natural resource lessons in as each region's physical geography comes up, for example climate zones when you reach Europe or Southern Asia.
- Add your own regional case studiesThe program does not name Georgia's regions. Pair its worksheets with your own maps, country profiles and sources for Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East or East Asia.
- Review before unit testsThe review activities and answer keys work well as a short check before each regional test, or as a sub day lesson that keeps the map skills sharp.
What to buy
What to buy for a Georgia middle school social studies class
Start with Geography Complete – Middle School at $149.90, or $189.90 if you want the Teach-Life-Balance course included. If you also want sources, timelines and historical thinking material for the history side of each region, World History Complete – Middle School ($149.90) covers early civilizations through global interactions; buying both lets you use code TEACHMORE15 for 15% off the two complete curricula. Eighth-grade science or social studies teachers adding climate topics can look at the Environmental Science Units Bundle ($69.99, Grades 8–12). Teach-Life-Balance on its own is $89.90.
Honest limits
What you still supply for Georgia
This program is general middle school geography. It is not written for Georgia, contains no GSE codes, and has no units on the specific Grade 6 or Grade 7 regions or on Georgia Studies. Check it against the GSE for Social Studies and your district guide, and add regional maps, country data and current events yourself. It is a digital download for your own teaching; a team or school wanting to share it should message Teach Lessons first. If the program turns out not to suit your class, you have 7 days to exchange it for store credit of equal value; there is no cash refund.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Is it aligned with the Georgia Standards of Excellence for Grade 6 and 7?
No. Geography Complete is not aligned with, approved for or endorsed under the Georgia Standards of Excellence. It teaches general geography skills that the world area studies courses use, but it carries no GSE codes and no region-specific units. Read your grade's standards next to the unit list and decide which lessons you want to use.
Does it have units on Latin America, Europe, Africa or Asia?
No. The content is organized by skill and theme: inquiry, maps and location, and physical geography such as landforms, weather, climate zones, resources, ecosystems, erosion and plate movement. You apply those lessons to the regions Georgia names, using your own regional maps and sources. A sixth-grade class could, for example, compare climate zones in Canada and Australia using the climate lessons.
Can I use it in Grade 8 Georgia Studies?
Parts of it, yes. Lessons on map reading, location, landforms and natural resources apply to any place, including Georgia. The program has nothing specific to Georgia's geography, history or government, so it would only support the geography skills in that course. For the Georgia content itself, rely on your Georgia Studies materials.
How much is included and in what form?
More than 60 resources: worksheets, activities, slides and answer keys, usable on paper or in a digital classroom. You can teach them as a full sequence or pull single units for short lessons, review or substitute days. Everything downloads right after purchase. The tasks are differentiated for mixed-ability classes.
Is there a discount if I add World History Complete?
Yes. Code TEACHMORE15 gives 15% off when you buy two or more Complete Curriculum packages, such as Geography Complete and World History Complete. It does not apply to bundles or single units. Both programs cost $149.90 before the discount, and each still works fine on its own if you only need one this year.
Can my whole social studies department use one copy?
The licence covers your own teaching. Use across a team or school is possible after a short message to Teach Lessons, so ask before you share files with colleagues. Posting the materials publicly or passing them on is not allowed. A quick message before the school year starts is the easiest route.
Give every region the same strong map skills
Open the product page to see the full list of geography units and decide which ones fit your Grade 6 or Grade 7 pacing.
View the geography units