Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Materials
Hook (5 minutes)
Watch Map Skills video on Flocabulary
Provide each student with five Post-It notes on which they can record noticings and
wonderings throughout the lesson to add to our I notice, I wonder chart
Nigeria or the United States?
o Display pictures of either Nigeria or the United States (the country will not be
identified).
o For each picture, have students turn and talk about whether they think the picture
shows Nigeria or the United States and why they think that. What prior
knowledge do they have that leads them to believe it is one over the other?
o Reconvene and ask students to share out.
o Reveal the location of each picture after it has been discussed.
o After all of the pictures have been discussed, ask students to make observations
about the task. What did they notice? Were they surprised by any of the pictures?
Were any misconceptions revealed?
Body (15 minutes)
Using street view on Google Maps, begin our virtual field trip at Samuel Powel
Elementary School. Ask students what location is shown on the map.
Zoom out to a street view of Philadelphia. Elicit observations from students: What are we
looking at now? What do you notice (or not notice)? (examples of anticipated responses:
lots of buildings and roads, dense, etc.)
Zoom out to U.S. East Coast. What are we looking at now?
o Make sure students have an understanding that Philadelphia is a city in
Pennsylvania.
Zoom out to show the United States as a whole.
o Make sure students understand that Pennsylvania is a state in the United States,
which is a country.
Zoom out to North America.
o Explain to students that North America is one of 7 continents, and the United
States is a country on the continent of North America, along with 22 other
countries including Mexico and Canada.
o Ask students what continent we would need to go to to find Nigeria.
Travel across the Atlantic Ocean and zoom in on Africa. Reinforce the fact that Africa is
a continent (this concept should be fresh in students minds after having read the book
Africa is Not a Country during the previous days lesson).
Ask students where in Africa we need to go to find the country Nigeria.
Zoom in on Nigeria. Ask students to estimate the relative size of Nigeria (as compared to
Pennsylvania or the United States). Show students a map that shows the size of Nigeria in
relation to Pennsylvania.
Zoom in closer on Nigeria. Ask students what they notice. (Students will likely say they
see green, another point for addressing potential misconceptions that Africa is one big
desert).
Zoom in on several Nigerian cities (Abuja and Lagos) and view the street view photos.
Ask students to make observations and compare/contrast with their observations of
Philadelphia.
Note: This discussion will be guided/framed by the following visual (created on the board
throughout the lesson)
Continent
Country
State
City
Address
break down the concept of cities, states, countries, continents, etc., using the map as a visual aid
to appeal to multiple intelligences.
Accommodations
Due to the nature of the task, accommodations should not need to be made with regard to the
content of the lesson. There are, however, several students in my class who have IEPs for
varying visual and auditory disabilities. These students seat assignments (in the front of the
room, facing the whiteboard/Promethean board) were made with these considerations in mind,
and as such, provide the necessary accommodations for them to engage with the lesson.