| Ask the students if they have ever been on an elevator. If a student
got on the elevator at the ground level (first floor) what would the
elevator do? Emphasize that an elevator goes up-from the ground toward
the sky.
|
| Write the word elevation on the board. Elevation means how high
something is. The higher the feature is above the ground, the higher its
elevation. A twenty- story building has a higher elevation than a
two-story building.
|
| Pull the map all the way down. Locate the United States Physical
Map. This is the middle inset at the top of the map. Read the
information in the legend to the students. Colors are used on a physical
map to show land elevation. Land elevation means the height of the land
above the surface of the ocean.
|
| Elevation must be measured from some base mark. Tell the students
the elevation of the builing was measured from the ground floor.
Elevation of land is measured from the surface of the ocean. (This is
called sea level, a term introduced later.)
|
| Colors are used as symbols on a physical map to show land elevation.
Review with the students the physical map legend. Dark green means the
lowest land elevations. Light green means low land elevations. Yellow
means middle-land elevation. Light brown means high land elevations.
Dark brown means the highest land elevations.
|
| Ask the students where they think mountains may be found on the map.
Where are hills? Valleys? What color is near all coastlines? What down
that mean?
|
| Remind the students to think of the land elevation color key as an
elevator. The colors tells us how high the land is above the surface of
the ocean |
