As promised here is the hit. I will definitely do some sort of game.
I have Rand McNally Atlases (15) and I teach with them all of the time. One
thing I do is put the name of a country on a 3X5 card (find about 50-60
countries of all letters of the alphabet) and the classes have a race to
look the country up in the index, write down the map key and page number,
then locate it within the atlas for a point within a given time
period. I select teams of two students each to do this. I have students who
help me check and pass out a marker to each team and another student who
monitors the 3X5 cards...which frees me up to help with location skills.
Another thing I do is formulate questions regarding climate, products, etc.
about countries that students must use the atlas to research within a given
time period. This also works well with an online Atlas (I have 21 computers
in the library). I divide students into groups. Some check out books while
the others are online--then when all groups get a time limit chance, we
correct the answers!
Kids love both of these activities and they learn a lot at the same time
they are having fun!
***************
In first grade, to coincide with a language arts lesson, we have read "My
Sister's Rusty Bike" and "Alice Ramsey's Great Adventure." We then
introduce the atlas, esp. the different maps and the index. We have them
use the grid code to find a place.
In fourth grade we use some of the worksheets and ideas in the teacher's
manual. I was reviewing one of these activities with the fifth grade today.
It's a problem based on aliens invading Earth. They have to use longitude
and latitude, ie, 30 N by 40 E and write down the first letter of the
country those lines touch. I've also used the US map and written a
distance, direction, and landmark activity. (Start in Charlotte, go 550
miles NW to a town along a river. I'm picturing Pittsburgh, although it's
not the correct clue and I don't have an atlas in front of me. They write
down the town. From that town go 400 miles SW -- you get the idea?)
With these two 4th grade activities the students have practiced longitude
and latitude, direction, using the map key and scanning.
*****************
I am in a 1-4 school and am currently doing almanac lessons to the third
graders. I also have world almanac atlases. I do two lessons -One as an
overview- What is a map- Table of Contents- Index- Coordinates etc. The
second lesson I choose a country that the classes are studying- Like China-
and I make up a question sheet for them to respond to. This helps reinforce
what is going on in the classroom.
***********************
I recently attempted to create a lesson plan using the Funk & Wagnall World
Atlases my media center acquired many years before my arrival. In doing so,
I was looking closely at the atlas, and it was soooooo bad, I could barely
use it. The countries were set-up in zones, so you had to know that Austria
was in Europe before you could find Austria. AND Scotland wasn't even in
it!!! Before you go through a lot of trouble, look closely at yours to make
sure that they're useable.
I was thinking I'd set-up a 'go find this country' and tell me the page
number (treasure hunt) after an introduction on how to use the Atlas.
************************
With grade 3/4 students, we discussed why one would use an Atlas, looked up
Italy to see if it really looked like a "boot" (after reading about that in
a story), reviewed cardinal directions, legends & other map markings - then
the students completed a worksheet. They answered things like:
Find a map of the United States (I had them write the page # in). What state
has the longest border with the Pacific Ocean (quite a lively discussion
about whether it was Alaska or California); What large island is off the
southeast coast of Africa? What is the name of the sea that is north of
Africa and south of Italy?
After that we had a "jeopardy" game - using the large map of our province
(British Columbia), I would say the name of a community (lake,
mountain...) - the students located the 'section' on the map (E5) that the
place was located. Have also done this where they had to find the
co-ordinates (or give them the co-ordinates & they locate the place).
Another activity is to create a board game...Atlas Trivia - or something
along the lines of Library Trivia (or whatever) with different categories:
Atlas, Dictionary, Illustrators, Dewey, Genre...
*********************8
We spend a week or two on them a reference unit for 3-5th graders, looking
at the different types, talking about and hands-on examining of different
atlas "genres" (general world atlases, historical, limited to a certain
area, space atlases, etc.) , what is included and not in a wide variety of
atlases, with just a little emphasis on specific exact ways of looking up
various things in them, because they are so varied.
******************
Karen Walstein, Teacher-Librarian
Old Bridge Public Schools
Old Bridge, NJ
mets53@comcast.net
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