North Carolina Topographic Map

Upper ES / Social Studies

Location, Communication, Physical and Human Characteristics of Place

Provide students with three maps of the area: a road map, a shaded relief map, and a topographic map. Work with locating information on the road map by using the legend. Using the shaded relief map, have students locate physical features of the area.

After examining these two more common, more easily-read maps, have students examine the topographic map. What do they notice about this map? What do they expect to learn from reading and discussing this map?

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North Carolina is a state in the southeastern United States. North Carolina is circumscribed by South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, and the Atlantic Ocean on the east. North Carolina is comprised of three principal geographic areas: the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Piedmont and the Appalachian Mountains. The eastern segment of the state contains the Outer Banks, a string of sandy, slender islands which form an obstruction between the Atlantic Ocean and two inland conduits or "sounds": Albemarle Sound in the north and Pamlico Sound in the south. They are the two biggest landlocked sounds in the United States. The beachfront plain moves to the Piedmont area along the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, a line which denotes the elevation at which waterfalls first show up on streams and waterways. The Piedmont section of North Carolina is the state's most urbanized and thickly populated segment. The waterways of the Piedmont (eg. the Yadkin and the Catawba Rivers) have a tendency to be quick streaming, and shallow. The western segment of the state is located in the Appalachian Mountain range.

Teach any of the following social studies vocabulary that would be new to students as part of the literacy cycle: direction, absolute location, relative location, latitude and longitude, scale, and common map symbols.

Divide the map into quadrants. Assign four groups and to each a quadrant of which they should become an expert. Each group should make a list of at least three elements of the map about which they’d like more information.

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 What is the most interesting thing the topographic map shows? (roundrobin response)  Why did you find that element interesting? (spontaneous discussion)

 What physical features are represented on the topographic map? Manmade features?  How would you imagine the boundaries of the state (city or county) were set?  Locate a place on the map where contour lines are used. Why is it necessary to include contour lines on the map?  Locate areas of very different elevations. How are population and other issues of land use affected by elevation?

 Where, on this map, would you like to live? To open a business? Why?

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Have students list the most important things they said, heard, or thought during the seminar.

What are the most important details in the Topographic Map of North Carolina? After reading and discussing the map, write a lecture for younger students in which you describe the most important details in the text. Support your response with evidence from the text/s. (Informational or Explanatory/Describe)

(LDC Task #: 12 )

In small groups, decide which features on the map should be highlighted and would be appropriate for younger students to know. Decide on no more than three key elements of the map to share.

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Ask students to structure their writing in “chunks” that can be easily pasted in a PowerPoint or Google Slides document, or on cue cards, for sharing with young students. Name each chunk.

Challenge all to write a draft of their lecture

Put two groups of students together and have them compare the elements they have chosen to share. Each group reads their chunks of information or lecture. Then, groups give each other warm and cool feedback. Warm feedback = what they really liked about the lesson. Cool feedback = things they wonder about. Give time for revisions resulting in a second draft.

Working in groups of 3-4, students read each others’ work slowly and silently, marking errors of spelling and grammar. Provide dictionaries and grammar resources as needed. Students make corrections to their own writing, for a third and final draft.

Share with a younger class! Ask the students for feedback on what they learned and what they still want to know about the state.

Jennifer Mangrum National Paideia Faculty

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Text: http://www.ezilon.com/maps/united-states/north-carolina-physical-maps.html

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