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Cultural Lit. 6: Learning to Read a Regional Map

Main Core Tie

Social Studies - 1st Grade
Standard 3

Time Frame

1 class periods of 60 minutes each

Authors

Utah LessonPlans

Summary

Students will be able to locate the local community, surrounding communities and major geographic features of the SE Utah and the Four-Corners region on a map, after receiving direct instruction and carrying out activities in cooperative group settings, in 1 class period.


Materials

1. Large size map of Dine' Bikeyah.
2. Class set of 5 desk size maps of Dine' Bikeyah.
3. Teacher generated handout of an enlarged map key with compass rose and symbols for mountains, rivers, lakes, towns, roads 1 inch = 15 miles on large Dine' Bikeyah map. 1 inch = 30 miles on small Dine' Bikeyah map.
4. Paper, pencil, crayons.


Background for Teachers

Guarded Vocabulary:
Cardinal direction, north, east, south, west


Intended Learning Outcomes

To be able to locate the local community, surrounding communities and major geographic features of the SE Utah and the Four-Corners region on a map.


Instructional Procedures

Introduce lesson to capture student's attention:

[This lesson entails student's having a working knowledge of cardinal directions and basic map skills. Teacher may need to teach or review the cardinal directions and map skills before proceeding with this lesson.]

Teacher tells the class that they are going outside to look at the land surrounding the school and name some of the visible geographic features. Teacher takes the class outside and reviews the cardinal directions. Teacher says the directions: "north, east, south, west," and moves toward the direction as it is said. Teacher repeats, saying cardinal directions and moving with student's following along.

Teacher looks and points to the north and asks the students to name the geographic features that are visible, e.g., mountain, mesa, river, valley.

Teacher asks the name of the geographic feature, e.g., San Juan River, Sleeping Ute Mountain, Blue Mountains, Right and Left Mittens, Bears Ears.

Teacher continues questioning while facing the east, south and west. Teacher takes notes of the geographic features and their names in each of the four cardinal directions during the activity and tells the class that they are going to look at representations of these places on a map in class.

Problem/Prediction:
How can you get the students really thinking?

With students working in table groups of four, teacher disseminates desk size copies to each group of the map Dine' Bikeyah and puts the large copy at front of the class.

With the big map at front of class, and students working together in groups, teacher shows class where their school is located on the map. After students locate their school on the map, teacher assists the students to orient their location to the cardinal directions.

Teacher points out the symbols for representations on the map of the geographical features the class was recently looking at outside. Teacher orients the geographical features to school location with the cardinal directions, e.g., the San Juan River is to the north of Mexican Hat Elementary School, Bears Ears is the west of Blanding Elementary School, The Sleeping Ute Mountain is to the east of Montezuma Creek Elementary.

Teacher Instruction:
Teacher disseminates desk size copies to each group the map Dine' Bikeyah and puts the large copy at front of the class. With the big map at front of class, and students working in table groups of four, teacher will disseminate the handout of a map key to each group. Using the map key handout teacher shows students how to orient the map Dine' Bikeyah according to the compass rose. Teacher says the names of the cardinal directions in English, with students repeating and finding the cardinal direction on the map.

Continuing with the Problem/Prediction activity, teacher shows students the symbolic representations on the map key of the communities, rivers, mountains, mesas and other geographical features found in their immediate region.

Teacher then expands the area of study and shows the symbolic representations on their maps of the communities, rivers, mountains, mesas and other geographical features found at a distance, e.g., the community Farmington and the San Juan and Animas River confluence, the community Shiprock and the Shiprock formation, the community Cortez and the nearby Mesa Verde.

How will you end your lesson?
Class presentation by pairs of map drawing.


Strategies for Diverse Learners

How will you help ELL students?

Guided Practice:
Teacher is working with each group and student's individually in each group and listens to them tell the cardinal directions while pointing to the direction and show their school location depicted on the map.


Extensions

Students will work in table groups of four with the maps and find and show the location of their school and a nearby geographical feature represented. Working in pairs students will use the Dine' Bikeyah map to draw a map of their community and nearby geographical features. Teacher and assistant will circulate among groups to direct students.


Assessment Plan

Observation of student participation. Class presentation by pairs of map drawing.

Unit Assessment
Students name some surrounding communities and geographic features and tell in which direction they are located.


Created: 01/18/2005
Updated: 02/04/2018
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