They’ve Got The Whole
World In Their Hands
After this project, 100 percent of students passed a test
on its content.
3
GRADE LEVEL
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 student will build background
knowledge using new classroom
library books on geography.
The students will grasp geography
concepts by making their own 3dimensional world map.
Students will use the knowledge they
gained from creating their 3-D map to
label their own inflatable globe. 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% 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 Map 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%. A real success
story!
Project Objectives
• The student will create and label a
3-D map (continents, oceans, equator,
prime meridian).
• The student will use the knowledge
gained from creating their 3-D map
to label their inflatable globe.
Materials
3-D map molding kit with recipe to
make dough
paint
toothpicks/slips of paper/tape
3-D inflatable globe
dry erase markers
Readiness Activity
Students will preview and read new
books about geography.
3
HOURS
Continued on the back...
$400
TOTAL BUDGET
THIS WINNING PROJECT IDEA WAS SUBMITTED BY:
Debby Guardino
Georgetown Primary School
436 Providence Rd., Chesapeake, VA 23325
“They’ve Got The Whole World
In Their Hands”
project continued...
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 a 3-D world map 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 map.
Culminating Activity
Students will use the knowledge they
gained from creating their 3-D map to
label their inflatable globe. When the
maps are complete students will continue to explore geography using a big,
inflatable globe they can write and color
on again and again! The write & wipe
globe comes with simple outlines that
make it easy to label continents, oceans,
and more.
The student will position and label the
seven continents and oceans created
with their 3-D dough recipe map. 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 globe.
Evaluation Method
Students were given pre and post
tests to identify and label continents,
oceans, equator and prime meridian.
Students took the pretest and their
scores ranged between 20 and 70%.
On the posttest every student scored a
100% on their paper pencil test.