Objectives
The students will locate important lakes on a map of the United States.
Vocabulary
lake, coastline
Materials Needed
United States Map, map marker
Lesson
Write the word lake on the board. Ask the students if they have ever seen a lake. Ask them to describe what they saw. What type of human activity did they see taking place? Ask them to name any lakes they may have seen or heard about.
Tell the students that a lake is a body of water surrounded by land. There are many lakes in the United States. The largest can be found on a map of the United States.
Pull down the map of the United States. Explain to the students that the actual shape of the lake is drawn on the map. Locate Lake Michigan on the map. Outline the shape of the lake on the map. Circle the name of the lake (Lake Michigan is so large that the name of the lake can be written inside the coastline of the lake. This is not always true. Often the name of the lake is labeled next to the lake.)
Lake Michigan is one of the Great Lakes. There are five Great Lakes. Have the students discuss where the other Great Lakes are located. Have a student outline each lake and circle the name of the lake. Have another student write in the name of each Great Lake identified on the board.
Where the lake water and the land touch is called a coastline. Each lake has a different coastline.
Write the words Lake Michigan on the board. Have the students identify each state that forms a coastline with Lake Michigan. As a state is mentioned, list it on the board. If you have enough time, continue with the same procedure for the rest of the Great Lakes. List the states and/or country (Canada) that form a coastline with each lake. Emphasize again the difference between a state and a country.
Lesson .pdf file (Printable Lesson)