#847. Me on the Map

Social Studies, level: Kindergarten
Posted Sun Dec 6 17:52:02 PST 2009 by Sheri Patterson (Sheri Patterson).
UCCS, Colorado Springs, United States
Materials Required: Books listed on lesson plan; construction paper, glue, scissors, templates
Activity Time: 5 days of 30-45 minutes
Concepts Taught: The world is made up of different places.

"Me on the Map": A 5-Lesson Unit in Social Studies for 1st Grade
By Sheri Patterson
1. Rationale For Unit:
"Me on the Map"
This unit will focus on broadening students' thinking about the world and the people of the world. It will be taught in 5 lessons with each lesson taking the student a little further from home.
2. NCSS Themes/CO Standards:
CO- Colorado Academic Standards
Subject : Geography
Standard 1: Students know how to use and construct maps, globes, and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments
Key Idea 1.2: Students develop knowledge of Earth to locate people, places, and environments
Expectation by Grade or Topic : Kindergarten
Suggested Expectation : recognize the shape of, and locate the seven continents on a map or a globe;
Suggested Expectation : locate the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans;
Suggested Expectation : locate North America (the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii).
Subject : History
Standard 3: Students understand that societies are diverse and have changed over time
Expectation by Grade or Topic : First Grade
Suggested Expectation : identify various national holidays and the heroism and achievements of the people associated with them
Suggested Expectation : recognize how the presence, interactions, and contributions of various groups and cultures have affected the school, neighborhood, community, and state
Suggested Expectation : identify reasons for living in a group
Suggested Expectation : recognize that there are families and cultures around the world (e.g., the culture of Mexico and Meso-Americans, Sudan, Ukraine, etc.)
USA- Nat. Council for Social Studies: Nat. Standards for Social Studies Teachers
Standard A3: Thematic Standard: People, Places, and Environments
Social studies teachers should possess the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of People, Places, and Environments.
Type of Expectation : Learner Expectations
Expectation : The study of people, places, and human-environment interactions leads learners to create their spatial views and geographic perspectives of the world.
Today's social, cultural, economic, and civic demands on individuals requires that learners understand the world in spatial terms and posses knowledge of places and regions, physical systems, and the interactions of environment and society. In addition, learners need the ability to map information in a spatial context and to interpret such maps. The study of people, places, and environments will also help to promote learners' capabilities to make informed and critical decisions about the relationships between human beings and their environment. The study of people, places, and environments will also help to promote learners' capabilities to make informed and critical decisions about the relationships between human beings and their environment.
Standard A4: Thematic Standard: Individual Development and Identitiy
Social studies teachers should possess the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions to organize and provide instruction at the appropriate school level for the study of Individual Development and Identity.
Type of Expectation : Learner Expectations
Expectation : All humans think, learn, act, and develop cognitively, socially, physically, emotionally, personally, and mentally as well as construct, test, confirm, revise, and apply multiple concepts of and multiple identities as to who they are.
While much of what humans are and become has been associated with genetics and assumed natural stages of physical, psychological, emotional, and mental development; a far greater factor in mental, social, emotional, personal, and identity construction and application is the interaction of the individual with his or her environments and the consequences of these interactions. All individuals should know the factors that contribute to who they are; to what they think, feel, and believe; to what they decide and do: to why they are likely to make certain decisions and act in particular ways; and to how they perceive themselves, their abilities, their personality, and the world.

3. Goal Statement:
The goal of this unit is to help students reach the understanding or the big idea that the world is made up of different places and different people.
4. Lesson Sequence:
Lesson 1: "Where Was I Born?" will focus the attention on the student and will get them interested by allowing them the opportunity to talk about themselves with their classmates.
Lesson 2: "City Where I Live" will provide basic information on the history and people of Colorado Springs. It will also introduce them to the unique characteristics of the land in Colorado Springs (Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, the Foothills) and will allow them to see pictures of some of the best known places in the city.
Lesson 3: "Colorado". This lesson will begin with a "K-W-L" chart of what we already know about Colorado, what we want to learn about Colorado and then after we read about Colorado, what we learned. We will talk about Denver being the capital city.
Lesson 4: "These United States". We will review where each of the students were born by going back to the United States maps created in Lesson 1 and look again at where all of the "dots" were placed. We will talk about the capital of the United States and some of the major sights.
Lesson 5: "Me On the Map". Students will create a map based on the information we have learned from the other lessons. The map they will create will include the oceans, the United States, the State of Colorado, and a star for Denver and a "dot" for where they are on the map.
5. CRT Statement:
This unit is intended to be taught in several different ways with hands-on activities, direct teaching, listening, writing, talking and kinesthetic activity. Each student will have the opportunity to share where they were born and information about themselves and their families. Additionally, I will be modeling respectful listening and speaking skills. Finally, students will be given the opportunity to ask questions, give verbal and written responses, and draw pictures.