Mapping Race- 8th Grade U.S. History
The goal of this activity is to help students locate and identify physical, economic, and human geography of the continental United States. Students will work in pairs to race through a set of 4 maps, each highlighting significant features of the United States. Directions are below:
Materials:
History Alive! Textbook
Blank sheet of paper
Pen or pencil
Blank physical map of the United States
Blank political map of the United States
Copy of a population distribution map of the United States at or close to 1800
Instruction sheet for Rounds 2-5
Summary Questions (either projected or printed out for students)
Round 1: Students will work in pairs to create a mental map of the United States. They will be asked to fill in as many land and water forms as they can within the allotted time. Also, students will be asked to infer the areas of greatest and least population and mark those areas with an A (greatest) and B (least). After a class debrief, have students put away their mental map.
Round 2: Students will be provided with a physical map of the United States. They will also be given an instruction sheet that includes latitude and longitude coordinates of significant physical features as well as the name of each feature. Students will use the maps in the appendix of their History Alive! text (pg. 626-627) to locate and label each feature. It is very important to have students check each map with you before they move on to the next. Once a pair has finished their physical map, they can move on to their political map.
Round 3: Students will be provided with a political outline map of the United States. They will also be given an instruction sheet that includes latitude and longitude coordinates of significant cities and colonies(?) as well as the names of each. Students will use the maps in the appendix of their History Alive! text (pg. 628-629) to locate and label each feature. It is very important to have students check each map with you before they move on to the next. Once a pair has finished their political map, they can move on to their population distribution map.
Round 4: Students will reuse their political outline map of the United States. However, they will be given a new instruction sheet that includes names of significant economic activities throughout the 13 colonies only. This instruction sheet will not include latitude or longitude lines. Students will use the map in their History Alive! text (pg. 49) to locate and label each economic activity in its appropriate colony or colonial region. It is very important to have students check the map with you. Once the first pair has finished, they have won.
Summary Questions: Once students have finished locating and identify the above features, they will be asked to infer a cause-and-effect relationship between the physical features of the United States, population distribution, and the main economic activities. Questions are determined by the individual teacher, but some examples might include:
- Using your physical features map, what might have caused the majority of settlers to remain on or close to the Atlantic Coast?
- Using your economic activities map, why was farming not a main economic activity in the Northeast?
- Using your economic activities map, how might the land and climate of the southern colonies helped agriculture become a main economic activity?
Round 2- Physical Geography of the United States
1. Get your copy of the unlabeled physical features map from the United States Mapping race.
2. Select one of the physical features listed below. Find it in the appendix of yourHistory Alive! Text (pg. 626-627) and label it on your map.
3. Repeat Step 2 until you have found and labeled each physical feature.
A set of latitude and longitude coordinates is given for each feature. If you have trouble finding a feature, the coordinates will help you get close to its location.
1. Chesapeake Bay(37°N, 76°W) / 2. Rocky Mountains
(40°N, 108°W)
3. Appalachian Mountains
(38°N, 80°W) / 4. Atlantic Ocean
(33°N, 73°W)
5. Gulf of Mexico
(28°N, 90°W) / 6. Great Plains
(40°N, 102°W)
7. Sierra Nevada Mountains
(38°N, 120°W) / 8. Pacific Ocean
(32°N, 120°W)
9. Mississippi River
(34°N, 91°W) / 10. Missouri River
(43°N, 97°W)
Round 3- Political Geography of the United States
1. Get your copy of the unlabeled political features map from the United States Mapping race.
2. Select one of the political features listed below. Find it in the appendix of yourHistory Alive! Text (pg. 628-629) and label it on your map.
3. Repeat Step 2 until you have found and labeled each physical feature.
A set of latitude and longitude coordinates is given for each major city and colony. If you have trouble finding a feature, the coordinates will help you get close to its location.
1. Boston, MA(42°N, 72°W) / 2. New Orleans, LA
(30°N, 90°W) / 3. Georgia
(32°N, 83°W)
4. San Francisco, CA
(37°N, 123°W) / 5. Washington D.C.- star it
(39°N, 76°W) / 6. Pennsylvania
(41°N, 78°W)
7. Plymouth, MA *not on map
(41°N, 71°W) / 8. Jamestown, VA *not on map
(37°N, 77°W) / 9. Maryland
(38°N, 76°W)
10. Philadelphia, PN
(40°N, 75°W) / 11. Salt Lake City, UT
(41°N, 112°W) / 12. Rhode Island
(42°N, 71°W)
13. Virginia
(37°N, 78°W) / 14. Massachusetts
(42°N, 71°W) / 15. Connecticut
(42°N, 73°W)
Round 4-Economic Activities of the United States
1. Use your “Colonial America 1770” map.
2. Turn to pg. 49 of yourHistory Alive! Text.
3. Outline to New England colonies border in green marker.
4. Outline the Middle colonies border in red marker.
5. Outline the Southern colonies border in blue marker.
6. Shade the Cattle and Grain agricultural areas in yellow marker.
7. Shade the rice and indigo agricultural area in purple marker.
8. Shade the tobacco agriculture in green marker.