GEOGRAPHY

Kindergarten

                                   

Overarching Question: Where am I?

Essential Questions:                                                                                        

¨       What is a map/globe?

¨       Where do I live?

¨       What are the features of the school’s town/community?

Enduring Understandings 

MA History/ Social  SCIENCE  CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK   LEARNING STANDARDS

 

Assessments

Learning Experiences

There are special words and phrases that are used to identify the location of things.

 

The features of a particular place can be described.

 

We can name the location of where we live:

       Street address

        Town

        State

        Country

 

We can name our school and describe its location.

 

Maps and globes represent  physical location and place.

 

 

 

With guidance from the teacher, students should be able to:

 

Use correctly words and phrases that indicate location and direction such as up, down, near, far, left, right, straight, back, behind, and in front of.

 

Tell or show what a map is and what a globe is.

 

Identify the student’s street address, city or town, and Massachusetts as the state and the United States as the country in which he or she lives.  Identify the name of the student’s school and the city or town in which it is located.

Describe the location and features of places in the immediate neighborhood of the student’s home or school.

 

Use art materials to construct representations of various geographical features of a region following a field trip or reading a book.

 

Use blocks, collage or other art materials to create maps of the classroom, school grounds or neighborhood.

 

Use the sand table to create representations of local geographic features such as mountains, streams, forests, roads.

 

Write and illustrate a class big book or individual address books about location and place using digital photos, maps, or drawings.  e.g., This is my house, My address is_____________...or   This is our class, This is our classroom, This is our school, Our school is in (town) our town is in MA.  MA is in the United States.

 

Map the school by going on a hunt (i.e. to find the Gingerbread Man). Label the parts of the map with the job of the people who work in that part of the school (cafeteria, gymnasium, nurses office, principals office)

 

Play games to teach direction: Mother May I? Doggy where’s my bone?  I spy,

 

Write letters to classrooms in other parts of the state or country. Send a representation of a character and request that the character be photographed or keep a journal about the places it visits. E.g. Make Way for Ducklings, Toot and Puddle, Flat Stanley etc.

Participate in Journey North (simulated butterfly migration)