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Christopher Columbus: The Man, the Myth, the Legend
Learn more about maps by examining Christopher Columbus's voyage to the New World. Kindergartners will learn about basic map skills and how to identify the compass rose, oceans, and land masses. They will also discover the purpose of...
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Tortoise and Hare Races
Practice basic map skills with the story of The Tortoise and the Hare. After listening to the story, class members create a map that indicates the starting line, the path the animals took, where they stopped to rest, and the finish line....
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Virtual Field Trip
Are we there yet? Young trip planners learn about their state and plan a trip. They will select sites to see in three cities in their state, and record associated costs in a spreadsheet. While this was originally designed as a...
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2nd Grade - Act. 21: Me On the Map
Second graders read book, Me On the Map, and create map of their bedroom and of their house.
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Sticks, Stones, Sinews and Stuff: How Early People Used the Environment to Meet Basic Needs
Students create an artifact. In this early survival lesson, students use found objects to create an artifact that could have been used to help early people meet their basic needs.
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A Walk Around the School: Mapping Places Near and Far
After reading Pat Hutchins’ Rosie’s Walk, have your young cartographers create a map of Rosie’s walk. Then lead them on a walk around the school. When you return class members sequence the walk by making a list of how the class got from...
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Gopher It! Exploring German Cyberspace
Students are introduced to the Gopher research tools. In groups, they compare and contrast English and German services on the gopher servers. They create their own dictionary of computer related terms and spend time downloading picture...
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Mexico: One Land, Many Cultures
Students, through a variety of activities, discover the geography and culture of Mexico. They make maps, read folktales, write a journal, create pinatas and other artistic pieces, and review the history of Mexico.
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The Marvelous World of OZ
Students investigate the major themes in fantasy maps, expand basic map reading skills, write imaginative narrative essays based on the OZ map, and create their own fantasy map detail based on a core map.
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Me on the Map: Homes, Neighborhoods, and Communities
Students read a book about maps and identify the differences between a picture and a map. In this maps lesson plan, students also label maps of their home, neighborhood, and community.
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Map Your House
Students are introduced to the concepts of maps as scale models of the whole. After a brief lecture on creating and using an accurate scale when drawing and reading a map. They create a scale drawing of the floorplan of their homes.
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Using Maps in the LCTL Classroom
Students review terms and prepositions of location and view a map to illustrate the meanings of the prepositions students are unfamiliar with. They play "Where am I?" game utilizing correct prepositions then they work with a partner to...
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Christopher Columbus
Help first graders gain an understanding of the beginnings of our nation by learning more about Christopher Columbus. They begin by listening to a read aloud of Christopher Columbus and His Voyage to the New World (another title...
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Navigation
Students explain that globes are the best way to show positions of places, but flat maps are portable and can show great detail. They make a mercator projection of the route Lewis and Clark took on their journey.
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Follow the Light
Students investigate the role of lighthouses in navigation and practice the use of cardinal directions through reading activities, discussion, locating geographical features, and mapping lighthouses along the east coast of the United...
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Mapping a Garden
Second graders recognize the components of a map, particularly the legend, the key, the symbols and the area. They develop their own map of a garden they be planting in their upcoming science lesson plan.
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Welcome to My World!
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...
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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...
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Learning about Maps and Colors
First graders discuss "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and his drawings. In this neighborhood geography activity, 1st graders learn to detect and classify places on a map including their home. Students recognize their address as a specific...
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Discovering New Mexico
Seventh graders discuss the elements of maps and using basic linear measurement. They calculate the distance between the cities and create a simulated journey around New Mexico using a road map. They write out the directions for their...
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Tortoise and Hare Races
Students listen to the fable, The Tortoise and the Hare, and participate in various map skill activities. They manipulate magnetic tortoises and hares on metal cookie sheets to practice direction, and construct racing tortoises out of...
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Multimedia Book Reports
Students read a chapter book of 100-200 pages in length. They create a story map and multimedia book report. Pupils review the elements of a story map such as: characters, setting, problem, important events, solution, etc.) Students...
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Mountain Magic: Identifying the Basic Physical Characteristics of Mountains
Students read about and identify on maps the physical characteristics of mountains. For this mountains lesson plan, students also write about the characteristics using personification.
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We've got the whole world in our hands
Students explore spatial sense in regards to maps about the globe. In this maps lesson plan, students label oceans, locate the continents and poles, follow directions, and explain the symbols on a map.