Grade 4 Maps and Atlases

Finding Costa Rica

To coincide with the Grade 4 unit about Geography, we explored different kinds of maps in the library. For example, a physical map shows land features like deserts and mountains, while a political map shows man-made borders delineating states and countries.

Physical maps don't change much during a century, but political maps often do. As I told the students, "When I was your age, there were two Germanys and one giant Soviet Union." (To which Luke replied: "I thought you were going to say that when you were our age, you were 10.")

Finding India

Then students learned about longitude and latitude ... did you know that Rhode Island is on the same line of latitude as France, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, and Japan?

Next, they learned how to find locations on the globe using measurements like 42 N 71 W... not the easiest concepts to master, especially if you haven't covered angle degrees and spheres yet in math!

Equator = 0 degrees N/S
The Poles = 90 degrees N/S
Prime Meridian = 0 degrees E/W

Using what they had learned - and helping each other when necessary - the kids managed to find their assigned countries in the atlas as well as on a giant world map.

Using the Prime Meridian to find Morocco

Dewey Decimal number for atlases: 912