LESSON OVERVIEW

Title: Getting to Know Maps

Author: Nicole Kleinschmidt
Subject: Social Studies
Grade Level: 4th
Duration: 60 minutes
Unit Description: This is the beginning lesson in a unit about maps and regions
Lesson Goals:
Students will be able to draw a map of their homes and explain that maps look
down on an area
Students will be able to divide their maps into regions
Students will be able to explain that regions are areas divided by their physical
characteristics and their purposes
Common Core Standards:
4 G2.0.1 Describe ways in which the United States can be divided into different
regions (e.g., political regions, economic regions, landform regions, vegetation
regions).
4 G1.0.3 Identify and describe the characteristics and purposes (e.g., measure
distance, determine relative location, classify a region) of a variety of geographic
tools and technologies (e.g., globe, map, satellite image).
Big Ideas
Maps are overhead/bird-eye views of areas
Maps can be broken up into regions
Regions are a part of an area that is different or separate from other parts
Barriers
Students may not be able to comfortably hold a pencil to draw and color
Students may not have background knowledge about maps
Students may not be able to read the directions
Students may not know the vocabulary

METHOD
Anticipatory Set
Ok boys and girls, today were going to start talking about maps
Adapted from CAST: UDL Lesson Plan Builder: http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/

Before we begin remember this is a classroom where we take risks, so its ok to be

wrong about something.
I expect all of you to speak at appropriate levels today, right now were at a level 0,
but during work time you will be at a level 1
Raise your hand and tell me what maps do
Where have you seen maps before
When have you ever used a map? What for?
Maps show us the layout of things.
There are maps of states like Michigan, countries like The US, and there are maps for
other things like houses and apartments
Maps are the overhead viewing of something, so youre looking at it from above
By the end of this lesson you should all know that regions are areas that share
similar purposes or locations and you should be able to divide maps into regions
and make a basic key

Introduce and Model New Knowledge

Were going to look at a map of where I live right now
This is my apartment at Michigan State
Do you see how I labeled the different areas? Like bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen,
living room and porch
Now Im doing to use different colors to divide my apartment into different sections
Maps can always be divided into different sections or as we call them, regions
o Regions are areas divided by their physical characteristics
o A part of an area that is different or separate from other parts
Now Im going to add a key to my map so people reading it know that all the spaces
colored in blue are bedrooms and all the red are bathrooms
Provide Guided Practice
Lets look at my map again
I have 2 sections picked out, the bedrooms are red and the bathrooms are green
What else could be a section of my apartment? Raise your hand if you can think of
another region
Let students pick other regions to identify (living areas, cooking/eating areas)
Color them and add to the key
Make sure they know what regions are, ex: all bedrooms should be red, not just 1 of
them
Provide Independent Practice
I need my paper managers to come up and give everyone a blank piece of paper
I need everyone to pull out a pencil and crayons or colored pencils
Make sure to put the crayons or colored pencils aside until its time to color, I dont
want to see desks opening and closing during work time
Now I want everyone to draw a map of the house or apartment they live in

Adapted from CAST: UDL Lesson Plan Builder: http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/

You can use paper and colored pencils, or use the computer and tablets and the
Paint app to create your map
Use my example as a model
Make sure to get your whole house, if you have multiple floors instead of making
one big picture like mine, make smaller drawings of each floor on the paper
As this is happening show the directions on the board
o Draw overview map of home
o Label each room
o Divide into 5 regions
o Color each region a different color
o Make a key that shows what each color represents
Give them about 20 minutes to work, circling the room, making note of how theyre
working and answering questions
If theres a common question address it to the whole class
WRAP UP
Now that everyones finished turn to the person next to you and share your map and
its regions
Lets come together as a class again
Volunteers to share their map with the class on the ELMO
Give me a thumbs up/ thumbs middle/thumbs down if you think you understand
the beginning of maps and regions
Can someone explain to me what a region is?
Can I have my paper managers collect the drawings for me?
ASSESSMENT
Formative, Ongoing Assessment
I will go around the room during their work time and note who seems to be on task
and doing the right work
I will have students explain their work to me as I circle around
I will help students who are off task or not doing the task correctly back to the
correct work
Summative Assessment
I will use the maps they draw for me as their assessment
I will look at the way they drew their map, if it is an overhead view of a home
I will look for regions divided by purpose and by color
I will look for a key that indicates which color is associated with which region
MATERIALS

Smart Board
PowerPoint
Paper

Adapted from CAST: UDL Lesson Plan Builder: http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/

Pencils
Colored pencils
ELMO projection
Class dojo website

Adapted from CAST: UDL Lesson Plan Builder: http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/