Beacon Lesson Plan Library

Earth Matters

Laura Brown

Description

Students will understand and be able to identify the Earth's equator, prime meridian, lines of latitude, lines of longitude, parallels, and meridians.

Standards

Florida Sunshine State Standards
SS.B.1.2.1
The students uses maps, globes, charts, graphs, and other geographic tools including map keys and symbols to gather and interpret data and to draw conclusions about physical patterns.

Florida Process Standards
Information Managers
01 Florida students locate, comprehend, interpret, evaluate, maintain, and apply information, concepts, and ideas found in literature, the arts, symbols, recordings, video and other graphic displays, and computer files in order to perform tasks and/or for enjoyment.

Effective Communicators
02 Florida students communicate in English and other languages using information, concepts, prose, symbols, reports, audio and video recordings, speeches, graphic displays, and computer-based programs.

Critical and Creative Thinkers
04 Florida students use creative thinking skills to generate new ideas, make the best decision, recognize and solve problems through reasoning, interpret symbolic data, and develop efficient techniques for lifelong learning.

Materials

-12- round blue balloons-1 per student
-Black permanent markers-1 per student
-Student Learning Logs (Social Studies notebooks)
-United States and Its Neighbors (5th Grade Social Studies text)
-Any text such as The United States and Its Neighbors (5th Grade Social Studies text) with information on equator, prime meridian, lines of latitude, lines of longitude, parallels, and meridians would be sufficient .

Preparations

Teachers will need to locate information on equator, prime meridian, lines of latitude, lines of longitude, parallels, and meridians that students can read and discuss with the teacher and peers.

Procedures

1) Distribute to each student a 12- round blue balloon and a permanent black marker. Tell students to blow up their balloons and tie them.
2) Read together and discuss pages 30-31 in Social Studies text (indicated in materials section)
3) Discuss and have students enter each of the key vocabulary words, see description, in the students' Learning Logs, as they appear in the text.
4) As each word is entered and discussed, students will draw and label on the balloon a line that will represent the vocabulary word (i.e. equator, prime meridian, lines of latitude, lines of longitude, parallels, and meridians).
5) Students will go to a second grade classroom and, one-on-one, explain to those students what the equator is. Their teacher has provided each of them with a blue balloon. They will then draw and label the equator.

Assessments

Teacher will observe students' balloons to confirm that they correctly drew and labeled the equator, prime meridian, lines of latitude, lines of longitude, parallels, and meridians. Students will write a paragraph explaining the patterns in weather and time created by the equator.
Teacher will also observe students in a second grade classroom, as they instruct and explain to the second graders what the equator is. Their teacher will need to provide balloons for each second grade student.

Extensions

This lesson is continued in another Beacon teacher lesson plan called Pinpointing Particular Places.