Christina Owen

Title: Discovering the Globe

Grade: 2nd

Length: 25-30 minutes

Performance Expectation: By drawing and coloring a picture of

a globe the students will identify a globe as a sphere, a model

of the earth, and locate water and land on the globe.

Materials: toy car, globes (one per 5 children), paper, pencils,

and colored pencils, 2 sheets of butcher paper, one marker

Procedures:

I. Intro: Show students the toy car. Ask questions about whether

or not the car is a real car. Introduce the word "model"

by telling the children that this is a model of a real car, and

that looks like a real car but is much smaller. Then get out

the globe of the earth and hold it up in the air. Ask the children

to identify what you are holding up in the air. Talk about the

fact that the "globe" is a model of the earth/world.

II. Development: Pass globes out to groups of 4 or 5 children

for inspection (give each group their own globe to look at throughout

the lesson). Have a recorder for the group write down any questions

that the group thinks of about the globe. Also ask the children

to take notice of the different colors on the globe. Ask the

recorder to write down what the group thinks the different colors

represent. After approximately 10 minutes have the groups share

with the entire class what they thought about the different colors

in the globe and also any questions that they had about the features

of the globe. While each group shares their ideas the teacher

will record on the proper chart the groups findings. There will

be a chart titled, "colors on a globe", and a second

chart titled, "questions or thoughts about a globe".

Have the class discuss the thoughts that are on the chart paper.

Talk about what the different colors on the globe really represent

(ex: water, land, mountains, ect.). Ask the children what shape

the globe is in. Tell the children that there is another name

for the ball like shape – a sphere.

III. Closure: Have the children color in the land (any color

except blue) and the water (any shade of blue) on a flat map.

Encourage the children to get as in-depth as they wish (ex:

mountain regions, etc.). Have the group of children turn in their

pictures and their recorders notes.

Assessment: Observe the children as they work in their groups.

Look at recorders notes for each group to see what the children

were thinking about. Look at the pictures of the globes to see

if the children understood the concept of water and land.

Adaptation/Consideration: Have globes available for children

to look at to remember where the water is and where the land is.

This will help them remember what the typical color of water

is on a globe.

Reference:

Owen, C. October 5, 1997.

Stockard, Jr., J.W. (1995). Understanding maps as pictures of

the earth.

Activities for elementary school social studies

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Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.