Arkansas Geography Photo by Noel Pennington, 2014

The world is divided into countries. What are some examples of countries? What country do we live in? The world is divided into countries.

Our country is divided into states. What states do you know? What state do we live in? Who can find Arkansas? Our country is divided into states.

Our state is divided into counties. What counties do you know? What county do you live in? Can you find it? Our state is divided into counties.

Arrange in order. biggest country county world state smallest

Our country is _______________. Our state is _________________. Our county is _______________. Our city is __________________. Our school is ________________. Imagine someone asks you where you go to school. If you are in Australia, you may say, “I go to school in the United States.” If you are in Texarkana, you may say, “I go to school in Little Rock.” If you’re at the grocery store and someone asks, you may say, “I go to Caldwell Elementary.”

Relative location – Site of a place or region in relation to other places or regions (e.g., northwest, downstream) What are some relative location words? What if the person doesn’t know where you’re talking about? You may give them relative location clues. For example, “I live in Arkansas. It is north of Louisiana.”

Border State Song, to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” Missouri is on top, Louisiana's down below, Oklahoma’s to the left, Though in the corner Texas shows, Tennessee is right, On top of Mississippi, The river that separates Makes the border kind of wiggily, 6 states border Arkansas And I can name them all! Missouri Oklahoma Tennessee Mississippi Texas Louisiana

Border State Song, to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” Missouri is on top, Louisiana's down below, Oklahoma’s to the left, Though in the corner Texas shows, Tennessee is right, On top of Mississippi, The river that separates Makes the border kind of wiggily, 6 states border Arkansas And I can name them all!

Play “I Spy” in your classroom Play “I Spy” in your classroom. When a person gets the answer wrong, respond with a relative location clue. I Spy

Missouri Oklahoma Tennessee Mississippi Texas Louisiana

Where are the states that border Arkansas? Use relative location words.

What kind of maps can you think of. What is it used for What kind of maps can you think of? What is it used for? What are things you may see on a map? Conversation

climate map shows information such as rain and snowfall amounts, temperatures, and weather patterns. (1) What could you do with this map? What couldn’t you do?

physical map Map that shows mountains, rivers, valleys, oceans, and other natural features (2)   What could you do with this map? What couldn’t you do?

political map Map that shows the boundaries of counties, states, and countries. They often include cities and areas of water as well.   What could you do with this map? What couldn’t you do?

What kind of map is this? Climate map http://www.cocorahs.org/media/images/us_precip.png

What kind of map is this? Kind of tricky… it has borders AND physical features! But it’s more considered a physical map, since it is primarily to show physical features. http://www.worldmapsonline.com/images/academia/murals/academia_us_physical_mural_lg.jpg

What kind of map is this? http://image.weather.com/web/forecast/us_wxlo7_large_usen_600.jpg

What kind of map is this?

What kind of map is this?

What kind of map is this? Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/resource/g3201c.ct001507/

Let’s read

Population map, with red having the most people, and dark green having the least amount of people

Have you ever been lost? How did you feel? Would a map have helped? Conversation

What does a map have on it? Examples: title, compass rose, scale, legend compass rose title legend scale Map courtesy of Washington State Deptartment of Transportation, found on Flickr

What are the directions?

St. Francis River White River Arkansas River Mississippi River Red River Ouachita River

“Real Owls Are Wise,” Says Mother White River St. Francis River Arkansas River Mississippi River Red River Ouachita River