1. Let’s Explore Maps!!!
Aisa Brammer

2. Social Studies Third Grade The Purpose of this instructional Power Point is to introduce using maps to locate and understand physical and political features on maps. Learning Objective: Given a map the student will demonstrate with 100% accuracy their ability to locate or identify major physical and political features including mountains, plains, plateaus, mesas, buttes deserts, deltas, islands, peninsulas, basins, canyons, valleys, bays, streams, gulfs, straits, canals, seas, boundaries, cities, highways, roads, and railroads. State Standard: 3.4 Examine major physical and political features on globes and maps, including mountains, plains, plateaus, mesas, buttes deserts, deltas, islands, peninsulas, basins, canyons, valleys, bays, streams, gulfs, straits, canals, seas, boundaries, cities, highways, roads, and railroads.

3. What do we know about maps?
What can we find on a Map?
What types or places or things can we find?

4. Let see some of the MANY ways we can use maps!

5. A political map shows: Boundaries of States Boundaries of Countries
Major Cities
Bodies of Water
When looking at this map, what feature helps you to tell between the different countries?

6. A Physical Map shows:
The same features as a Political map but also shows:
Location of landforms
Landform is the name we use to describe earths physical features

7. We can explore all parts of the world and learn from maps
We can explore all parts of the world and learn from maps. Let’s Explore:

8. What landforms do we see here?
Mountains
Plains
Plateau
Lakes
Rivers
Desert
Gulf

9. How do we identify some of these landforms?
A Peninsula is a piece of land surrounded by water on 3 sides.
A Strait is a narrow passage of water that connects two larger bodies of water
Mexico has 2:
Baja & Yucatan

10. A bay is a body of water partially surrounded by land.
The Hudson Bay
James Bay
Ungava Bay
A Gulf is a portion of an ocean or sea that penetrates land
The Gulf of Mexico

11. The colors and texture on this map help identify the landforms.
The SCALE OF RELIEF helps by:
Gives a colored visual
Gives elevation of the land
Using the scale, what does it tell us about the elevation of the Gulf Coast Plain?
What does it tell us about the Toyah Basin?

12. This map of Alaska shows us landforms:
Seas: Bering, Chukchi, Beaufort
Bay: Bristol
Gulf: Gulf of Alaska
Peninsulas: Alaska Peninsula, Kenai Peninsula
Island: St. Lawrence, Fox Islands, Nunivak Island, Kodiak Island
Oceans: Artic, Pacific

13. Strait
Island
Think
Pair
Share
What characteristics would help you identify these features on a map?
Bay
Archipelago
Lake
River
Peninsula
Gulf
Isthmus

14. Now let’s explore South America
What landform looks like it has the highest elevation?
What does the lightest color mean?
What does that tell us about the Amazon Basin?
What river goes through the Amazon Basin?

15. We often use these Characteristics to make what we call regions:
Regions are areas that grouped together based on similarities.
These can be based of location (if they are close to each other)
Or based on characteristics

16. Lets explore how these physical features create regions in the U.S
maps/g4n_u1/index.html

17. What were some of the landforms that caused regions?

18. There are two important types of Maps:
Let’s Review!
There are two important types of Maps:
Political:
Country Boundaries
State Boundaries
Major Cities
Bodies of Water
Physical:
Mountain
Plains
Plateau
Desert
Island
Peninsula
Basin
Gulf
Strait
Canal
Sea