LIVE Lesson - Pennsylvania Geography

Pennsylvania was one of the 13 Original Colonies. Because of its central location in the 13 Colonies, it was eventually nicknamed The Keystone State.

Pennsylvania became the 2nd state of the United States of America in 1787. It was named after William Penn. The name "Pennsylvania" means "Penn's woods".

Pennsylvania is bordered by New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio. It also touches one of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie.

The capital of Pennsylvania is Harrisburg, and the population of Pennsylvania is approximately 12.9-13.1 million people. This makes Pennsylvania the 5th most populous state.

All of the mountains and ridges in Pennsylvania are part of the Appalachian Mountain system. The Allegheny Mountains run through western and central PA. The Blue Mountains form the southern edge of Pennsylvania's Ridge-and-Valley Section. The Pocono Mountains are in the northeast part of Pennsylvania and are known for ski resorts.

Allegheny Mountains

Pocono Mountains

Blue Mountains

Several important cities to know in Pennsylvania are the cities of the four corners of the state: Erie, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. There are also other famous places such as Hershey, PA where the world-famous Hershey Chocolate Factory is located and Punxsutawney, PA where people come from all over to watch the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil predict the arrival of spring on Groundhog Day.

Do you recognize any of the town/city names on the map as being close to where you live?

Allegheny Mountains

Allegheny Mountains

Hershey's Chocolate World

Punxsutawney Phil

You can ask Google: What county is Nescopeck, PA in?
Fill your town name in where the underlined words are.

Allegheny Mountains

Allegheny Mountains

The state of Pennsylvania is broken up into 67 counties. A county is like a big neighborhood inside a state, with its own local government to help run things, like keeping important records, organizing elections, and making sure laws are followed.

TASK: Google which county you live in. You will put your answer on the next slide, so that we can see how many counties our class is from!