Content Area: Social Studies

 

Index: 6.6A Grade 2 CPI 1

 

Standard: 6.6 - Geography

 

Strand: A -  World in Spatial Terms

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 1 -  The student will explain the spatial concepts of location, distance and direction, including:

·        The location of school, home, neighborhood, community, state, and country

·        The relative location of the community and places within it

·        The location of continents and oceans

 

Grade: 2

 

Sample Activities:

 

·       Students must understand the underlying physical processes that produce geographic entities and the ecological systems that are their result. According to Geography for Life: National Geographic Standards, All individuals need to have an understanding of geography, which means that they need to have an understanding of the spatial contexts of people, places and environments on Earth. An isolated geographic fact does not constitute geographic
understanding.

We must, however, recognize that students need to develop a database of knowledge of locations and places in order to better understand and use the higher-order skills when asking and answering geo-graphic questions.

As students understand spatial concepts, they begin to see patterns as a way of identifying connections and interactions among people and places. Geographic understanding broadens to include everything from land use patterns to market research and from international relations to facilities
planning. Students begin to see that geography is a very broad subject that encompasses many areas of human activity.

 

·       Reviewing and Re-forming Regions. Using a physical/political map of New Jersey, students locate and list the various regions (e.g., highlands, shore areas, pinelands, farmlands, plains). Students also learn the basic political subdivisions: counties, townships, towns, and cities. Discuss these regions and how the physical characteristics of each region affect the lives of the people who live there. Working in cooperative groups, the students divide a blank map of New Jersey into regions in a unique way.

 

·       Retrieving Maps on the ‘Net. Practicing technology skills, students use an electronic map collection on the Internet to locate maps of New Jersey and other states. They collect data and then present their findings to the class. Each student can take a state or a possession (Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands, Pacific territory), print the various maps, and write a description of what he or she has collected and learned. One source is the University of Texas at Austin’s collection of maps at the following Web site: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/united_states.html