Grade Level: 4th

Suggested Time: 50 minutes

Overview

Students will work in small groups, and each group will be assigned a continent. Each group will use online resources to research their assigned continent’s climate zone, geography, and animals. Then the groups will use different project materials to create posters to present what they found out about the continent. At the end of this lesson, the class will combine all the continents to form a map of the Earth, and students will discuss the map.

Vocabulary

Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Climate, Climate Zone, Continents, Europe, Fahrenheit, Geography, North America, Polar Zone, South America, Temperate Zone, Tropical Zone

Objectives

Required Project Materials

Multimedia Resources

Optional Multimedia Resources

Before the Lesson/Background Information

The Lesson

Part 1: The Seven Continents and the Three Climate Zones (10 minutes)

  1. The whole class reads Ella Cane’s read-to-me online book, Continents in My World, to develop a basic understanding of the seven continents.
  2. Discuss: How are the seven continents different? 
  3. The whole class watches The Dr. Binocs Show – Climate Zones of the Earth on YouTube.com to develop a basic understanding of the three climate zones.
  4. Discuss: How do we use different temperatures to represent each climate zone? How do the three climate zones affect the animals that live on the seven continents? 

Part 2: Researching a Continent (15 minutes)

  1. Students are divided into groups of four. Each group is assigned a specific continent.
  2. Students use laptops to access different online resources, such as myon.com and getepic.com, to search for information on their assigned continent. They take notes using the GoodNotes app on their iPads.
  3. Discuss: How can you help other groups understand your continent, including climate, geography, and animals? The climate information should include the temperature on the continent in Fahrenheit. The geography information should include the continent’s area in square miles. The animal information should include the animals’ appearances and behaviors.
  4. Students brainstorm their notes and select useful information for their continent assignment.

Part 3: Creating a Poster about a Continent (15 minutes)

  1. Each group is given colored markers, sticky notes, animal stickers, and a poster paper with an outline of their assigned continent.
  2. Each group uses the project materials to create a meaningful and informative poster that shows their understanding of their assigned continent, including climate, geography, and animals.
  3. After the students spend eight minutes designing their posters, each group sends two students to look at other groups’ posters. Students exchange their design ideas among groups.
  4. After exchanging poster design ideas, students improve their poster designs.

Part 4: Forming a Map of the World (10 minutes)

  1. All the groups put their posters on the classroom whiteboard to form a map of the Earth. The whole class takes ten minutes to discuss the relationship among the seven continents, three climate zones, and many kinds of animals.
  2. When students compare and contrast the geographies of the different continents, students should use different temperatures and areas in square miles to support their opinions.
  3. Discuss: Why do animals have appearances and behave in specific ways on each continent? How do the seven continents and the three climate zones affect the animals’ lifestyles?
  4. The teacher keeps all the continent posters for future teaching and learning. The teacher takes photos of the posters and posts the photos on the school’s STEM web page and Twitter.

Homework

Standards