Introduction
Modern transportation and communication technologies have made all of us
more aware of our global community. Maps and globes are used to help
people locate places.
We use directions (north, south, east and west) to help us determine
relative location. A globe should be used to teach the global directions
because a globe is the only accurate way to present the Earth.
The transition of going from the round globe to the flat surface map
is difficult concept. Use the map and globe at the same time in this
lesson, helping the student to see how the two are alike and also how
they are different.
Shared Book Literature Source
I Hate English, Ellen Levine.
Mei Mei is a Chinese immigrant who would not speak English until her
teacher got an idea that worked.
Other Materials Needed
- Discovery Globe
- United States Discovery Map
- World Discovery Map
Suggested Lesson
As a pre-reading activity, help the students to locate China on a map
or globe. Also locate your area. Develop examples to show how far away
Mei Mei was from her homeland. For example, ask the students if they
know where their grandparents live. Find those locations. Are these
locations near them on the map and globe? Compare this to the location
of China.
In a shared book experience read the book with the children. Discuss
how people often feel in new settings. Ask the students to share how
they felt when they moved to a new neighborhood or a new school in a
different town, city, or state. Discuss how much more difficult it would
be if the student didn't speak the same language as the other children.
Ask the students to brainstorm way in which they could make a
newcomer feel better about starting to attend a new school. List the
things they name such as showing the new student where places are
located in school. Suggest that students make up a new student folder
with special things inside that would be helpful such as a new pencil
and some paper with stickers on it, new crayons, a set of books, and
stick-on name tag.
Suggest that another thing that is helpful to people who are not
familiar with an area is a map. Have the students share how they or
their parents have used a map to find places. Ask the student so help
you draw a map of the school and the playground by fist listing all the
places at a school such as the library, the office, the restroom etc.
Using a large piece of paper, determine where you will place the
directions of north, south, east, and west. (You may want to place the
map on the floor to label the directions by using a compass and then
place it on he wall so that children do not think north is up. Next,
take a walk around the school so that the students can visualize the
buildings and the playground setting. Back in the classroom, as the
students begin to identify placements on the map, point out the need for
symbols and determine how to make them and place then in the legend.
Once the map is satisfactory, trace it onto a large piece of paper and
let each student make a small copy to go into the newcomer's folder.
Have students vote to select which one will be used. (Look for accuracy
and neatness.) Others may be displayed on a bulletin board entitled:
Where Are We?
Pass the globe among the students. Tell the students there are
special features on the globe that help us find other places. Today the
students will locate the North Pole, South Pole, and Equator on the
globe. Write these vocabulary words on the board.
Show the World Discovery Map. In the upper left corner of the map is
a Location Skills inset map with global projections. The North Pole and
South Pole are identified. Circle the North Pole on the inset map, then
circle the North Pole on the globe. Read to the students the definitions
stated on the map. Ask the students if they think it is cold or hot at
the North Pole. Is there land or water at the North Pole? (Water- Arctic
Ocean) |
