This teaching packet is for grades five through eight, and it is organized around geographic themes: location, place, relationships, movement, and regions. There are four full lessons that are complete with posters, weblinks, and...

Put your students' map skills to the test with this engaging cross-curricular project. Given the task of developing new hiking trails for their local community, young cartographers must map out beginner and intermediate...

Students discuss different types of maps, their similarities and differences. Using a Topographical Maps CD-rom program students create their own map.

Students plan a route across Donner Summit using topographical maps in order to understand the challenges involved in constructing the railroad in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In this history lesson plan, students first discover how to...

Underclassmen create a cone-shaped landform and then draw a contour map for it. Then they examine a quadrangle (which was easily located with an online search), and relate it to what they experienced. The accompanying worksheet is...

Students create a 3-D topographic map.  In this map building lesson, students use cardboard to create a topographic map of the Catskills mountain region.

Learners design a train route using a topographical map. In this historical and spatial thinking lesson plan, students must plan a route through the Sierra Nevada mountains that a train could physically travel. Links to printable student...

Students create a state map using Playdoh. In this hands-on state geography lesson plan, students work in groups to form a three-dimensional  map of their state using Playdoh made at home following a (given) recipe. Students use...

Lesson 1 of 10 lessons in this orienteering unit is about maps and map scales. After all, orienteering is all about maps, compasses, and finding ones' way around. It is imperative to be able to read maps and understand the relevance of...

As part of a unit on Arizona's biotic communities, young ecology learners create a map. They describe how humans and animals adapt in their habitat. They take notes and create graphic organizers from articles they read. Beautiful maps,...

Fourth graders demonstrate map making skills by using the computer to create maps of the geographic features, regions, and economy for their state.

Fourth graders use the computer program 'Pixie' to create a topographic, detailed map for the state they live in. For this mapping skills lesson, 4th graders use Pixie to make a map of their state that includes topographic features,...

Learners create their own ancient civilizations based off of topographical maps of Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, and the Yellow River. In this social studies lesson, students are assigned one topographical map to use to create...

Fourth graders define vocabulary and locate physical features on maps.  In this mapping activity, 4th graders explore regions of Arizona through landforms found on topographic maps.  Students research the history and culture of...

Students map and analyze the natural and cultural environment of the school grounds. In small groups, they sketch the natural and cultural features of each side of the school building, create a map, participate in a class discussion,...

Students experiment with water levels and plastic topographic volcano models to determine the contour lines that would be used to create a topograpohic map of a volcano. They use the traced lines to actually develop the map.

Students map watersheds to find their boundaries.  In this watershed activity students map and then give their "watershed address."  Students show the trail from stream, larger stream to oceans.  Students describe the...

Students read and identify features on a topography map. In this topography lesson plan, students learn how to read a topography map, and then go out and take pictures of their own and discuss the topography pictures they took.

Tenth graders test usefulness of a model Earth by comparing its predictions to observations in the real world.  For this landforms lesson students construct an island from a contour map using model clay then analyze the landscape...

Students create a three dimensional island out of cardboard to examine how to read and use a topographical map. They make sure that their island can sustain life and that it has one volcanic mountain peak. They trace the parts of their...

Students explore South Carolina. In this cultural heritage lesson plan, students investigate the topography of South Carolina using maps. Students are engaged in identifying the different regions of the state and examine the cultural...

Students use maps to locate information. They read the story, "It Looked Like Spilt Milk", view images of the continents and discuss the various continents. Afterward, they make their own Atlas to record information that they can later...

Students discover how we use land. They gain insight into the way we use the land, both for benefit and consequence. Students explore how to 'listen to the land' as they make decisions on how it should be used and the consequences of...

Learners discuss the location of stores, buildings, and homes in their community. Afterwards, they create a 'mud map' demonstrating the route from one point to another. In pairs, students read travel directions from a brochure, while...