Layla Henry- Fancy Free in 4th- Blog

Fancy Ideas for the Everyday Classroom

Latitude and Longitude

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    Geography
is such an abstract and difficult concept for students, but it is important
that they begin to orient themselves as they read, learn and discover more
about the world around them. Each year we kick Social Studies off with an introduction to Latitude and Longitude. This is extremely complex for my students, because many of them don’t venture beyond the city where our school is located.  

I created a Latitude and Longitude activity set to help my class make these abstract ideas more concrete. It front loads them with Vocabulary using pictures, a foldable (that can easily be glued into an INB) and bulletin board display cards for them to continual see and use as a reference in class.

Going over this content vocabulary front loads them for their CLOSE Read excerpt which explains the important mapping and direction system that we use to locate places on Earth.

To make the abstract more concrete there is a Map Craftivity that has them locate different places on a map using longitude, latitude and a compass.
It makes an adorable bulletin board and I have created 2 different writing components to help them show what they know in words!
Last but not least is a Performance Task that challenges the students to work together and create a flat word map and label it.  There are labels and templates of the continents for them to cut out, color and arrange. This activity extends their thinking and gives them an opportunity to work as a group to show of their mad map skills. There are pictures to help them along the way. 
   I hope this set helps your kiddos understand the big world we live on in a more exciting and concrete way. Grab this set here at my Teachers pay Teachers store.

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