Lesson Plan
Content Area: Social Studies
Unit: Cardinal Directions
Theme: Compass Rose
Grade: 2
Total Time: 30-40 minutes
Essential Question:
- How do we use maps in our everyday life as a tool?
- Students will demonstrate the ability to use the compass rose to indicate directions.
- Students will be able to create and use map symbols.
- Students will be able to create a map of a familiar area.
- Students will demonstrate how to use a map legend.
Common Core Standards:
- Speaking and Listening Standards
- Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to clarify comprehension, gather additional information, or deepen understanding of a topic or issue.
- Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.
- Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
- Seek to understand and communicate with individuals from different cultural backgrounds.
2. Writing Standards
- Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement.
- With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.
- Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Bloom's Taxonomy:
- Evaluation: Do you think it's a good thing to know how to use a compass? Why or why not?
- Synthesis: Design a map from someone who is lost to follow.
- Analysis: What are some of the problems of getting lost?
- Application: Would this information be useful if you were ever lost? Why or why not?
- Comprehension: Cut or draw pictures to show the four cardinal directions and where they're located in relation to each other.
- Knowledge: How many cardinal directions are there?
Materials/Preparation:
- Class set of compasses
- Sketching of an unlabeled school floor plan (on Smart Board)
- Construction paper, white
- Scissors
- Rulers
- Colored Markers, Crayons, Colored Pencils
- Using students' prior knowledge, create a list of reasons for using maps and cardinal directions.
- Using a KWL chart, decipher what the students know about a compass, maps and the cardinal directions. For example, do they know how many cardinal directions there are or the names of them? Do they know how to use a compass or do they want to learn how to?
Main Learning Activities:
- Model how to use a map title, legend and compass rose using the sketched map of the school's floor plan on the Smart Board.
- Create a legend box, title, and compass rose for the floor plan, asking for students to input their suggestions.
- Ask a volunteer to identify a destination, then ask a different student to raise their hand to provide an insight into which direction you would have to travel to reach that destination. Repeat this step several times to engage more children.
- Have the students work in a small group to create and label their own map of the classroom, lunchroom, gym, or other aspect of the school.
- Discuss how students may use their own mental map without realizing it everyday to go to the lunchroom, gym or other parts of the school.
Closing Activity:
- Remind students of the idea that we use our own mental map almost everyday to walk home from school, a friends house or a different part of school.
- Have students write a few sentences about what they learned from creating their map and whether they feel it would be beneficial or not.
Lesson Extension: Day 2 (optional)
- Students use a map with a legend to find their very own hidden treasure within the classroom or school.
- Students are given a clue that leads them to the next clue which will eventually lead them to a desired destination or treasure.
Home Connections:
- Students discuss with their family members about a time they used directions to reach a destination or were lost and needed directions.
- Students record their family members' experiences and brainstorm possible solutions for what to do if you're lost.
Assignment:
- Have students create a map of their house with directions leading to their bedroom. If parents are uncomfortable with this, students may create a fictional house and create directions based on that house.
Supporting All Learners:
- Visual: For visual learners, the pictures of the school's floor plan will be valuable and creating their own map will help them learn.
- Aural: To remember the cardinal directions, the students could create a song or share a song they may know of.
- Verbal: Talking about the cardinal directions and having the words on the Smart Board alongside pictures may appeal to verbal learners.
- Physical: Moving around while creating a map and following a legend to reach the end destination will benefit physical learners.
- Logical: Using reasoning and logic to figure out the clues to reach an end destination may be useful for logical learners.
- Social: Creating a map in small groups allows students to participate in social activity.
- Solitary: Following a legend allows the students to work alone to find the destination or treasure rather than in a group or a pair.
- Writing and Reading Levels: By having students work in groups, they will be able to help each other read and write throughout the creation of the map.
Self-Assessment:
- Students should writing a paragraph regarding what they learned and if they feel the new information will be helpful to them. Students should explain why it will be useful or why it will not be.
- Assess prior knowledge when students volunteer their information for the KWL.
- Informally assess by moving throughout the classroom and groups to listen and observe students while they're working together to create their maps.
- Assessment of the assignment would either be completed or not completed. To receive completed, students must have a map of their house with step by step directions leading to their bedroom. The directions must include cardinal directions.