Objectives
- The students will identify the globe as a model of the Earth.
- The students will locate the continent of North America on a globe.
- The students will locate the four oceans on the globe.
Vocabulary
globe, ocean, continent
Materials Needed
classroom globe, map marker
Lesson
Write the word Earth on the board. Ask the students to share ideas about the meaning of the word. After some discussion, tell the student that one meaning of Earth is the name of our planet. All people live on the planet Earth. The Earth is a very large place. All the land and water features that they see are on the planet Earth.
Introduce the globe as the model of the Earth. Explain the word model. Discuss the similarities between models and the things they represent. Examples would be model train vs. a real train, model cars vs. a real car. Ask why we use models instead of real objects? (size - students don't have room to use real trains, the Earth is so large, a model must be used to study it.) The globe shows two major geographical features, land and water. Tell the students that largest land areas are called continents. Write the word continent on the board. Tell the students they live on the continent of North America, write North America on the board and circle it on the globe. The largest water areas are called oceans. Write the word ocean on the board.
Pass the globe among the students. Ask them to find what they think are oceans. (Make sure you point out the Arctic Ocean located at the North Pole). Place a mark on the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Arctic Ocean, and Indian Ocean. Ask the students if there is more water or land on our planet. (water)
Tell the students that most of the land and water features have names.