One Computer/One Projector Lesson Plan

24 October 2014
Subject: Social Studies (Geography)

Lesson Title: The Five Days of Geography Day 1: Location

Big Ideas:
Location can come in two different formsabsolute and relative
There are certain times in which one type of location may be more beneficial than the
other.
Absolute locationan exact location (aka an address) Relative locationwhere you are
in relationship to your environment.

Goals/Objectives:
Content Objectives: Students will be able to understand the difference between absolute
and relative location and know which scenario relative location is best for and which
scenario absolute location is best used for.

Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs):
1 G1.0.2 Give examples of places that have absolute locations (e.g., home address, school
address).
1 G1.0.3 Use personal directions (left, right, front, back) to describe the relative location of
significant
places in the school environment

ISTE-T Standards:
1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity
c. Customize and personalize learning activities to address students diverse learning
styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
Materials:
-Notecards
-Map (with feature bank and addresses provided)
-Crayons
-PowerPoint Presentation
-Computer for PowerPoint
-One Projection Screen

Time and Activity Content What the Instructor will be doing
Introduction (5-7 Minutes)
PowerPoint
-Show students the slides of the five forms of
geography (location, place, human-
environment interaction, movement, and
region)
-You will be starting with Location
This lesson is strictly focusing on location
-For location discuss relative and absolute
(absolute being an address, relative is where
you are in relationship to your environment.
Aka I am currently located next to Baker
Wood Lot)
-Displaying and Discussing the five different
types of geography. Make sure to note that
only location will be discussed during todays
lesson.
-Who can tell me what they know about
location?
Activity 1
(6 Minutes)
Have students split into pairs. One student
will be relative location and the other student
will be absolute.
-Provide the absolute students with the
address of the school, the local fire dept. etc.)
Provide the relative students with
information about the area a building of your
choice is in (what geographical features it has,
what color it is, what is surrounding it) Make
sure to mix up the relative locations on each
card so every pair is given a different location
(for example: The Library: It is on a corner. It
is three stories tall. Children go there often. It
is right next door to the Police Dept.) Make
sure to also use some physical environments
such as rivers, lakes, parks, etc.
-Have the pairs give their description to one
another.
-Give the students ~1 min. or so which each
partner and then have them switch cards with
their partner as well as switch their partner.

-Walk around the classroom and observe what
the children have seemed to have grasped
from the short introduction on relative and
absolute location.
Transition (1 minute)
Have students discuss with their partner
which type of description they thought was
most beneficial for them to guess. Why do
you think that is? Give students about 30
seconds to discuss and then have them switch
their cards with their partner and then switch
their partner.
-Walk around the room and see what
discussions may direction. Offer opinions to
help redirection.
Activity 2
(10 Minutes)
-Once the students have gone through the
activity twice have them return to their seats.
-Provide the students with a local map with
the addresses provided for them as well as a
word bank of the features you want the
students to identify
-Have the students decide individually which
features of the map would be easiest to
describe with relative location and which
would be easiest to describe using absolute
location.
-Have the students circle the ones they would
use absolute location for and draw a square
around the ones that they would choose to use
relative location for.
-Walk around to make sure the students
understand the directions. Make sure they are
not confused on absolute and relative
location. Help them to identify these if
needed.
Transition
(1 minute)
-After the students have done this show your
uploaded map (onto PowerPoint) to the
students. This map will have the features
circled or squared based on what you think
would be easiest to use relative or absolute
location for.
-Ask the students what scenarios would be
best for relative and which would be best for
absolute (i.e. using a GPS (absolute)
describing to a friend your location in a park
(relative).

Activity 3 (Closing)
(15 minutes)
-Choose a couple of students to come up to
the computer and type in their address to
Google Maps. Show that this is one way
absolute location is beneficial. Can be used to
locate exact location (in case of emergencies,
directions etc.)
-Choose a couple of students to come up to
the computer and type in a phrase such as
restaurants in my area into Google Search.
This will show the students benefits of
relative location.
-Have the students reflect in their journals for
about 2 minutes about what they learned
about relative and absolute location.