Title of Lesson: Making a Globe - 1#120

Key Words for Cross Reference:
globe equator North Pole South PolePrime MeridianInternational Dateline

National Standard: 1
How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial context.

State Standard: 10

Teaching Level: E

Lesson Introduction:
Reading a globe is essential to understanding how we fit in the Solar System, and on planet Earth.

Objectives/Purpose:
- create a globe
- locate and label these places: North Pole, South Pole, Equator, Prime Meridian and International Dateline.

Materials:
variety of globesinflatable globe helium strength balloonsshredded newspaper or torn strips wallpaper paste bright colored masking tapestring
round sticky dots in 2 bright colors vegetable oil or spray
chalk

Procedure:
1. Discuss round shapes. Are all round things perfectly round? Is an apple round? What about a pear, egg, "sides "of a banana, etc.

2. Explain that the Earth is not perfectly round either.

3. Set globes around the room and have the children observe them.

4. Direct their attention to the lines on the globe and the two spots at the top and bottom. Explain North Pole and South Pole and the Equator are geographic locations from which all global directions are labeled.

The students need to:
5. Look closely at maps and globes to find 2 other "lines" that go north and south. These are the Prime Meridian and the International Dateline. The world is marked east and west of the prime meridian.
6. Inflate balloons - one per child.

7. Cover each balloon completely with the oil. If you don't, the paper mache will stick to the balloon and create a disaster when the paste dries and the balloon starts to deflate.

8. Carefully layer paper mache strips over the entire balloon. Best results will come from cross layering over with narrow strips that can be worked onto the contour. Apply and dry 3 layers.

9. Paint the spheres blue - the concept of water on a map is blue. If these are to be kept for a length of time, spray each globe with lacquer, shellac, or urethane. (Don't do this around the children.)

10. Use two different colored sticky dots to mark the north and south poles.
Challenge: How do you locate the poles equidistant?

11. Make a beltline around the globe with a string. With a narrow strip of colored masking tape, create the equator.

12. Divide the globe in half by going over each pole with a piece of string. With 2 pieces of different colored masking tape, create the Prime Meridian and the International Dateline.

Evaluation/Assessment:
Check the completed globes for appropriate content.
(Be sure to save the product for the next lesson.)

Enrichment/Extension
- A unit on time, earth mechanics (rotation, revolution, etc.)
- Why do the meridian lines have jogs in them on flat maps?
- How do you know when you are near the equator?
- Music from Around the World in Eighty Days
- Download or find posters from NASA taken from space.

Reflection: How successful was this lesson? Did all students benefit? Were there any surprises? What might you do differently another time? Please note any changes that will make this lesson more effective and useful in the future and pass them along to the NHGA. We appreciate your comments.
Thank you.
The authors. *

Back to document index

Original file name: 120rtf - converted on Tuesday, 20 October 1998, 20:55