Curated OER
Ancient Egypt: Connecting Literature and Geography
Students brainstorm prior knowledge of Ancient Egypt, locate Egypt on map of Africa and on world map, watch King Tut film, discuss term biography, and map geographical information mentioned in stories and documentaries about Ancient Egypt.
Curated OER
Let the North Star Tell You Where You Are
Young scholars participate in activities in which they find the Big Dipper and locate the North Star in the night sky, examine the relationship between the angle to Polaris and latitude, and determine latitude by using an astrolabe.
Curated OER
Celebrating the Solstice and Equinox
Fourth graders graph the number of daylight hors throughout the year and examine why day length varies. They discover that seasonal changes and latitude on Earth affect the number of hours of daylight in each day. Students listen to...
Curated OER
Continents and Oceans
Students identify oceans and continents and their locations on a map. They color-code and label their own map of the world's continents and oceans. They play the game Continents and Oceans to identify specific areas.
Curated OER
Direction March
Students participate in a game that explores map reading skills and intermediate directions. The teacher turns over a direction card for each player or team and announces the move, and they move towards a designated cardinal or...
Curated OER
Arkansas Geography/History Relief Map
Sixth graders research a number of sources including the Internet to find information about the regions of Arkansas while locating sites of national historic interest. They located sites on maps while working at assigned websites. They...
Curated OER
Treasure Hunt
Students find lost "treasure" using a treasure map after being shown a map that you have created where terms and symbols are discussed. The class is divided into small groups where they locate your treasure and then read a section from...
Curated OER
That's NorthEastWestSouth to Me!
Students demonstrate north, south, east and west. In groups, students participate in games to decide what directions a specific bear must travel. They play a "Simon Says" game to develop single step directions. Students listen to and...
Curated OER
Map Making/Floor Plans/Map Reading
Students apply their knowledge of scale when mapping the classroom. They determine the use of a map legend and orient a map using a compass. They create the classroom maps using transfer graph paper.
Curated OER
Anza and Font in Search of Latitude
This is an integrated lesson plan that incorporates Social Studies, Science, and Mathematics. In Social Studies, 7th graders complete an online interview and complete an online worksheet about latitude of sites on the Anza trail. In...
Curated OER
Follow That Ship!
Students in this exercise are introduced to the distinct ways of measuring distance (nautical miles) and speed (knots) at sea, as well as the concepts of latitude and longitude for establishing location.
Curated OER
Native American Homelands
Pupils discuss the Navajo, Sioux, and Iroquois tribes, noting their distinctive characteristics. They trace the homeland of each of the tribes on maps and create map keys. Students explain how they developed their map keys.
Curated OER
Bird's Eye View Map
Students explore seeing things from a bird's eye view. They listen to the book, "As the Crow Flies," view various objects from eye level views and standing on a chair, create a drawing of an object from both views, and read "Ben's...
Curated OER
George Washington Teaches Map Directions
Learners follow teacher given directions, either oral or written to plot points on a grid to create a profile of George Washington. They apply cardinal and ordinal directions to find the points on the grid.
Curated OER
Underground Rails: The New York City Subway System
Students explore the New York Subway system. They investigate its usefulness as mode of transportation for the people in the city and study its history compared to other city subway systems. They examine how the subway connects the...
Curated OER
Snow Cover By Latitude
Students create graphs comparing the amount of snow cover along selected latitudes using data sets from a NASA website. They create a spreadsheet and a bar graph on the computer, and analyze the data.
Curated OER
Creating Station Models
Students work in groups to interpret weather maps. They use latitude and longitude readings to complete a worksheet together and turn in the worksheet along with the maps and a rubric.
Curated OER
Gingerbread Forest Map Skills #2
Students are read the story "Gingerbread Baby". They work together to develop a 3D map of the journey the baby traveled in the story. They practice their map reading skills to complete the lesson.
Curated OER
Silk Roads Big Map
Learners create an oversized map from Europe to East Asia. They include information such as Silk Roads, geographical features, major cities and cultural information on their map.
Curated OER
Latitude and Longitude
Pupils find latitude and longitude on a map or atlas. They create maps with a cruise route. They practice plotting locations given latitiude and longitude.
Curated OER
Trailblazers - Now and Then
Students, working in pairs, use maps to determine the most efficient routes between two cities. They research which route would have been used by early trailblazers. They present a first person account of one of the trailblazers place in...
Curated OER
Mapmaker, Make Me a Map!
Students are introduced to the state quarter program and examine the Colorado state quarter. They locate Colorado on a map and create a map with a key. They discuss the state motto and examine pictures of the state's geographical features.
Curated OER
Colonial Vacation Planner
Students plan a family vacation to states that were among the original 13 colonies. The groups determine which state they visit, map their route, calculate the mileage, and determine how much money they spend on gasoline.
Curated OER
Map Scale and the Pioneer Journey
Fourth graders, using a map, ruler and calculator, determine the distance the pioneers traveled from Nauvoo, Ill. to the Salt Lake Valley.