Miss K

1. Title: Cardinal Directions on Maps

 

3. Grade level/Subject/Context: 2nd grade social studies.  This would be taught in the beginning or middle of the school year. This would be at the beginning of a unit on maps.  Before this, students would need to have a basic understanding of what a map looks like and what it’s purpose would be. 

 

5. Standards: 

2.7. Use basic information on maps and other geographic tools to locate and identify physical and human features of the community.

2.8. Identify relative location of school and community in the state and nation and the world.

2.9. Describe physical and human characteristics of the community.

2.10. Use and apply cardinal directions; locate and identify local physical features on maps (e.g., oceans, cities, continents).

 

6. Learning Targets: I can identify the four cardinal directions

I can create a map of my school

I can describe the directions I would need to travel in to get to different locations

 

7. Content Objectives: By the end of this lesson SWBATDTUO map making by drawing a map of our school.

By the end of this lesson SWBATDTUO cardinal directions by describing the direction they would need to travel on their map to get to various locations in the school.

 

8. Language objectives: By the end of this lesson SWBAT write four sentences describing which cardinal direction they would travel in in order to get to different locations.

By the end of this lesson SWBATDTUO cardinal directions by presenting their maps and sentences to a group.

 

9. Student Assessment: I will assess the students’ understanding of map making and locations by observing as they draw their maps to see if they are putting the locations in our school in the appropriate spots.  I will also be assessing their understanding of the cardinal direction by the accuracy of the sentences they will be writing about their maps

 

10. Materials/Preparation: 

Prep: 

Set up computer projector with Google Maps set to show your school.

Put up map of US and Oregon

Before lesson, teacher will create a blank map of the school.

 

Materials:

Projector

Computer

US Map

Oregon Map

30 blank school maps with sentence frames on the bottom

Pencils

Crayons

 

11. Differentiation Strategies: Before creating the maps, we will go on a walk of the school.  For those I think will have a hard time, I will make sure to be talking it through with them as we go and put an extra effort into engaging them and keeping them focused.  The compass rose will already be on the blank maps so that students who aren’t as secure in the concept will have that help provided already.  The amount of locations included on the map are entirely up to the student as long as they include enough for the map to support their sentences.  Students who wish can fill in the entire map.  Struggling writers will be given sentence frames while more advanced writers can write their own or more complex sentences. They could take it one step further and write a set of directions to get to a location.

 

 

Sequence of Activities

 

12. Lesson Introduction/Set: (15 minutes)

A map of the United States will be on the white board.  Can anyone tell me what this is called? (A map) Yes! It’s a map. Do we know what this is a map of? (The United States) Bring over Oregon map. Does anyone recognize this map? (Oregon) This is the state we live in. We are right here. Now let’s get an even closer look at our community. Turn focus onto the projector showing the community. This is our city of Hillsboro.  Orenco is right here.  Does anyone know what this in the corner is called? (Compass)  This is the compass rose.  It shows us the directions on our map.  The names of the four different directions on a compass are north, south, east, and west.  The teacher will then gesture to the areas on the map that are north, south, east, and west from our school.  We will do a few different examples on our different maps of what is north, south, east, and west from a variety of locations.  Now we are going to  make some maps of our own.  This is a blank map of Orenco.  Our job will be to fill out our maps with all the different places in our school. 

 

13 Communication of Learning Targets: (1 min)

When we are done with today’s lesson, you will have your completed and labeled school map.  We will be using these maps to talk about the directions you have to go in to get to different places in our school. 

 

14. Learning Activities: (time for each)

 

School Walk (10 min)

When map makers make maps, how do you think they know what is there? (by going there/exploring it) Right! So we are going to go explore our school right now.  We are going to walk from our classroom to the front of the school and take a look at the areas we might want to include on our maps.

Go on walk and make sure to mention key areas in the school such as office, gym, cafeteria, library, etc.  Also discuss the directions we are walking in at different times (N,S,E,W).  

 

Map Making (20 min)

When we get back to class, have students sit back at desks and hand out blank maps and project your own on the board for the class to see an example.  As a full class, locate and draw our classroom, office, and cafeteria (equally spaced out areas in the school) with progressively less help starting from showing them exactly where our room is to talking as a class about where the office is, and then letting them individually locate the cafeteria and then discuss after. Do you remember what the name of this is? (Compass rose) Right! What were the names of the different directions on our compass? (North, South, East, and West) Point to the directions on the compass while we say them Good job! So if we look at the rooms we have on our map, what direction is the library from our classroom? (East) Nice! Now if we are in the library, what direction is the cafeteria? (South) Do a few more examples with the class while filling in the sentence frames on the bottom ( The ______ is to the ________ of the _________ ).  Practice until it seems like the students understand the activity and then let them work on their own maps for the rest of the time.  

 

15. Closure: (10 min)

Now you will be talking to your table buddy about your map.  Show them the different locations you included and share your sentences.  I want you to notice similarities and differences on your maps and discuss why there might be things that are different.  Ask your buddy if they agree with all of your sentences.  Allow students time to share with their buddy and then have a few volunteers present to the whole class.