Social Studies Grade Five

Module One - Location and Physical Features

Concepts:

• Identity, country, province, territory, geographic features, climate, symbols, scale

Students will know that:

• Canada is a country.
• its regions may be defined by geographic factors and political boundaries.
• maps show Canada in different ways.

Students will:

• interpret various maps of Canada .
• identify and describe climate and geographic features of a region.
• learn to see relationships between/among climate, landforms, vegetation, and population distribution.

Students will:

• appreciate and value the country's diversity .

Students may:

• work cooperatively in group tasks.

• Explore various types of globes and maps. Identify features that are natural (e.g., water, mountains, islands), political boundaries (e.g., countries, provinces, states), and cartographic markings (e.g., grid, equator, poles).
• Use a variety of maps to become familiar with the different symbols (e.g., vegetation, resources) that are used. Discuss the appropriateness of the symbols. Compare maps.
• Identify various natural features found in Canada (e.g., plain, mountain, bay, delta, tributary). Learn what they mean in reality and how they look on a map. It may be useful to create a model of an imaginary island that has the various features that will be referred to during the year.
• Locate the geographic regions of Canada (e.g., Arctic, Canadian Shield) and learn about the natural forces that formed these regions.
• Locate the provinces and territories of Canada. Use historical maps to see how the boundaries changed over time.
• Have students participate in various activities using grid, scale, and direction. The teacher and students may wish to play the game Battleships and use grid to copy a picture.
• Using maps of Canada, play a game like "20 Questions ".

Module 1: Activity Guide

Globes

Introduce various kinds of globes. Compare with planet earth. Discuss ways in which the globe is a model of the earth. What does the globe show that is actually found (and not found) on the earth? How does a globe help us learn about the earth?

Compare the appearance of Canada on a globe and on a map. Compare relative size of the various regions, especially the north. Examine various projections (Polar, Mercator's, Peter's) that show Canada and the world in different ways.

Study a map of Canada's traditional Indian boundaries. Compare with current boundaries.

Locate Canada on a globe, noting location, shape, size. Locate other countries. Identify oceans, continents, and neighbouring countries. Highlight Canada.

Student Information Page

Divide the class into small groups, providing each with a globe or world map and various scenarios dealing with transportation, communication, trade, and travel between countries. Trace the routes and identify the means of communication or transportation.

Map symbols

Using atlases, work in small groups to:

• find and interpret the legends on a variety of maps of Canada or regions of Canada;
• discuss why certain symbols were chosen;
• answer specific questions using the coded information on maps;
• use direction and grid;
• use scale to determine distances; and
• locate and describe geographic features.

• games, for example, Battleships;
• codes in grid form;
• copying or enlarging drawings;
• activities using scale; and
• activities using various map symbols.

Note: Latitude and longitude need not be formally "taught" to grade five students unless they have to use atlases that have no other grid system.

Geographic features

Review some of the forces that shape the earth's surface such as snow, ice, water, wind, earthquakes, and volcanoes and link them with the geographic regions.

Locate geographic regions on maps of Canada.

Use maps of Canada showing resources. Link with location, geographic features, boundaries, and climate.

Use legends to discover elevation differences between features such as mountains, plains, coastal areas, and plateaus. Identify drainage basins and make links to elevation. Make a model of a drainage basin. Evaluate the process and the product.

Provinces and territories

Use maps to locate provinces and territories.

Using a resource (e.g., Nelson's Canadian Atlas) explore the different ways Canada has been divided at different times during its history. Identify reasons for those boundaries.

Hand out a blank map of Canada. Have students predict how boundaries might change during the next century. Identify possible reasons for changing or not changing boundaries.

Population distribution

Investigate where people tend to live. Study a map of Canada showing population distribution. Locate major cities, major farming communities, reserves, and the sparsely populated regions, especially in the north.

Brainstorm reasons why students and their families live in the local community. List other reasons people might have for living where they do. These could include:

• geography (preference for the prairies);
• climate (playing hockey);
• resources (job, vocation); and
• historical experiences (reserve land, where family settled).

Imagining they are adults, students list some of their needs and wants (vocations, recreation activities, families), then find locations that might be suitable for them. How might their lives become different because of differences in climate and resources? What new knowledge or skills might they want to acquire if they were living in a different location?

Using scale

Practice using scale. Have students measure an object and a model of the object using the same units of measure, establish a scale, and make a drawing or model to scale. Integrate with math.

• Use model or toy cars. Compare the model and the object.
• Divide the class into groups, each with a model car. Measure several features on the model car. Record measurements on a chart. Design the chart with the students.
• Take the class to the school parking lot. Select a vehicle that is similar to the model they are using (truck, compact car). Measure the same features on the vehicle, using the same units of measure (mm or cm). Record the measurements. Establish an appropriate scale. Draw the vehicle to scale.

Choose an area (park, arena, shopping mall, neighbourhood) and make a model to scale.

Synectics

Use synectics to develop understandings of natural features. For example:

A river is like a dance because it has a beginning and an end and it flows in between.
A river is like a ________.
A plain is like a _________.

Geographic features

Use the concept attainment instructional method to develop understandings about various natural features such as island or peninsula. `Yes' examples would include all the essential attributes. `No' examples would include some or non of the essential attributes.

For more information about the concept attainment instructional method see This Is A Yes: Concept Attainment Instructional Strategies Series No.1 Saskatoon: SPDU\SIDRU, 1991.

Climate, weather

Using atlases study climate maps and the legends.

• Look at the regions and/or provinces.
• Compare the amount of precipitation, sunshine, cloud cover, and so on. Graph this information.
• Compare the seasonal temperatures of regions. Graph or chart the information.
• Find averages of temperature, precipitation, and so on for each province and compare them.

• If you were to visit ...(place)... tomorrow, what clothes would you pack?
• How might the weather in ...(place)... affect what students there will do that day?

"Where in Canada?" (20 Questions)

After students are familiar with the procedure, have them working in small groups. One person thinks of a place in Canada. The other students try to discover what it is by asking questions that have "yes" or "no" answers.

With teacher guidance students learn to ask questions that help them think about categories. For example when the teacher suggests, "You will want to know if this is water or land," the questioning might proceed as follows:

Is it water? yes
Is it an ocean? no
Is it a lake? no
Is it a river? yes
Is it west of Ontario? yes

Students who understand the process will help others. If an irrelevant question is asked, someone will say, "We already know that because .........." Guide the students in making these responses in a constructive rather than criticizing manner.

Use a cooperative learning game. Have the class form two concentric circles. Every person in the inner circle has a person in the outer circle who helps them get answers if they can't think of an answer. People in the inner circle throw a beach ball around. Every person who catches the ball has to name a place in Canada and then pass the ball to another person.

Suggested Resources
(listed in other bibliographies and catalogues*)

* Please note: For the most appropriate resources, the teacher should consult the Bibliography for Elementary Social Studies. The resources listed below, and in each module, are listed in other bibliographies and may also be very useful. * Abbreviations are used as follows:

Arts Ed

Arts Education: A Bibliography for the Elementary Level, 1991

ELA

English Language Arts: A Bibliography for the Elementary Level, 1992

GEP

Saskatchewan Global Education Project Resource Catalogue (catalogue in every school)

Gr 6 SS

Social Studies: A Bibliography for Grade 6, 1992

Kind

Kindergarten: A Bibliography, 1994

MHP

Media House Productions (catalogue in every school)

Sci

Science: A Bibliography for the Elementary Level, 1990

Resources: Maps and Globes

Directions (MHP, V3659)
Distance (MHP, V3658)
Gathering Data (MHP, V3663)
Graphing (MHP, V3664)
Picture It (Gr 6 SS)
Time (MHP, V5039) (time zones)
Weather Watch (MHP, V3464)
Why Do People Live Where They Do? (MHP, V2542)

Student Information Page: Tracing routes

Read each (or the ones your teacher assigns) of the following situations and then do the following:

• Trace the transportation or communication routes.
• Identify the means of communication or transportation.