Title: All About Tennessee

Completed November 10, 2010

Title: All About Tennessee

Grade: 3rd

Task Objective: Students will study the state they live in (for this lesson, Tennessee) and learn more about the different factors that make their state unique.

Grade Level Expectations:

3.3.03 Demonstrate how to identify and locate major physical and political features on globes and maps.

a. Locate the major cities of Tennessee and the world on a map or globe.

State Performance Indicator:

3.3.spi.4. use absolute and relative locations to identify places on a map (i.e.,

north, south, east, west, borders, lines of longitude and latitude, the equator, the

north and south poles).

3.3.spi.9. recognize the identifying characteristics of certain geographic features

(i.e., peninsula, islands, continents, mountains, rivers, deserts, oceans, and

forests).

Materials for Shoebox:

·  The Nystrom Junior Geographer Atlas

·  Assessment handout – student questions

·  Student directions

·  Pencils

·  Colored pencils

·  Crayons

·  Copy paper

Background Knowledge: Students should have previous knowledge of geography, including hemispheres, lines of longitude and latitude, and the differences in cities, counties, states, countries, and continents. They should also be familiar with reading maps and map keys. This would serve as a good review of a lesson they are wrapping up.

Student Directions:

1.  Take out the Junior Geographer Atlas.

2.  Look through the book and begin noticing where Tennessee is located on some of the maps.

3.  Using a copy of the Student Questions and a pencil, write your name at the top of the paper. Then answer the questions on the “Student Questions” page. Write your answers clearly under each question.

4.  When all the questions are answered, you may color in a map of Tennessee.

5.  Write one new fact you learned about our state on the map you color.

6.  When complete, please turn in both papers (stapled) to the incoming homework box.

7.  Make sure all items are cleaned up and returned to the box.

8.  For extra credit, you draw a map of Tennessee and include the following items in the correct places: Oak Ridge, Nashville, Chattanooga, Memphis, and Knoxville. Place a star by the capital. Write Oak Ridge in red. You may also include what lines of latitude and longitude Tennessee are found at. Bring this in at the end of the week for extra points!

Student Questions:

1.  Starting on p. 33, how many inches of rain does Tennessee have per year?

2.  On the temperature map on p. 35, what region does it say that Tennessee has for temperature?

3.  According to p. 43, which time zone is the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee located in?

4.  According to the history map on p. 45, in what year did the United States gain Tennessee? How was it gained?

5.  From the map on p. 53, can you tell what region of the country our state is in?

6.  Can you name the other seven states that are part of this region?

7.  What is the capital of our state?

8.  Name three facts you find about Tennessee in the “State Facts” section on p. 80.

Links Across the Curriculum:

Art: Students may prepare a topographic map of Tennessee that includes both physical and political properties of the state. This project may be created on poster board for display.

1.1 Use a variety of tools and materials to create a work of art.

Recognize and use tools and materials to create a work of art.

Experiment with techniques and processes to create an artwork that expresses an original idea.

Mathematics: Have students measure the area of Tennessee in half inches. Point out that using inches to measure the size of a state is somewhat like using feet to measure the area of the United States. (Both are too small to be of any use).

SPI 0306.4.6 Measure length to the nearest centimeter or half inch.

Music: Students will listen to an .mp3 file and see what the musicians have in common (they would all be musicians from Tennessee). These are social studies standards and from a social studies starter of a lesson.

3.1.spi.1. recognize some of the major components of a culture (i.e., language,

clothing, food, art, and music).

References:

Map of Tennessee Cities with City Names

http://www.waterproof-paper.com/printable-maps/tennessee/tennessee-cities-location-map-labeled.pdf

Student Questions

1.  Starting on p. 33, how many inches of rain does Tennessee have per year?

2.  On the temperature map on p. 35, what region does it say that Tennessee has for temperature?

3.  According to p. 43, which time zone is the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee located in?

4.  According to the history map on p. 45, in what year did the United States gain Tennessee? How was it gained?

5.  From the map on p. 53, can you tell what region of the country our state is in?

6.  Can you name the other seven states that are part of this region?

7.  What is the capital of our state?

8.  Name three facts you find about Tennessee in the “State Facts” section on p. 80.

Student Directions:

1.  Take out the Junior Geographer Atlas.

2.  Look through the book and begin noticing where Tennessee is located on some of the maps.

3.  Using a copy of the Student Questions and a pencil, write your name at the top of the paper. Then answer the questions on the “Student Questions” page. Write your answers clearly under each question.

4.  When all the questions are answered, you may color in a map of Tennessee.

5.  Write one new fact you learned about our state on the map you color.

6.  When complete, please turn in both papers (stapled) to the incoming homework box.

7.  Make sure all items are cleaned up and returned to the box.

8.  For extra credit, grab a piece of copy paper. You draw a map of Tennessee and include the following items in the correct places: Oak Ridge, Nashville, Chattanooga, Memphis, and Knoxville. Place a star by the capital. Write Oak Ridge in red. You may also include what lines of latitude and longitude Tennessee are found at. Bring this in at the end of the week for extra points!

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Reflection:

This shoebox activity was designed to supplement lessons Mrs. Fillers had been teaching about geography. The standards are listed in the lesson above. I designed the lesson to bring the subject a little closer to home – I wanted students to focus on learning about their home state. I was inspired to create this lesson from an atlas I received in the middle school class – the Nystrom Junior Geographer Atlas.

My activity was used as an independent lesson for students to do after they had completed their morning work. The students who completed this were the students who normally finish first and also get their work correct the first time. I sat near the students who worked on this and answered any questions that they had.

I thought that this activity went well considering the very hectic day that the students had. They had already been to special area class, the book fair, and to have their class picture taken. For the student whose example is shown above, I thought she worked efficiently and was able to answer most of the questions independent of any help. However, I did have a few questions worded strangely and wrote down notes to revise these. One example was the question, “What region of the country is our state in?” Some maps in the atlas showed it as included in one region, while some placed it in another. I changed the question to include the page number of the specific map. I also decided it would be helpful to include the page numbers on most questions because some of the answers were conflicting. Another problem I took notice of was that the font on the questions might have been too small for students to read. The students did not have time to complete the activity, but they did complete the necessary first part of the lesson. I found it a challenge to be able to fit this in since my mentoring teacher said they do not incorporate stations or these types of activities into their classroom, but she did say that it was set up properly for a classroom that did implement those.