Finding places in an atlas
GROW Humanities · Autumn 1 · Week 8 · 40 minutes
Today at a Glance
◆ Supported
Match a card to a continent, using the index.
▲ Standard
Sort the cards, then match each to its grid reference.
★ Stretch
Sort and match, then say which route into the atlas is quicker for a named place.
Teacher Print Tools — Week 8
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
Arrival Task – Retrieving what an atlas is for
A map shows you where. An atlas is a book of maps with a way in.
Next to the page number is a grid reference, like 14 C3.
Arrival decision: Take an atlas and the place cards from the box. Everyone works with the same class set.
On your table there is an atlas and twelve place cards. Some name a country. Some name a continent. Some name an ocean. All twelve are in the index of that atlas.
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
Starter: Two ways of finding the same place
Two ways of finding the same country.
Way A: turn pages until you see it.
Way B: look it up in the index, go to that page, and use the grid reference.
Way B is quicker for any place you can name. Way A is only quicker when you do not know the name and you are looking at a shape.
The need for this lesson is knowing which way to use. Both are real routes, and picking the wrong one costs you the lesson.
Try it: take the card in front of you. Do you know its name? Then the index is your route. Do not open the map yet.
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
I Do: Sorting places by what they are
The diagram sorts twelve places into three boxes. Read the names off it rather than out of your head, because that is what an atlas asks you to do.
Some cards are harder than they look. A very large country can feel like a continent, and the index settles it: it is listed as a country.
Modelled: I take a card. I read the name. I look it up in the index. The index tells me the page and the grid reference, and it tells me what kind of place it is. Then I sort the card.
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
We Do: Sort the cards, then match each to its grid reference
Card 1: a country. Which continent is it inside?
Card 2: an ocean. Which continents does it lie between?
Card 3: a continent. How many countries can you find on its page?
Sort first: sort your twelve cards into the three boxes, then match each card to the grid reference from the index. Everyone commits at the same time, and then we hold up the first grid reference together.
Evidence check
Two tables may write a different grid reference for the same place. Large places cover several squares, and both can be right. We ask what is at that reference, not who wrote which.
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
I Do: Which route is quicker
The picture shows both routes side by side. Each has three steps, so neither is lazy. The difference is what you already have.
Saying which route you used, and why, is part of the answer today. It is what turns finding into locating.
Decided together: the card names a country, so we have a name, so we take the index route. Three steps and we are on the square.
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
We Do: Match each card to the route that finds it
◆ Supported
Point to the route you would use.
▲ Standard
Match three cards to their routes and give one reason.
★ Stretch
Match all twelve, then say which card could go either way.
We match one card as a class. Everyone writes their route on a whiteboard, then we hold up the boards at the same time.
The card for this one is the ocean. You have a name, so which route? Write it and hold.
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
Independent Work — Your record: sorted, matched, located
Make one record of the cards you sorted and the references that find them. The atlas stays open beside you.
◆ Supported
Three cards matched to their continent, with the index open. An adult may scribe and the words stay yours.
▲ Standard
Six cards sorted, each with its page and grid reference.
★ Stretch
All twelve sorted and referenced, plus which route you used for each and why.
Check yourself: did you check the index rather than working from memory?
Check yourself: does every card have a page and a grid reference?
Check yourself: is each country written next to the continent it sits inside?
⏸ Pens down — quick partner check!
Half way through: stop, swap with a partner, and check one thing on the list above together. Then carry on.
WAGOLL — what a good one looks like
A finished row: a country card, sorted into its continent box, page 14, grid reference C3, found by the index route because the card gave me the name.
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
Lundy Loop — Your Voice in This Lesson
🚪 SPACE
Space is room to take part;
SPACE stays available.
📣 VOICE
VOICE is received.
👥 AUDIENCE
AUDIENCE names back exactly.
⭐ INFLUENCE
INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.
Exit Ticket — Audience receives; influence changes something
Read one reference to a partner without saying the name. They find it and say what they landed on.
Did they land somewhere else? Change the page or the square so the reference says what you meant. That change is your influence.
That closes these eight weeks. Keep your record in your folder with the others.
✅ Complete
Hand in your record and tick the learner confirmation on your sheet. That is the lesson done.
SPACE stays available. VOICE is received. AUDIENCE names back exactly. INFLUENCE changes one real next action.