[roo]

Next year, I will be teaching social studies (4th grade) for the first time in my career, and am looking for ideas already. One important area I know the kids always struggle with is map skills, and latitude and longitude. I was thinking of making a foldable to reinforce this concept, but am having no luck in my online searches.
Any ideas for a map skills or latitude/longitude foldable?
Any other favorite social studies links or websites to get me started?
Any advice?

Most of our kids really dread social studies because the current teacher just has them read and take notes...it's boring! I want to liven it up and make it fun for them. I'm really looking forward to the new challenge!

TIA

[giver1940]

Unseen's task cards because they may give you some awesome ideas.

Have some sites that are great, but they aren't just maps. Maybe they will give you some ideas though. Hope so.

Native Americans?
http://www.native-languages.org/states.htm

You have to scroll down a ways to get to the 4th grade map games. There may be other stuff too.
http://www.willoughby-eastlake.k12.o...%20Studies.htm

Does the National Park Service have a traveling trunk available in your area?
http://www.nps.gov/learn/trunks.cfm

There are probably other ideas on this site, but I think the preamble bulletin board has a lot of possibilities. One of our teachers (not 4th) printed it and put it up for the kids to figure out, but I thought it would be more fun to print it, cut out each plate and let the students draw it and the try to assemble it. You'd probably have to print the actual preamble to give them a little boost.
http://##################.com/94

Not sure what all is involved in 4th grade ss, but maybe this would launch some ideas for you.
http://www.50states.com/bio/nickname1.htm

Will you do Native Americans?
http://www.native-languages.org/states.htm

Would Teachertipster.com have anything helpful?

Scroll about 1/3 of the way down and you'll find map skills games.
http://www.willoughby-eastlake.k12.o...%20Studies.htm

Hope something helps.

[beachygrl]

The way I've taught longitude and latitude isn't a foldable, but using a foldable would be great for reinforcement. I teach it by explaining that every line of longitude is as long as the others, and that lines of latitude are like climbing a ladder up and down the earth. There are several good illustrations for this. Then I bring out oranges, and as I peel them we discuss how each section is divided by lines of longitude, but if we slice them with a knife we would have lines of latitude. Each student gets half an orange, and they tell me if they want latitude lines or longitude lines. This has been successful for my kids every year.

[BettySpeller]

Students LOVE this. I baked some box cakes and cut them length-wise (depending how many students). Working in groups of 4 students, they use edible items to show landforms. Blue icing for lakes/rivers; upside down Reeses cups for plateaus; Hershey Kisses for mountains; chocolate chips for hills, etc...

Google it; I believe there may even be something on YouTube about how to make these. My students told me this was one of their favorite activities.

[1956BD]

If you invest in a $20 membership to Superteacherworksheets.com, you will have access to many great map lessons. I think they are much better that what I have to go with my text adoption.

I also supplement with real maps of my hometown and state. They enjoy learning to fold them properly. I made up questions for each map. The students work in pairs. I ask a question and we race to see who can find the correct answer first. After I check to make sure the first pair to raise their hands has the correct answer, then they assist me in walking around the room to check other student answers as well. If anyone has not found the answer we show them how to do it correctly. So the process is both competitive and cooperative. They love these lessons. They get to review map skills and learn about their own town and state. I obtained my maps free from our state capital.

It is also fun to use an amusement park map. We don't have an amusement park in our hometown, so I use one from a water park that is close by. The students love this!

[bryanswife]

Anytime I buy or sell on ebay, I bring the tracking number to school & we track the package through the states. We cover direction skills, regions, & longitude/latitude. It's a periodic review & the students love it, especially if the package is something for them!! (I purchase a lot of books.)