Set-up Directions:
Set up the LCD Projector or Presenter so that the Topozone Web site can be viewed by all students. Place the chart paper with the Daily Challenge Question on the wall or chalkboard, but cover it until it is time to reveal it. Have on hand the Maps and Globes Song Lyrics and the book Mapping Penny's World. Pull down (or hang up) the large world map. Prepare five sentence strips with the five vocabulary terms and definitions written on them and post them for all students to see.
Next, set up materials for the team learning portion of the lesson on a table in your room. When class begins, direct the Supply Managers to collect team materials (glue, marker, pencil, lined paper, state map, and index card strips) for their team and place them in his team's bin or team's location. Finally, set up materials for individual learning in another location to be distributed before students work independently. This includes one of the following for each student: pencil or pen, and a piece of lined paper. Group students into heterogeneous teams of 4-5 members ahead of time. Assign and post roles to each team member.
Teacher Presentation & Motivation:
15 minutes
The teacher will begin the class by activating prior knowledge and directing questions to the class about maps. Some questions might include:
What do you know about maps?
Where have you seen maps?
How do you think maps are used?
Who might benefit from using maps?
The responses may be recorded in a web on the chalk board. The teacher will tell students that today they will be studying maps to answer the Daily Challenge Question. The teacher then reveals the Daily Challenge Question on the chart paper.
In order to get students excited about learning, the teacher can sing the song, Maps and Globes to the students after students are directed to close their eyes to form a mental picture of the song in their mind. After students listen to the song, the teacher can briefly elicit some of their reactions to the Daily Challenge Question based upon lyrics to the song. Then the teacher can explain that in order for people to use maps effectively, they must first know the different elements of a map and their functions. The teacher will then direct students to look at the elements (vocabulary words and their definitions) that are written on sentence strips. As students are called on to read each element, the teacher will use the large world map to show students where each element is located. She will provide a description of the element or demonstrate how it is used. The teacher will tell students that while all maps should include all of those elements, sometimes some elements are missing.
Activity 1 - Map Web Site
This activity is an introduction to real world maps and their elements. Students use a Web site to pull up actual maps and to look for key elements (compass rose, title, distance scale, legend/key, and symbols) on the maps.
Focus for Media Interaction
Focus for Media Interaction: The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.
The focus for media interaction is a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.
Say, "The purpose for this Web site activity is to explore different maps and to observe the various elements present in these maps."
Viewing Activities
What will your students be responsible for while viewing this piece of multi-media or video?
The teacher shows students how to use the Topozone Web site to find maps of different locations (by typing the town and state into the search box). The teacher should do this for the town in which the school is located. The teacher can call on students to share the elements (compass rose, title, distance scale, legend/key, and symbols) that are present and elements that are missing on the map presented on the LCD Projector.
Post Viewing Activities
How will students utilize the information they gathered while viewing the multi-media or video?
Afterwards, students should discuss as a class how missing elements might present problems to a person trying to use a map. This exercise reenforces the importance of including all elements on a map.
Activity 2 - Map Element Questions
25 minutes
The teacher reads aloud the book Mapping Penny's World to the students and encourages students to identify map elements as they are discussed in the book. Students should also be encouraged to identify the real life applications for using a map that are used by the main character in the book. Students may also contribute real world examples that they have experienced. After reading the book, the teacher should tell teams of students that together they will gain a better understanding of the elements of a map by labeling elements on a state map.
Provide maps for each team and set the TeachTimer for ten minutes. Direct students to use the ten minutes to label each of the five map elements (compass rose, title, distance scale, legend/key, and symbols). They should use the marker to write each of the five map elements onto one of the five index card strips. They should glue the labeled strips onto the map and draw arrows to appropriately label each map element. They may also add elements that may be missing. Teams should each generate three "quiz" questions about their map on one side of the lined paper and include answers to the questions on the reverse side. The teacher should provide some examples for the students to use as models. Some examples of questions might include:
Use the distance scale to determine the distance in miles between the city of ___and the city of ___.
Use the compass rose to determine which direction you would travel from the city of ___to the city of ___.
Use the key/legend to determine what landform is located in the city of ___.
What is the title of this map?
Use the symbols to determine which landform is located in the city of ___ / or by the east coast of the state.
The teacher should monitor the appropriateness of questions and check that answers provided by teams are correct. Provide each team with one minute to discuss how well they worked to complete their tasks and to assign themselves a rating of H, O, or T (or 1,2,3). Use Numbered Heads to call on students to Stand and Deliver their team's rating and rationale.
Activity 3 - Questions and Answers
20 minutes
Pass out to each student a piece of lined paper and pencil as needed. Direct students to write their name on their piece of lined paper and to fold the paper into four equal boxes. Tell students that they will demonstrate their understanding of map elements by answering questions posed by different teams in the classroom. They should label each box on their paper with the appropriate title of each of the state maps, not including the map for which they generated questions. Students should also number one through three in each box. (Note: If you have more than five teams total, students will need to make as many boxes as there are teams other than their own.)
Set the TeachTimer so that each student has five minutes per box to answer the quiz questions of each of the other four team maps. Students will rotate to each of the other teams every five minutes and answer the questions for each of the maps on their lined paper. Answers should be recorded in the appropriately labeled boxes. Collect student papers after the rotations have been completed. Papers are to be assessed.
Wrap Up:
3 minutes
Direct students to move back to their teams to discuss the responses to the Daily Challenge Question and follow this with a whole class discussion of the Daily Challenge Question.