What Does Geography Have To Do With The Census?

What Is This About?

This is about maps and counting people.

The census counts people.

Geography helps us count them.

Kids will learn new words.

Kids will learn about map spaces.

Some Words To Know

Spatial means about space on Earth.

Boundary is a line.

It shows where one place ends.

It shows where another place starts.

Geographic entity is a place.

A state is one kind of place.

A county is one kind of place.

A city is one kind of place.

Geographic hierarchy is a big idea.

Big places have smaller places inside.

States have counties inside.

Counties have smaller parts inside too.

Decennial Census counts every person.

It happens every ten years.

American Community Survey asks questions too.

It happens every month.

It asks about jobs and homes.

Census tract is a small area.

It is inside a county.

It has about 4,000 people.

Census block group is smaller.

It has about 600 to 3,000 people.

Census block is the smallest area.

Streets and roads make its edges.

What Kids Will Do

First, kids read about census areas.

Then, kids get word cards.

Some cards have words.

Some cards have meanings.

Kids walk around the room.

Kids match each word to its meaning.

Kids check their answers together.

Kids look at maps of tracts, block groups, and blocks.

Kids compare the sizes.

Census tracts are the biggest.

Census blocks are the smallest.

Block groups are in the middle.

Think About It

Kids will think about this question:

Why do we divide land into these parts?

Kids will share ideas with a partner.

Kids will write one sentence.

The sentence answers this:

What role does geography play in the census?