| Pull down the World Political Map. Review with the students that the
continents are the very largest land areas. There are smaller land
areas. These are called countries. A country is an area of land where
people live under one government.
|
| Tell the students they will learn how to tell on a map where the
territory of one country begins and another ends. They will do this by
decoding symbols shown in the map legend. A map legend is used to tell
the meaning of the symbols used on the map.
|
| Locate the map legend on the World Political Map. Review with the
students the meaning of the word country. Brazil is the example used in
the legend. Have a student locate Brazil on the map and another student
locate Brazil on the globe.
|
| Tell the students that a map symbol is used to show the boundary of
a country. A boundary is a line drawn on a map showing where the
territory of one country begins and another ends. Ask a student to
describe what the country boundary symbol looks like.
|
| Emphasize the difference between a country and a continent. Have one
student write the name Brazil on one of the post-it-notes (___________is
a country.) Place the post-it-note at the correct location on the map.
Ask the students on which continent is Brazil located. Write South
America on one of the post-it-notes (____________ is a continent.)
|
| Ask the students the name of our country. Discuss what they know
about the United States. What are our flag, national anthem, and
national bird? Ask a student to find the United States on a globe. Make
sure the students include Alaska and Hawaii. Have a student locate the
United States on the World Map. Use the country and continent
post-it-notes to identify the United States as a country and North
America as a continent.
|
| Locate the boundary symbol between the United States and Canada.
Don't forget the Alaska/Canada border. Emphasize that the boundary
symbol shows where the territory of the United States ends and Canada
begins. Use the post-it-notes and label North America as a continent.
Look at the globe and map. Which country is larger? (Canada)
|
| Have a student locate the boundary symbol between the US and Mexico.
Use the post-it-notes to label Mexico. Have a student place the
post-it-notes at the correct location on the map.
|
| Emphasize that Mexico, Canada, and the United States are countries
all located on the continent of North America.
|
| There are other countries that are part of North America. Have the
students decode the country boundary symbols to determine the location
of other countries. Use the remaining post-it-notes to label these
countries. |
