Geography Content Focus for BLiSS

Appendix of Strategies

ACTIVITY: GLOBE TOSS

  1. Hold up your right thumb. When you catch the globe your finger will land on either land or ocean.
  2. Identify the feature and the hemispheres in which it is located.
    “I landed on the Southern Ocean which is located in the southern hemisphere. It is also located in the eastern and western hemispheres.”
  3. Summarize the total number of hemispheres.
    “The Southern Ocean is located in three hemispheres—the southern, eastern, and western.”

ACTIVITY: LIVING MAP

  1. Select a location as the reference point. Have student stand in the reference point location.
  2. Distribute place placards to selected students. Have each student go stand in the correct location and introduce themselves to the class. “I am Tennessee. I am located south and west of the western part of Virginia.”
  3. Have students who do not have placards be coaches for placement.

Template included.

ACTIVITY: JUST LIKE ME

  1. Distribute photographs or reading.
  2. Read a series of statements.
  3. If the content the student has matches the descriptive statement, they stand up and say,
    “Just Like Me!”
  4. At the beginning of the activity, have the students explain how their photograph or reading illustrates the statement.
  5. Encourage students to monitor and challenge the assertions of others if they suspect they might be incorrect.

CARD SORT, ANNOTATED MAP WITH GRID

  1. Distribute the cards to groups of students. Make sure that all students have some cards and the cards are face up on the desks.
  2. Instruct students to separate the cards into two columns. Those with capital letters and the rest of the cards with upper and lower case letters.
  3. “Match” the items with their associated places. Some places may have many associations.
  4. Have students explain the associations they have made.
  5. Could the cards be sorted a different way?

GEOGRAPHIC SENSORY FIGURE

  1. Based on the information in the card sort and perhaps reading of a non-fiction text, have students create a geographic sensory figure.
  2. Use the following formula for development of observations in narrative form, from the perspective of the place.

I am ______a place

I see ______

I hear ______

I smell ______

I feel/ touch ______

I taste/sense ______

ACTIVITY: MAP INVESTIGATION

  1. Read the title of the map aloud to students. Have them brainstorm a list of things they would expect to see on a map of that title? (Knowing the title of the map, what do you expect to see?)
  2. Display a map or provide students with copies of the same or different maps.
  3. What questions can be asked of this map. Provide time for the crafting of questions.
  4. Have students share their questions with the class.

ACTIVITY: SYNECTIC

In a synectic students make comparisons between a known object represented by words or a picture and the target content.

  1. Present students with a visual image.
  2. Display a structure for the synectic.

A ______is like a ______because . . .

  1. Provide students with time to think. They should first identify the attributes of the visual. Then, the attributes of the target content in order to complete this task.
  2. Have students share their answers with the class.

Adapted from the work of Dr. Laura Lipton. Pathways to Understanding: Patterns & Practices in the Learning-Focused Classroom, 2rd Ed.

RESOURCES

Virginia Geographic Alliance

  • An Atlas of Virginia (maps and photos)
  • Although the resources on the site are correlated to the high school World History to 1500 standards, many of the maps are usable for the study of Ancient Greece and Rome.

ArcGIS Online

  • public account, scroll down to public account
  • tutorials for use
  • get a free School organizational account

National Geographic

  • Virginia Table Top Map,
  • Introduction to GIS, students use manipulatives such as rope to learn the principles of GIS,
  • Map Maker Interactive,
  • Field Scope, interactive site for citizen science. Current projects include: water quality projects and more,

Reading Quest site by Raymond Jones

  • contains numerous strategies and templates for literacy in the social studies
  • ABC Brainstorming

Sensory Figures Examples

Virginia Studies

  • Encyclopedia Virginia, has a wealth of information and includes a “Map It” feature linking events with places.
  • Library of Virginia, contains links to primary sources and maps. Check out the Virginia Memory feature.
  • The Voorhees Collection at the Library of Virginia, Maps, Charts, and Atlases, available at
  • Virginia Historical Society provides a wealth of information on Virginia’s past and includes documents, photographs, newspapers, and maps. Check their resources out at

Layered Pdf Map Bank

  • Physical Regions of Virginia (Virginia Studies)
  • Continents and Geogrid (Continents and Hemispheres)
  • Locations for Grade 3, online map available at
  • Neighboring States (Virginia Studies)
  • United States Physical Regions (US1)
  • Political Regions of the United States (US2)

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