Let's Paint the Town by Melanie Lewis
Time Allotment: three 45 minute periods.
Subjects: social studies and technology
Grade Level: fourth grade (may be altered for any grade working on map skills)
Standards: VA SOL SS VS.1, VS.2 a-c, Eng 4.6, Eng 4.7, Eng 4.8, Nets*S 3, 4, 5
How can this resource be used?
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Central focus of lesson
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Enrichment activity
Equipment, Considerations, and Teacher Prep
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Internet Access
One computer per student
Single computer and projector
Other (describe): Microsoft Paint, Overhead sheets with the state of Virginia printed on them. The state should be large enough to cover the majority of the sheet, the activity sheets from the web quest should be printed out prior to student use of the quest. Teacher should pre-register her students for the Poster Project
Objective
Students will be able to identify the 5 regions of Virginia, the bordering states, and the Virginian waterways. They will also be able to name the Native American Language Groups and the regions they occupied.
Description of lesson
1. In this session, the students will identify the relative location of Virginia in relationship to bordering bodies of water (Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay) and the bordering states (Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and North Carolina).
2. Review cardinal and intermediate directions by using a compass rose on a map. Suggested activity: Group the children by fours to locate the cardinal directions north, east, south, and west using a magnetized needle attached to Styrofoam placed in a small bowl of water. Label the walls of the classroom north, east, south, and west upon completion of the activity.
3. Have the students practice facing north, east, south, and west.
4. On a wall map of Virginia, label the cardinal directions on index cards.
5. Ask the students the definition of relative. Write the student responses on chart paper or the chalkboard (e.g., “someone in your family,” “someone close to you”).
6. Review relative location words. Relative location words are used to describe spatial relationships between objects. Choose pairs of students to stand at their place. Ask the class where “David” is in relation to “Mary.” The students should respond, “I am next to, bordering, or near Mary.” Reinforce that these terms describe relative location.
7. Use a world map to locate the United States. Review the shape of the United States. Display a United States map, and ask the students to locate Virginia. Explain that Virginia is located in the eastern United States next to the Atlantic Ocean. Identify Virginia and label it.
8.Ask the students to access The Regions of Virginia Web Quest. Read through the instructions with the students. Advise the students that there is a slight change in the instructions from the activity sheet. There are some additional tasks after they color the map on the sheet.
9. Once the web quest is completed, students are to launch the Microsoft Paint program. Have them tape the overhead transparency sheet to the front of the screen. They are to then use the paint program to “trace” the map off the transparency. Each region should be colored and labeled to match the map at the bottom of their sheet. Students must save their map for the next step.
10. Pass out the sheet with the log in information for the Poster Project Page and have Students open it. They will follow the online instructions for creating their page. They are to upload their maps they created in step and write a paragraph describing Virginia and the differences in the five regions to post on their page.
Resources:
The Regions of Virginia Web Quest
Poster Project
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