Social Studies Curriculum

Unit 2: Location of Canada, Mexico & Brazil

(Suggested amount of time to spend on unit: mid-October to mid-November)

FOCUS QUESTIONS

FQ1: What are the different ways you can locate a nation on a map? (EQ1)

Latitude and longitude
Use relative terms to describe location
Discuss nation in relationship to other geographical boundaries (nations, continents, world)
Locate major geographic features

S9; PS1 and S12; PS5 Describe human and natural characteristics of places and how shape or place identity.

S9; PS6 Use latitude and longitude to locate places and calculate differences between places.

S12; PS1 Explain the essential features and functions of maps, globes, photographs, geographic models and satellite images.

S12; PS2 Make maps, globes, models, charts, and geographic databases.

S12; PS3 Compare and contrast differences among maps, globes, photographs, models, satellite images for solving geographic problems.

S12; PS4 Use maps, globes, models, graphs, charts, and databases to analyze distributions and patterns.

S12; PS6 Draw a freehand map from memory of increasing and appropriate complexity to display geographical information and answer geographic questions

NOTES TO TEACHER:

Canada, Mexico and Brazil will be compared and contrasted to each other and the United States throughout the year.

RESOURCES:

Provided resources:

Latin America and Canada MacGlobe

RECOMMENDED ACTIVITIES:

Draw various maps of countries illustrating physical features, climatic features, population, resources. Identify/locate major cities, rivers using latitude/longitude. Create relief maps of these nations.

ASSESMENTS:

Essential questions
Focus questions
Performance tasks
Tests/quizzes
Teacher observations