Chicago Botanic Garden
Faces of Climate Change
Sometimes, the best solution to a problem can be found by walking in someone else's shoes. Here, scholars use character cards to take on the roles of people around the world. They determine how their character's...
Curated OER
The Seven Continents Scavenger Hunt
Who doesn't enjoy an engaging scavenger hunt? Here, scholars listen to, and discuss, the informative text, Where is my Continent? by Robin Nelson. They then explore the seven continents and four major oceans using...
Peace Corps
Family
Family traditions are the focus of a lesson that explores the lives of children in India and those in your classroom. Scholars examine their own family roles and traditions, then respond to an informative text detailing a young...
Curated OER
The Globe and World Map
Students explore how to use maps for travel. In this map skills lesson plan, students read the text, With Love from Gran and discuss the places the character traveled. Students list the names of each city and country on chart paper.
Curated OER
Africa: Political Map
Young scholars create a political map for Africa. In this country identification lesson plan, students locate Africa on a globe and discuss some of its major countries and bodies of water. Young scholars complete a political...
Curated OER
Exploring Maps: Lesson 2 Guide: Navigation
Students explore and examine how maps have been used in navigation. They research how travelers collected observations to keep track of their positions and plotted information on maps. Each student then makes a Mercator projection...
Curated OER
LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI PAST AND PRESENT
Third graders explore the Mississippi River and the ways in which it is used by the communities it travels through.
Curated OER
The Crash Scene
Fifth graders explore geography by participating in a mapping activity. In this engineering lesson, 5th graders identify the differences between latitude and longitude and practice locating precise points on a globe or map. Students...
Curated OER
Mapping My World
Students are introduced to simple maps and view a map of a classroom and compare distances of items shown.
Curated OER
Baseball Challenge - Basic Geography Skills
A fabulous presentation/activity based on geography. The author has designed a "baseball game" where batters advance to the next base if they correctly answer a multiple choice question about geography. Geographic terms are used, along...
California Academy of Science
Which Way is North?
Who needs a compass to find cardinal directions? Just place a stick in the ground and record the movement of its shadow over the course of a day. Then, measure the shadow lengths in order to determine a north-south line. A simple...
It's About Time
Effects of Plate Tectonics
Explore our world from within as you lead young scientists on a thrilling adventure. Pupils examine the location of plate boundaries to determine earthquake and volcano distribution around the globe and explore the cause of hot spots in...
Curated OER
Finding Meaning in the Badge
Children who are three to five years old study two rank badges from the Qing dynasty to develop an understanding of social rank, language skills, and symbolism. The lesson is discussion-based and requires learners to compare and contrast...
Curated OER
Flat Earth Society
Students explore map distortion. In this geography lesson, students compare Mercator projection maps to globes in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of projection maps.
Curated OER
New: Around the World
First graders identify and demonstrate how symbols and models are used to represent features of the environment. They use a map and a globe to label where the students in the book came from, point out the continent, and show which ocean...
Curated OER
The Water Around Us
Students discuss importance of reading maps and knowing about the geography of the United States, and locate bodies of water on different types of maps and examine how they are used in the state or local community.
Curated OER
United States Map- Rivers
Students learn about rivers. In this maps lesson, students describe rivers and what human activities take place in a river. Students use a map to locate the rivers in the United States.
Curated OER
Three Mapping Activities
Students label three maps of China after being introduced to background information about the country. In this geography lesson, students color two maps and label various points of interest in China. Finally, students draw...
Curated OER
The Challenges Ahead
Young scholars examine the physical obstacles that the Lewis and Clark expedition encountered on its journey. They report what challenges these physical obstacles might have posed. They review a modern-day map and explain if the...
Curated OER
Things That Stick Out Or: How To Find Your Way Around on a Map
Students explain the meaning of and recognize the map outlines of a peninsula, an isthmus, and a cape.
Curated OER
Day to Day Life in a Small African Village
Students analyze what it is like to live in an African village. They locate Tanzania on a map and compare life there to life here in the United States. They write about the health issues in East Africa.
Curated OER
Where in the Latitude Are You? A Longitude Here.
Students distinguish between latitude and longitude on the map. In this mapping lesson, students participate in mapping skills to recognize spatial relationships, and where to find natural resources on the map. Students create...
Teach Engineering
Earthquakes Living Lab: Locating Earthquakes
There are patterns in nearly everything — even earthquakes. Pairs research current earthquakes to see if there are any patterns. They determine the mean, median, and mode of the earthquake data, along with the maximum and...