Teach your fifth-grade students look at elevation maps to locate differences in altitude.
Teaching your fifth-grade students use an elevation map, or topographic map, is a way to help them learn about a certain location's physical layout. Whether your city or state is located in the mountains, on a hillside or near the ocean, looking at a topographic map shows the unique layout of our planet. Although getting students to think in 3D while looking at a flat sheet of paper can seem tricky, you can use a few tips and examples to easily convey this lesson.
Instructions
1. Define common terms used when looking at an elevation or topographic map. Show the students a variety of contour lines and explain the function of these on a topographic map. Give a couple of practical real-life situations in which they could use a topographic map, such as planning a hike or determining a location that would be best suited for building an airport.
2. Discuss the relationship between topographic maps and other geographic themes. Talk about how they can use these maps to locate a place of high or low elevation, like a mountain or canyon, and ask them for examples of these, like Mount Everest or the Grand Canyon. Discuss how they can use topographic maps to see how and why people have built large cities in certain places, as well as viable modes of transportation in these locations.
3. Use an activity sheet, such as the one provided under Resources, to allow students to follow your explanations with questions that challenge their understanding. Make sure the activity sheet includes easy to answer questions based on simple facts, such as the number of feet between contour lines, as well as those that require reasoning, like comparing maps of a city near the ocean and one high in the Rocky Mountains.
4. Compare a topographic map of a particular city with a picture of the same place. Locate a landmark on both, such as the same hill or mountain, and again talk about contour lines. Talk about the relationship between slope and contour lines, backing up your talking points with visual examples.
5. Point to and discuss the scale on the topographic map. Explain what it means in terms of distance. Have a student calculate the distance between two points on the map using this scale.
6. Discuss the other features of a topographical map, such as the symbols for streams and rivers. Use these in your discussion about how people have settled near water, hills and other geographical features. If you are using a map of the city or state in which your school is located, use the legend to locate features or places they are familiar with.
Tags: contour lines, activity sheet, city state, elevation topographic, fifth-grade students, maps locate, near ocean
