SS2

Grade 2, Social Studies
Std 8: Identify continents, oceans, and the equator using technology, maps, and globes.
                • Identifying map elements, including title, legend, and scale.
                • Identifying intermediate directions
                • Utilizing key elements on maps and globes to estimate routes.

Lesson Plans:

Orienteering
Students will use a map to locate six specific landmarks in a given area, create a list of how
maps and landmarks can help us, and explain in writing how to get from point A to
point B to someone unfamiliar to the area.

Expanding Map Skills from the Neighborhood to the World
Students will demonstrate map skills by describing the absolute and relative locations of people, places and environments.

Make a Map
Students will create a map and a map key, understand that a map shows the view from above, and use a map key to interpret symbols and locate places and objects on a map.

Geography of Pizza
Students will use a local service business - pizza restaurants - to explore components of patterns of spatial organization.

Primary Technology Maps This hands-on, inquiry-based lesson combines map skills which include identifying map elements, applying an understanding of cardinal directions, interpreting resource maps, and identifying a location. Students will have the opportunity to work with a group to research a specific continent and create a multimedia slide about the continent.

Fifty States Project Students will follow simple research steps in the school media center and on the internet to complete a poster on an assigned state by identifying the state's symbols and agricultural products.

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom! Students will "zoom farther and farther out from their earthbound perspective as they use children's literature, their imaginations, and images from outer space to develop a better understanding of geography and cartography. This lesson incorporates a virtual field trip to help students better understand the need for an use of maps.

Maps and Globes: Where Are We?
Scroll down to History and Geography. Lesson is under Spatial Sense. This lesson focuses on introduction to maps and globes and why they are important. Includes land forms and oceans, cardinal direction.

Investigating Our Place in the World
Scroll down to History and Geography. Lesson is under Spatial Sense. This is a year-long geography unit designed to foster the students' geographical awareness of city, state, country, continent, and world. Includes hands-on activities, centers, and literature connections.

Passport to the World
Scroll down to History and Geography. Lesson is under Overview of the Seven Continents. Come join us on a field trip around the world! To determine our mode of travel we must identify each geographical location on a map or globe. We will explore climate, people, customs, landmarks, and animals of each continent or ocean.

Geography Alive!
Scroll down to History and Geography to find this lesson link. This unit includes locating continents and oceans, cardinal directions, map symbols and legends.

Where in the World Am I?
Scroll down to History and Geography to find this lesson link. This series of lessons includes maps and globes, cardinal directions, spatial sense and bird's eye view, geographic features and terms, compass rose, and making a model.

Mapping the Garden The learner will understand the legend, the key, the symbols and the area on a map by viewing several maps and discussing the mentioned features of the maps.

Resources:

Helping Your Child Learn Geography: From creating treasure maps to helping children find pen pals, this site/book offers many simple, fun activities to teach youngsters the fundamentals of geography.

Maps: Where Am I? It's hard for kids to relate the three-dimensional, horizon-oriented world they live in to the two-dimensional, vertically oriented "world" of maps. This film will help to solve that problem. Short video from United Streaming.

Math Monsters: Mapping: The Monsters learn to make and use maps to help their guests come to their party. Our field visit is to a school bus driver who explains how he works with maps in order to pick up children. Short video from United Streaming.

Understanding and Using Maps and Globes: This two-part Unit of Study is designed to present students with explanations of how maps and globes are used to represent key concepts about our planet. One video explores maps and the other presents information about globes. Vocabulary includes terms such as scale, compass rose, cardinal directions, symbols, latitude, longitude, equator, hemisphere, oceans and continents. From United Streaming.

Understanding Maps: Key to Everywhere: This program gives an overview of maps. It explains direction, distance, scale, elevation, and grid maps. It also demonstrates points on a compass, how different types of maps show different things, what symbols are, and what a globe is. Short video from United Streaming.

Suggestions for English Language Learners:
(E/B=Entering/Beginning, D=Developing, E=Expanding)

(E/B) Students locate reference points on local or world maps or globes from oral commands (i.e.around the school/community; or mountains and oceans) by pointing, labeling or stating.
(E/B) Students identify neighborhood signs from pictures (i.e. traffic lights, schools or railroad crossings).
(E/B) Students identify buildings in neighborhoods from pictures (i.e. "Firefighters work here.").
(D) Students identify directions and cardinal points on local maps or scales based on a series of oral directions (such as the compass rose or legends).
(D) Students locate places in neighborhoods from maps (i.e. "The house is next to the park.").
(D, E) Students explore and compare a map and a globe.
(E) Students distinguish among geographic locations on local or regional maps based on oral descriptions that include directionality.
(E) Students find locations using maps of neighborhoods (i.e. "The school is at the corner of First and Oak.").
(E/B, D, E) Students point to areas on the map dictated by teacher in response to reading.

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