Lesson Plan Title

“Can a Bird Make a Map?”

Guiding Question

How do you make a map?

Grade Level

First Grade

Learning Target(s)

·        Skills (Use mapping elements to construct a map)

Specific Objective(s)

·        Given a shared reading and activity examining a bird’s perspective, and given an exercise in mapping, students will be able to demonstrate what they know about mapping elements as they construct a map of their classroom.

Special Considerations

·        This lesson is intended to pre-asses students’ abilities to construct a map by placing items in proper locations on a map. 

Lesson Preparations

Teacher labels five common objects and places them around the room.  Teacher also places portable chalkboards (or other barriers) in the middle of the classroom, which will force students to walk around and find objects, adding a bit of a challenge to the mapping activity.

Mapping paper will include an outline of the classroom in order to scaffold students on placing objects on to their map.

EALRs

(Geography) 1.1 Use and construct maps, charts, and other resources to gather and interpret geographic information.

GLEs

(Social Studies Framework) G1.1.1b:  Use basic mapping elements to construct a map that displays information about school grounds, a neighborhood, or a local community [Location, Place]

Total Time Allotment

30 Minutes

Materials Needed

·        Fledgling by Robert J. Blake

·        Stereo/CD with calm, meditative music

·        Markers

·        Mapping paper

·        Labels for objects

·        Vrs classroom objects:  globe, desk, chair, flag, stereo, couch

Room/Student Arrangement(s)

·        Various—on floor with teacher for part of the time.  Chalkboards will be arranged in the middle of the room.

Teaching Procedures

Pre-Assessment

·        This entire lesson is a pre-assessment for the unit to follow on creating and reading maps.

Opening and Learning Activities

·        SHARED READING (10 min) Students gather around on the floor by the teacher.  Teacher reads Fledgling, stopping to ask questions about the bird’s perspective (how the bird sees things).  Teacher makes the point that the bird sees things differently from up in the air than the people do from the ground.

·        IMAGINATION EXERCISE (5 min) Teacher has students stand up, put arms out, and spread out so they have enough space that they aren’t touching each other. 

·        Teachers tells students to close eyes and imagine you are a bird (if students are unable to balance, etc., may keep eyes open), flying silently through the forest, flapping your wings, through the branches of trees…What do you see on the ground?  Fly over your home, your street, what do you see?  Fly over the school…think of all the things you see from the sky?  Think of how they look differently from the sky than they did when you were on the ground…

·        Teacher has students open eyes and sit on the floor by the teacher again.  Teacher asks “What kinds of things did you see?” (Knowledge level) “How did things (use example of something a student has said) look different from where the bird was compared to how you normally see it? (Analysis level)

·        MAPPING ACTIVITY (10 min) Teacher explains that students will be making map.  There are 6 objects (teacher’s desk, globe, flag, stereo, couch, teacher’s chair) students will need to include on their maps.  The items are labeled, and the teacher writes them on the board.  Chalkboards are placed in the middle of the room, so students will have to walk around and find objects.  Teacher hands out paper and tells them they will have 5 minutes to draw the location of these items on their map.  If they finish early, they can add additional things from the classroom on to their maps.

OR Draw symbols for students to use so that they do not get frustrated and hung up on drawing objects (although first option allows a “need to know” that would lead into discussion of map symbols).

(*note—students may get the idea to climb on furniture to get bird’s eye view.  Teacher will need to lay down rules about this)

·        DEBRIEF (5 min)  Teacher calls the students to the floor and asks questions like “How did it go?” (Evaluation level)  “What was easy?”  (Analysis) “What was hard?” (Analysis) “Do you think this would have been easier to do if you were an bird?” (Synthesis) (Discuss)

Post-Assessment

·        This is a pre-assessment activity.  The student-created maps will inform the teacher about students’ abilities to construct a map, which will guide the mapping activities to follow in the days ahead.  Teacher will record each student’s abilities as a plus, check, or minus with comments about students’ needs.

Accommodations

(A sample of accommodations)

Learning Style/Learning Disability

Specific Accommodations

Visual learners

See the illustrations in the book and the map and objects in the classroom.

Auditory learners

Discuss, answer and ask questions

Use of music in imagination exercise

Hear story read aloud

Kinesthetic learners

Arms out, pretending to be a bird. Walk around the classroom and touch objects.

ESL students

Partner up with peer/teacher who speaks the same language, teacher can help translate for English-dominant students, or demonstrate examples of how to map objects.

Students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders

Shared reading space is not cluttered, rules and guidelines are clearly stated and restated, each student has personal space, enact management plan when necessary during the read aloud (preferably individual plans with discrete ways of letting students know they have to calm down or change behavior)

Students with self-regulation problems

Lead students through relaxation time before circle time.  Moving around in imagination exercise and mapping activity should help them to stretch or get their wiggles out

Students with auditory memory problems

Re-state directions and during activity follow up to clarify directions.

Minus (-)

Check (√)

Plus (+)

• Student represented one or none of the objects correctly on his/her map.

• Student represented two or three of the objects correctly on his/her map.

• Students represented four or more of the objects correctly on his/her map.