Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
Purpose:
-The focus of this lesson is to review the seven continents, the five oceans, the prime
meridian, the equator, and the four hemispheres.
-Geography SOL 3.5 The student will develop map skills by
a) positioning and labeling the seven continents and five oceans to
create a world map;
b) using the equator and prime meridian to identify the Northern,
Southern, Eastern, and Western Hemispheres;
c) locating the countries of Spain, England, and France;
d) locating the regions in the Americas explored by Christopher
Columbus (San Salvador in the Bahamas), Juan Ponce de León (near
St. Augustine, Florida), Jacques Cartier (near Québec, Canada), and
Christopher Newport (Jamestown, Virginia);
e) locating specific places, using a simple letter-number grid system.
Objectives:
-TSWBAT label the seven continents, five oceans, prime meridian, equator, and
four hemispheres, given a blank world map, earning 15/18 or higher.
-TSWBAT locate the countries of the United States, Spain, England, and France
on a blank world map with 3/4 correct or higher.
-TSWBAT write a summary of what they learned during the lesson, using three
or more vocabulary words, on an “exit ticket”/note card.
Procedure:
-Introduction
-The teacher will initiate a class discussion (auditory) about what they have
learned so far in Social Studies about world maps and the regions of the world.
(5 min)
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
-TTW explain that we will go on a “tour” (visual), flying over the continents
and oceans and showcase a few specific countries (US, Greece, Italy, England,
Spain, and France). Discuss the hemispheres and how to describe specific
locations (using the prime meridian and equator). Ask students what they know
about longitude (N-S) and latitude (E-W).
- Give each student the world map handout and go over the directions. The
students should fill out the map as we go along the tour.
-Vocabulary Words (to keep in mind during the tour):
Continent: One of the principal land masses of the earth.
(Interesting note: Students in other countries learn the continents
differently; they’re sometimes taught five or six (the Americas or
Eurasia). Most educators take geography, politics and history into
account when deciding how to split our world up into continents.)
Country: a nation with its own government, occupying a particular territory
(called a “state” in other countries)
Ocean: a very large expanse of sea, in particular, each of the main areas into
which the sea is divided geographically
Hemisphere: Half of a sphere (globe); created by the prime meridian or the
equator
Equator: An imaginary line around the middle of the Earth that divides it
into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres
Prime Meridian: An imaginary line that divides the Earth into the Eastern
and Western Hemispheres
-Development
-Seat the students so everyone can see the projector.
-Google Earth Activity
-auditory (explanation of the activity) and visual
-The teacher will ask questions during the activity to activate student
knowledge and aid in making connections. Encourage students to ask
questions as well.
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
-The students should fill in their world maps as we go through the
tour.
Where is your school located? How do you
Harvie Road
describe its location? The address is the absolute
location. You could also describe a place’s relative
location by saying what it is near (for example, the
school is down the street from a Wendy’s).
Bird’s Eye or Areal view of the school. When was
Harvie Elementary School
Harvie built? What was here before the built the
school? Let’s “go back in time” to see.
Henrico Country, Virginia.
Can anyone name the explorer who landed in
Virginia
what is now Virginia? (Christopher Newport)
Where did he land? (Jamestown) You heard about
this during the play we saw a couple weeks ago.
United States
What continent are we on?
What hemisphere is North America in? Is there
another way to say it? (Northern and Western
Hemispheres or North Western Hemisphere)
How can you tell? (above the equator and on the
North America
west side of the prime meridian)
Does anyone know the name of another explorer
who landed in North America? (Christopher
Columbus- Bahamas, Juan Ponce de Leon- Florida,
Jacques Cartier- Canada) Where were the
explorers sailing from?
Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere
What other countries are in the Northern
Hemisphere? (show map picture)
View of the “top” of the earth
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
U.S.
Let’s go back to the US
Which ocean would we cross to get to Europe by
Atlantic Ocean
the shortest distance? Did we move into a new
hemisphere? How do you know?
This is the second continent we are visiting. Who
can name a country on this continent?
Europe
What countries will you be learning about on
your field trip to the VMFA tomorrow? (Greece
and Rome, Italy) Can anyone come up and point
to Greece’s location in Europe?
Greece
Parthenon
Rome, Italy
Colosseum
Circle the country of Greece on your map
Does anyone recognize the landmark in Athens,
Greece? Who knows what this structure is?
What else will you be studying at the museum
tomorrow? (Rome, Italy)
Who knows what this famous structure is? (click
on link to pics of art at VMFA)
What imaginary line is running through
England
England? That line signifies that England is in
which two hemispheres? (Western and Eastern)
Color England purple on your map.
Big Ben
Landmark of England
Did we move to a different continent or to a
France
different hemisphere? (still in Europe, still in both
Western and Eastern Hemispheres, still in Northern
Hemisphere). Color France green on your map.
Eiffel Tower
Spain
Landmark in Paris, France
What hemisphere is the majority of Spain in?
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
What continent is south of Spain? (Africa) What
continent is east of Spain? (Asia) Color Spain
yellow on your map.
Temple of Sagrada Familia
Landmark of Spain
Now we are over another continent, Asia. What are
Asia
the biggest countries in Asia? Is all of Asia in the
same hemisphere(s)? (Eastern and almost all in
Northern)
Arctic Ocean
What ocean is north of Asia?
Indian Ocean
Which ocean is south of Asia? (picture of map)
Australia
This is the only continent that has just one
country. What is it?
This continent is in all of the hemispheres
Antarctica
except for the northern hemisphere, what is it?
(picture of map)
Southern Ocean
Which ocean is near Antarctica? (picture of map)
The equator runs through this continent, and it
South America
is located south of North America, what is it?
What hemispheres is it in?
Which direction does the equator go in? (E-W)
Equator
What two hemispheres does it separate?
(Northern and Southern)
Africa
Equator x Prime Meridian
What continent is this?
Where do the Prime Meridian and the Equator
cross? (In the pacific ocean next to Africa)
North Pole
South Pole
United States
Which continent is this?
As we travel back to school, think about which
ocean we missed talking about. Let’s visit one of
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
America’s landmarks that overlooks this ocean.
Who has been to this famous bridge? Where is
Golden Gate Bridge
it?
Find the pacific ocean on your map worksheet. Are
there two pacific oceans? Why is it shown as being
on both sides of the map? Think about the globe
Pacific Ocean
being flattened out into a map. Where would you cut
the sphere? Why is the pacific ocean a good (or bad)
place to make the “cut” for a map?
Harvie
This is the end of our tour, let’s head back to school.
What is different about the view on google earth than how the world looks on
a map or on a globe?
-Summary
TTW initiate a summary group discussion about the main points of the
lesson. TTW review the five continents, seven oceans, prime meridian, equator,
and the four hemispheres by creating a magnet summary/wordsplash (example
below) on the whiteboard or Promethean board. (5 min) TTW ask students for
the key terms of the lesson and write these up.
TTW model how to write a summary statement using the wordsplash. TSW each
write their own summary on the provided notecard. (5 min)
Northern Hemisphere
Arctic Ocean
United States
North America
South America
Prime Meridian
Western Hemisphere
Eastern Hemisphere
Equator
Africa
Southern Ocean
Southern Hemisphere
Europe
England
Spain
France
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
Materials:
Computer with Google Earth
Projector
Crayons or colored pencils
World Map
Lined Paper
World Map (pull-down)
Globe
White board or Promethean board
Notecards
Evaluation Part A:
The writing prompt will be the main form of student evaluation.
I will also check for understanding during the summary discussion. Did they still
have questions, misconceptions, or confusion about the topic? Are the students
able to use the key terms appropriately?
Evaluation Part B:
Was the google earth tour effective for showing the continents, oceans, equator,
prime meridian, and selected countries?
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
Were they able to completely label the world map or did they struggle to finish
in the time allotted?
Did I challenge the students enough? Did I meet the needs of both struggling and
advanced learners?
Did they students enjoy the lesson? Were they bored or was the activity too
distracting?
What parts of the lesson went well?
What would I change about this lesson if I taught it again?
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
Reflection
My Social Studies Geography lesson focused on identifying the continents,
oceans, prime meridian, equator, and a few key countries while touching on
explorers (to be studied in the future) and Greece and Rome (relating to their recent
field trip). Overall the lesson went well and the students were very receptive.
The google earth tour was effective for showing the continents, oceans,
equator, prime meridian, and selected countries. I showed them each place on
google earth, on their world maps, and for some locations I showed a second view
and/or a picture. I think the various views helped the students gain a better overall
sense of location and relative size of the continents. But, many of the students were
confused about where Spain, France, England, and Greece were located on their
world map handout. The world map was difficult for them to label and identify
because some of the countries I asked them to color code were very small. They had
a hard time transferring where a country was on google earth to where it was on
their map. Ms. Mitchell, my cooperating teacher, passed out another larger and
colored world map, which helped many of them. I think this lesson was challenging
enough for everyone, but it might have been too much for the struggling students.
They became frustrated when they colored something incorrectly and it was hard to
erase. Ms. Mitchell and I walked around to help students, but that was hard to
manage for every task with so many students.
The students enjoyed going through the google earth tour and I heard a lot of
“oohs” and “ahhs” at certain points. A few students seemed to be lost or bored, but
when I noticed that I tried to engage them by asking questions. I thought I did a
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
good job asking lots of engaging questions and adapting my lesson based on their
responses. I am still unsure of what to do when many students want to answer but
they are making erroneous guesses. This only happened for a few questions though.
For example, when I asked what explorers landed in North America students
guessed George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Also, I moved around the room
throughout the lesson, which I felt kept their attention. Another thing I thought went
well was connecting multiple topics to the main focus of the lesson. For example, I
added elements that related to their recent field trip. They visited the Virginia
Museum of Fine Arts to learn about Greece and Rome and I added those as locations
on the tour. In a previous class I noticed several students had a misconception that
there are two Pacific Oceans (because on their maps it is located on both the right
and left). I made sure to ask them questions about that and show them on google
earth how on a sphere and the globe you can see it is really one ocean.
If I taught this lesson again I would put a marker (such as a letter or a
symbol) on the countries I wanted to focus on and identify so the students wouldn’t
be so confused. I would also shorten the tour and make the topic more focused,
especially if they’re going to transfer things to a map. Alternatively, I might make the
map the assessment to see if they were able to transfer what they learned on google
earth to a world map. I would also include more familiar landmarks for them (as
opposed to Big Ben and the Spanish cathedral). I liked my teacher’s suggestion of
relating the locations to movies they would know (such as Ratatouille for Italy).
Lastly, I’m not sure that assigning a summary of the lesson was the best summative
activity. I expected them to know how to write a summary, but almost none of them
did. Only one student could describe what a summary is.
I enjoyed teaching this lesson and many of the students told me they enjoyed
it too. Ms. Mitchell also thought it went well overall. I think Geography knowledge is
essential for being an informed citizen and we should communicate that importance
to students.
Caitlin Mewborn
Fall 2013
Geography Lesson
Rubric for assessing student exit ticket summaries:
Target
Includes three
or more
vocabulary
words from
the lesson
Summary
relates to the
google earth
lesson
0
Uses no
vocabulary
words
1
Uses one
vocabulary
word
2
Uses two
vocabulary
words
3
Uses three
vocabulary
words
0
Summary
doesn’t relate
to the lesson
1
Summary only
slightly relates
to the lesson
2
Majority of the
summary
relates to the
lesson
1
Most
sentences are
incomplete
2
Most
sentences are
complete
3
Summary
relates to the
lesson and
includes
main/important
information
covered
3
Complete,
coherent
sentences
Writes in
0
complete,
Illegible, not
coherent
full sentences
sentences
Points Earned: