This 71-page no-prep, no planning document has everything you need to introduce your students to geography, cartography, mapping and navigation - En Français!

This cross-curricular pedagogical document will provide you with a 37-page slide deck, complete with terms, definitions, examples, discussion prompts, images, games and activities. It also includes a 33-page student workbook complete with printable worksheets, activities, partner work, research, a final project as well as answer keys, a final project rubric and success criteria.

My slides are never babyish and are suitable for grades 4 through 7. They are suitable for students "en adaptation scolaire," or as a simple introduction to concepts covered in grades 5-7. I teach grades 5 and 6, and this works wonderfully for us!

The first half of the document is your teachable slide deck. In it, you'll find:

• A "Would you rather" style game as a warm up!
• A reflection question.
• A discussion prompt to illicit prior knowledge.
• An in-depth look at some of the earliest maps, their history, their evolution, their purpose, the material used and the process behind them.
• A look at modern mapping and their multiple uses, multiple purposes and multiple features.
• An explanation of scale and "scaling" a map.
• An in-depth look at grids, reticles and the map network with an emphasis on lines of longitude and latitude, the poles, the equator and the meridian.
• Discussion prompts about the measurement of diameter on our spherical planet.
• A look at the different hemispheres (N, S, E and W.)
• Group discussion prompts about continents and how we read a map of the world.
• Fun Facts about the Canadian provinces.
• Explanations (with visuals!) of different reference maps (physical and topographic).
• A comparison of "good" maps and "bad" maps and the need to be precise and to follow specific criteria when it comes to map-making.
• An activity on labeling Canada.

In addition to the Slide Deck, you'll find a student workbook with loads of printable activities that are excellent to leave with a substitute teacher or to use yourself. It comes with a "cover page" for their binders or duo-tangs. In the student workbook, your students will find:

• A jigsaw activity using Google Maps (group activity)
• A visual aid that highlights different components of a map with examples.
• "Comment utiliser une échelle?" - An activity to practice measuring distance using scale.
• "Comment te rendre chez toi?" - A quick warm-up map-making activity for students to "draw" their way to school.
• "Sais-tu utiliser une échelle?" - A series of distance-measuring activities using the provincial map of your choosing. I've included sheets for all Canadian provinces.
• "Guide touristique de chez vous!" - An activity on finding and measuring distances between their favorite landmarks, amusement parks, shopping and activities in their province.
• "Road Trip! Calculer le temps nécessaire" - An activity for students to calculate the time needed to travel (incorporates algebraic representation and uses the formula T = D/V).
• "Road Trip! Symboles et géographie" - An activity on reading symbols and the universal nature of symbols.
• "Symboles universels: Symboles et la cartographie" - An activity on creating universally-known symbols for universally-known concepts.
• "Système de coordonnées: Comment lire un atlas?" - An activity on using the coordinate system to find locations on a map.
• A world map is provided with a coordinate grid layered through it for these activities.
• Answer keys for all activities here!
• A final project explanation along with success criteria.
• A checklist and rubric are provided for the final project.

This document is part of a larger bundle of social studies/sciences humaines content which can be found here!

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Don't forget to have fun!

Kaitlyn.