The Seven Continents 

& Five Oceans!

Objective - 
By the end of the lesson my students will understand the importance of knowing where the different parts of the world are. They will also be able to locate and identify the  seven continents and the five oceans. They will locate the continents and oceans on a map and also a globe. At the end of the lesson students will be able to construct a map of the world placing the continents and oceans where they belong.

Standards -
       A.4.2 Locate on a map or globe physical features such as continents, oceans…            
       A.4.3 Construct a map of the world from memory, showing the location of major 
                  land masses and bodies of water 

Prior Knowledge -

-     Accessing prior knowledge will be key in this lesson. For some students in 2^nd grade, it may be difficult to grasp the concept that there is more beyond their city, state, or country.

-     In order to access the prior knowledge necessary for me as a teacher to get a visual of where the students are already at I will go through the following activity and ask some questions to get them thinking.

-     The questions will first start hard and then increase with difficulty, with a “challenge question at the end. I will also ask why they think it’s important to know what and where the continents are.

Procedure -

This lesson plan would be at the start of a new Social Studies lesson in a second grade classroom. Beforehand I would put up a bulletin board, in order for the students to use as a visual throughout the unit.  On the board I would have a map of the world. The background would be blue, to represent the oceans. There would also be each continent in the correct location. I would also have removable names on each continent and bodies of water. Originally, I would have the map labeled but as time went on I would take them off and have the students show me of where to place each name.

-       A bulletin is a great visual to return to throughout the lesson. I would also be able to add to this map as the unit expanded.

-       I would also refer back to the board during lessons. 

When we move to Social Studies the day of the new unit, I will begin class by introducing the overall unit and the goal of today’s lesson. This will give the students an idea of where the class will be heading over the next couple weeks. Also understand todays lesson.

“Today class, we will be starting a new unit. We will be learning about the whole world. We will talk about the continents, oceans, and move on to different landform and cultures throughout the next few weeks. Today we will be spending time being able to locate and identify our continents and oceans.”

After introducing the goal of the day, I would ask them a series of questions to get them thinking about what they know so far about the continents and oceans. I would also ask them the importance of learning where the continents are. This would be tapping into the students’ prior and existing knowledge.

I would start with a very basic question, which 99% if not all of my students should know.

            “Who can tell me which city you all live in?”

- “Green Bay”

            “Very good ____. Now who knows what state we live in?”

- “Wisconsin”

            “Now, who can point this out on the map for the class?”

                   *student points to Wisconsin on a United States map

“Now we’re going to get a little more difficult. Which one of you can tell me what country we are living in today?”

- “United States of America”

       * use the map as a reference to the picture

“Very good. If we look at the map we can see that all of these different states make up the United States.”

“You guys are doing awesome, now it’s time for the challenge question? Does anyone in here know what continent we are living on? Give it a shot!

       - “North America”

“Can anyone point out which of these land masses is North America?”

       * student comes up to point on the map of a world

“Excellent job _____! And it’s okay that some of you did not know this,    

    because this is what we are going to spend today on!”

“Now boys and girls, who can tell me what these other big pieces of land are called?”

- Continents

“How many big pieces of land do you all see? ______ why don’t you come count them for us.”

       - 7 of them

“Yes! ______ is correct there are seven continents. So before we start with the names and where each continent is, can anyone tell me what a continent is? Or even a characteristic of a continent?

*I will have them list of all the suggestions that they have and tell the actual definition after getting their ideas.

                  -really big pieces of land

                  -places in the world

                  -what we live on

                  ~definition:  One of the large masses of land on Earth

                                   

I will then bring up a new blank, black and white map of the world on the Smart Board, so when I click on the continent it will then become a color and the name will appear on the continent. After clicking on the continent I will have them repeat the name after me.

 “Very good! Now we said that we live on North America (click), say it with me North America. Does anyone already know the continent below us? Very good, the continent below North America is South America (click). Next this really, really big land piece is actually two different continents! It splits into Europe (click) and Asia (click). [point to Europe] Which continent is this?” –Europe. [then point to Asia] “And this one?” –Asia. “Now the continent below Europe and Asia is Africa (click). This big island, all alone over here is Australia. (click). Now that gives us six continents, Where is our final continent that we need?” -at the bottom “Very good, our final continent that we need to learn is Antarctica (click).”

“So, now that we know there are seven continents, lets review.”

I will keep the map up and point at each of the continents a few times and have the class say it in unison.

After this activity is complete I will then present a song to the students that we can sing along too. We will first listen to the song and then we will sing with it the second time around 

    * the tune of the song is to head, shoulders,  

       knees and toes

“Now class I have a fun song that we will are going to sing to so you become more familiar with the names of the continents and where they are. The first time we will just listen to it quietly and then I will play it again and everyone can sing! The lyrics are at the bottom so we can sing along. Ready?”

“Now that we are familiar with the continents I have a few activities that we will be doing to learn more about the continents. The first will be within our table groups.”

This activity will have the students working with a globe to get familiarized with the continents. I will put a globe at each of the groups in the classroom. They will be able to look at the globe for a little to get familiar with it. I will then give them an activity where they, as a group, need to find certain things on the globe. There will be a list of places under each of the different continents, like the United States, Brazil, France, China, etc. Students will have a checklist of these things along with the oceans, theequator and finding a mountain range. They will spend about 15 minutes finding these. I will be walking around the classroom as they are working together and see if they are finding the items or need any help.When the time is up as a class we will come back together and discuss what they found.

“Time is up, eyes up front. Which group found all of the things on the checklist? Which places were easiest to find? (list of easy) And which ones were more difficult to find? (list of hard)” 

In this activity I’m going to assume that the easiest places to find are the continents and oceans, but the students may struggle finding the countries in the continents. The ones that the students couldn’t find or thought were difficult to find I will point out on the globe to the class as a whole.

“Boys and girls, why do you think it was more difficult to find where the smaller countries were?

                        -because we didn’t know what continent they belonged too

                        -they weren’t the big places on a globe

“Do you think its important to know where the continents are located and which continents are which? … Yes? Why yes?”

            -so we know where things are happening in the world

            -different foods

            -where different animals are found

After we discuss the globe activity I will then have another smart board activity for the class to do. This one will have the students drag the name of a place to if it is a continent or not a continent. If they drag for example Asia into the not a continent, it will spin back out so that it needs to be dragged into that it is a continent. The picture on the right is what the activity would look like. I would have the student’s names on popsicle stick and draw out a name so that each student has an equal opportunity to try.

Now we are going to do a quick review of which is a continent and what is not. I will be  name. You will drag any of the name into the spiral if you think it’s a continent or not a continent. Let’s see who’s first! Alright ______, come on up and pick any of the places that you want.”
I will continue to pick names until all of the names are placed into the correct spot.

“How does everyone feel about the continents before we move onto the oceans. Are there any questions?”

            *answer any of their questions that there are

*I will have anther map that isn’t labeled if they need to spend more time on this, if not I will continue to the oceans.

“Let’s start with the oceans then. What is an ocean?”

            -water

            -really big

            -surround the continents

            ~definition:  a very large body of water

“Class, do you remember when we were doing the globe activity, how you had to find any ocean on the globe? Does anyone know how many different ones that they saw?

            -have them give a few guesses.

“Okay, yes there are 5 oceans in the world! Have any of you ever swam in an ocean? (few hands raise) Do you know the name of the ocean? Or where you were? Yes ____?”

            - Florida (possible)

When we are talking about the oceans I will have a plain map up again. But as we talk about each of the oceans I will click on where the ocean is that we are talking about and that area will highlight in blue so they can visually see where the ocean is.

“Good, that means you were swimming in the Atlantic Ocean! (click) This whole area is the Atlantic Ocean. Who can tell me what continents are touching the Atlantic Ocean?”

            -North America, South America, Europe, and Africa

“Nicely done class. That’s only one of the five, so that means there are four more! Lets take a look at the other ocean that touches North America. This is the Pacific Ocean (click). What continents does the Pacific Ocean touch?

            -North America, South America, Asia, and Australia

“Only three left. There is one between Africa, Asia and Australia (click) this ocean is the Indian Ocean. There is also one by the North Pole. It is called the Arctic Ocean. (click) And that leaves us one left, down by Antarctica. This is called the Southern Ocean (click).

I will then keep the map up and point to the oceans, just as I did earlier with the continents. I will have them say the ocean name in unison with each other as I point.

After going through all of the oceans on the board as a class I will have an activity for the class. I will then bring up a new map that isn’t labeled on the map.  Each of the five oceans will be a different shade of blue so they can see where all five of the oceans fit. There will then be the names of the ocean on the side so they have the names there, they will just need to drag them to the spot that the name belongs. The names of the continents will appear after all the oceans are labeled to review those too. I will pick from the popsicle sticks again that are still in the jar from the last activity so more students have a chance.

“Now that you are all familiar with the oceans we will do another activity on the smart board where you need to drag the ocean name to the correct place. We will first do only the oceans and then the name of the continents will come up so we can review those after. Everyone understand? … Good, ______ will start us off.” 

To start wrapping up class I will ask a few questions to wrap up the goal of the lesson and also to provoke a higher level thinking from my second graders.

“Okay class you’ve all done a great job learning about the continents and the oceans, but I have a few questions before we can start our very last activity. So who can tell me why it is important to learn about the continents?”

            -where things are happening, differences in the world, where we are

“All very good answers! Leading into our topic for tomorrow, do you think that all of the continents are the same? Show of hands: Yes? and No? Looks like the majority of you think no were not the same.”

“Last one, since you think that we are not the same of other countries, let’s look at North America and Africa and look at our differences.”

                        -different food, animals, weather, etc. (tons of possibilities)

“Excellent job today class learning all of the continents and oceans! Do any of you have questions on what we covered today? (pause for any questions) Okay we will wrap up the last fifteen minutes of class with a map activity to review everything that we learned today! I will put the names of the continents and the oceans up on the board. Let’s name them off quick.”

“Okay everyone will need to follow the directions on the map in the correct order. You will be labeling each of the seven continents and the five oceans. You will then be doing some coloring on each of the continents to show me that you have understood everything from today’s lesson. The time is yours.”

This worksheet that I hand out will be a blank map with the continents on it. There will be a list of directions that the students will need to follow to show that they have understood. They will have to make some sort of mark on the map, whether it’s a circle, star, square, etc. Then they will also have to write the names on the correct continent. It should be a fun activity that will allow them to use a visual for their future. I will be walking around and answering questions during this time as well.

Adaptions -

As a teacher I realize that there are many different ways that a student learns best. I also understand that it is my job to teach to these different needs. In this lesson I have incorporated activities so each student can learn the continents and oceans to the best of their abilities. Throughout the lesson I present the names of the continents and oceans in a variety of ways. This is so all my students are able to identify and locate the continents and oceans at the end of the lesson. We use visual learning, hands on, music, and cooperative learning throughout the lesson to reach the understanding of the objective.

Assessments -

It is necessary that throughout a lesson I have a few assessments that help me recognize if each of my students has an understanding. I have incorporated a few small assessments that I worked into my teaching and also an assessment at the end. The assessments that allow me to know if the students understand during the lesson are at the end of the each of the topics. As a group, at the end of the continents we have the smart board activity of what is and what is not a continent. Also another is when we are finished going over the oceans, I have another smart board activity. The students need to label the map of where the oceans are. Then I keep that map up and have them label all of the continents.  The final assessment that I have them do is a map activity that allows the students to create a map of the world and label it. This will show if they actually understood what we went over. As a teacher, this will be a good tool to see what I need to review in class for the next lesson before moving onto a new topic. 


Reflection -

I believe it is essential to always take time and reflect on a lesson you have taught. There is always room for improvement and that is what makes a better teacher. As a teacher it is my job to be creating new knowledge and having students build on that prior knowledge. It is also important to remember that teaching does not occur unless the student is learning. Every teacher wants their student to be successful and be learning in their class. This is why we reflect on each days lessons.

            The lesson should allow the students to facilitate and construct their own knowledge. It is important for me to remember that students construct their knowledge based on their existing knowledge of the subject and organize the information around their existing schema. How they construct knowledge may vary from child to child. This lesson has activities that allow the students to create their own understanding of the continents and oceans. The activities that I have them do lets the students to test what they think and visually see what is correct and what is not. All of these activities are on the smart board. I have them do a few activities where they are able to drag the name of the continent/ocean. If they got it right the name would stay, but if the name was not in the correct space, it would fly back to where it originally was. Trial and error is a big learning tool for second graders. For example, if they try placing Africa on South America the name will shoot back out and then they will remember next time they are about to put Africa on South America that it wont stay and vise versa. In the lesson we do this type of activity with what is a continent and what it not and then also when we are labeling the oceans and continents on the map. At the very start of the lesson I ask them a series of questions that would allow them to build a picture of the entire world. I build this image starting at a city and expanding all the way to the continent of North America. This allows them to see that there is more beyond their town and state. I’m also showing them pictures of each as we expand, so the final image is a map of the entire world with all seven continents. I think that these activities provide each student with an opportunity to build their knowledge of where the continents are located and also naming each continent. The same goes for the oceans.

            As a teacher it is critical for the teacher to identify each students’ prior knowledge. I wouldn’t want them to be bored by having them spend a whole lesson on what they already know. In this lesson a student is able to build on their prior knowledge. With the Social Studies lesson, the very first thing I do is find out how much the kids actually know. I started asking small questions that everyone should know, for example what city they live in or what state we are in. Then moved to more difficult questions. I refer to the final question of what continent we live on as a challenge question. Second graders may struggle with this question and that’s okay. I also followed these questions to what they thought a continent was. These questions would allow me, as a teacher to see where the student is with their familiarity of the continents. This may also adjust how I approach the lesson. It determines how fast or slow I should present the information. These questions may help some of the students build on their existing schema if their schema is not as developed with this topic as some of the others. So the maps and visuals that I present may allow them to build on their existing knowledge. If they are more advanced with their prior knowledge there are many opportunities that allow their knowledge about continents and oceans to expand. The first thing is seeing all the names pop up on the board as I am explaining what continent belongs where. Seeing the world as a whole can be very beneficial. Also another activity that expands their knowledge is when they need to find where certain places are on the globe. The students need to work with their group, which requires them talk about where each place is. There are also more difficult places to find than just the continents that we just went over. By allowing the students to look at the different visuals and talking with their group members this allows them to build not only off their own knowledge but the knowledge of others.

            The core concept of my lesson is that, students will be able to locate and identify each of the continents and oceans. My students will be able to do this not only on a map but also a globe. I will make sure to teach my lesson to these concepts because it allows the student to reach the objective. For them to achieve fluency, I have them continuously repeat the information back to me in different methods. That allows them to see the information multiple times and in many different ways. This makes it easier for them to become fluent and comfortable with the information. I present the objective of being able to identify and locate with different ways so it will be able to stick with each student no matter which way they learn. I think the order that I present the information allows them to easily build each topic on top of one another.  After reviewing the topics, I think they will be ready for the new topic presented in the following lessons.

            For a lesson to scaffold from the learner to the intended outcome we have to take an approach that makes all the students feel comfortable and making sure they are engaged in the lesson. The first objective is to make sure each student is paying attention to the lesson. This is why I started the lesson by relating it to their lives right away. If the student feels that they can relate it draws them to the topic. After talking about where each of the continents are, I get the class moving again by listening and singing to a song for the continents. This will get the kids re-energized. The next activity with the globe allows them to talk with other students about the different continents. This activity forces the students to take a risk and may cause some frustration because some may have never worked with a globe. But I will control the frustration as I’m walking around by encouraging them and letting them know its okay to skip a few. I also incorporate a couple smart board activities with both the oceans and continents to keep the students engaged. I also introduce each part of the lesson at different levels, starting small and working them up to each main topic. I will keep an encouraging tone throughout the lesson because I understand this concept may be something totally new to some of them. It’s important to encourage them to take a guess even if they don’t know for sure. Also throughout the lesson I make sure to ask them questions to make sure they comprehend the information. I also make sure that these questions provoke a higher level of thinking so they are able to see the importance of learning the continents and oceans. By demonstrating and modeling the continents and oceans numerous times they can continuously refer back to what was previously learned.

            As a teacher you don’t want your students to stay stagnant in their learning. You want to make sure they are moving forward with their knowledge. I think this lesson allows the students to extend one concept that they already know to one or more new contexts. I think the key place in this lesson where my students are able to transfer to future knowledge is when we are doing the globe activity. When the students are looking at the globe with their groups they come to the realization that there are other counties that are beyond the United States. This might get them wondering about what these other countries are like. If they are similar or different to where they are living. I also think towards the end of the lesson when I start to get them thinking with some high level questions that they will be able to use the continents and oceans as a base to begin to understand the importance of familiarizing themselves with the world. With a curious class you will have them thinking and asking more questions when they are able to move past their prior knowledge and transfer to using their new knowledge.

            A lesson needs to capture the attention of the student right away. Engaging a student will make the lesson more effective because there will be participation from the entire classroom. This benefits a teacher because they will then be able to tell which students actually understand. This starts by having the students involved right away. The activities that I have planned throughout the lesson keep the child engaged and involved for the whole lesson. I have the kids moving around, coming up to the board and also talking some things out with the other students. Keeping the student engaged with the activity that you have planned allows them to form intrinsic motivation. The motivation come from within them to look deeper into what they are learning. They will ultimately ask more questions and be participating and that’s what every teacher wants. I will also be giving positive reinforcement to each of the students when they participate, even if they aren’t on the correct track. This makes the student feel that they are in a comfortable learning environment where they know it’s okay to make mistakes. Encouraging students is also crucial for their understanding. If you do not encourage them to try, they might not fully understand or reach your goal for that lesson.

            All students do not learn the same way. This is why hands on activities work well for some children and others learn better with visuals. There is no right way to introduce a topic to each student in only one way. This is why I incorporated a variety of ways to present the continents and oceans. Each activity accommodates a different intelligence. I have incorporated the intelligence that is most used in lesson, teaching to the verbal learners. Another multiple intelligences that I use is the visual and special intelligence. I use this one the most throughout the lesson. Each of the Smart Board activities provides visual aids to help the students better understand. Throughout the lesson I continuously show different maps of the world to remind and show them where each continent and ocean are located. By using the globe activity that allows the student to do a hands on activity. This teaches to the bodily/kinesthetic intelligence. In this same activity the students worked within their table groups. By working with other students, this brought in interpersonal intelligence. This is being able to see from another peer’s point of view. The final multiple intelligence that I have incorporated is the musical/rhythmic intelligence. I found a song so the students have another tool to remember the names of the continents. As you can see I have covered a variety of different ways to learn. This was not forced either. The lesson flowed and the activities that I included into my lesson allowed me to teach to the variety of learning styles of the students.

            After looking at my very first lesson plan I created, it is easy to see that there is room for a ton of improvement. There are a few things I would change and a few that would be good to keep. This is why it is good to reflect because you have able to see what worked well in the lesson and where there can be improvement. Down the road twenty years from now, there will always be room to improve, even if it is your tenth time teaching the lesson. Reflection is key in developing our students to reach their full potential.