They’ve Got the Whole World in
Their Hands
After this project, 100 percent of students passed a test on its content.
Curriculum/State Standards
SOL 3.5 The student will develop map
skills.
The student will use maps & globes to
locate continents and oceans.
The student will position and label the
seven continents and four oceans to
create a world map.
The student will use the equator and
prime meridian to identify the four
hemispheres.
The student will identify geographical
features and landforms.
Overview
The students will build background
knowledge using new classroom library
books on geography. The students will
grasp geography concepts by making their
own 3-dimensional world maps. Students
will use the knowledge they gained from
creating their 3-D maps to label their
own inflatable globes. This project was
extremely effective. I teach third grade
special needs students, and one of our
state standards is locating and naming all
of the continents and oceans on a map
and a globe as well as the equator and
prime meridian. This has been a difficult
task to teach in the past for regular and
special education students - especially
the location aspect. The unit was taught
in the fall of 2009 and the majority of
my students had not mastered the skill
with 80 percent or better on the end
of unit test. The skill was reintroduced
in the spring of 2010 with the hands
on materials funded through our grant.
My students all mastered labeling the
continents and oceans on their 3-D maps
with practice and independently with
their write on wipe off inflatable globes.
They practice using their globes through
the month of May. Right before state
testing, I gave them the same geography
test they had taken in the fall and every
student scored 100 percent. A real
success story!
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GRADE LEVEL
Objectives
The students will create and label 3-D
maps (continents, oceans, equator, prime
meridian).
The students will use the knowledge
gained from creating their 3-D maps to
label their inflatable globes.
Materials
3-D map molding kits with recipe to
make dough
paint
toothpicks
slips of paper
tape
3-D inflatable globes
dry erase markers
Readiness Activity
Students will preview and read new
books about geography.
Strategies/Activities
Students will mix up dough from a simple
recipe and press it into rubber molds.
Next, students will remove the dough
from the mold and place the continents
in their appropriate positions to create
3-D world maps including oceans. Finally,
the students will paint and label their
maps when they dry. Students will easily
identify continents, oceans, mountain
ranges and more when they experience
geography on their own 3-D maps.
THIS WINNING PROJECT IDEA SUBMITTED BY:
Debby Guardino
Georgetown Primary
Chesapeake, VA
3
3
HOURS
$400
TOTAL BUDGET
They’ve Got the Whole World in
Their Hands
....continued....
Culminating Activity
Students will use the knowledge
they gained from creating their
3-D maps to label their inflatable
globes. When the maps are
complete, students will continue
to explore geography using big,
inflatable globes they can write
and color on again and again!
The write and wipe globes come
with simple outlines that make it
easy to label continents, oceans,
and more.
The students will position and
label the seven continents and
oceans created with their 3-D
dough recipe maps. The students
will use the knowledge they
gained from creating their maps
to identify and label continents,
oceans, equator, prime meridian,
and four hemispheres to label
and inflatable write and wipe
globes.
Evaluation Method
Students were given pre- and
post-tests to identify and label
continents, oceans, equator and
prime meridian. Students took
the pre-test and their scores
ranged between 20 and 70
percent. On the post-test, every
student scored a 100 percent on
their paper pencil tests.