Kindergarten
History/Social Science
Standard K.4

Students compare and contrast the locations of people,
places, and environments and describe the human and
physical characteristics.


 
Resources
Lesson Plans
Assessments
SRA Math Exploration and Applications  Level K
SRA/McGraw-Hill copyright 1998
Lesson 48 will assist in helping students to understand maps being models of the location, places, and environments that people live in.

The Music Connection K
Silver Burdett Ginn copyright 1995
Unit 8 Lesson 3
Pages 78-79
"Bluebells"
This lesson encourages students to observe the natural environment in their own schoolyard or backyard.

Previously Published Data

Rosie's Walk.
Hutchins, Pat.

Sitting on the Farm. Theatrix, 1993 (CD-ROM, Mac, MS-DOS. $63.93, Lab of 5: $133.93). 
The program provides an opportunity for numerous cross-curricular applications. It can be integrated into science, geography, math, art, music, reading, writing, spelling, and drama. Forty three animals presented in seven different environments are available to enhance appropriate units or projects.
The program naturally supports multicultural
objectives by providing a read-along option in three
languages.

 
Using an inflatable globe, teacher tosses it to each student.  The student will catch the globe and identify whether their right thumb lands on water or land.  Keeping a tally of water vs. land should show that our world is made up of mostly water.

Students will go on a tour around school grounds and identify, by observing, such things as people's movements, region that surrounds them, physical characteristics of the buildings, and land around them.

Display a world map in the room.  Each time a student brings in an item for sharing a sticky dot is placed on the world map on the country in  which that item was made.  Over time sticky dots will identify where a majority of their things are made.

Previously Published Data

1.) Students draw around their hands and add identifying features such as bandage, sores, rings, and lines. Students label left or right on the picture. Post the hands.

2.) Students listen to a story and participate in a follow-up mapping of the story by drawing with crayon on a large piece of paper. Students will be able to re-tell the story in sequence while demonstrating the sequence on the map they drew.
 3.) Students will identify objects in the room by name. They will walk to areas pointed out by the teacher and describe their path.
4.) Students will build a block city or town using large blocks, table and butcher paper.
5.) Students will participate in discussions on maps and their use and identifying features.
Given a simple map the student will color the land brown and the water blue. 
Student will orally describe one activity that can be done near or on water and one activity that can be done on land.
Previously Published Data

Students can be informally assessed by one or more   of the following tasks:

1. Ask students to draw a map of their room, the   kindergarten playground, or their walk to school.

2. Explain what a map is and why maps are useful.
3. Given a simple color legend and a piece of paper, ask students to follow directions to draw objects and places such as the school, post office, and   grocery store on the map.
For example:

· Draw a park near the school.
· Draw a home to the left of the school. 
· Draw in the playground.