Enhanced Scope and Sequence - Virginia Department of Education ...

Grade 3
Session 1: Geography and Physical Characteristics ___________________________________
Materials
A large wall or floor map of the world
Reference materials, including those with many pictures (e.g., atlas, globe, encyclopedias, nonfiction books,
Web sites, videos)
Map handout of Mali (Attachment A; 1 per student)
Mali fact sheet (Attachment B: My Journal Fact Sheet; 1 per student)
Crayons, colored pencils
9" x 12" pieces of colored construction paper (1 per student)
Chalkboard or overhead projector
Instructional Activities
1. Introduce the following geographical and physical characteristics of Mali:
Was located in the western region of the continent of Africa
Had rivers nearby
Had desert-like conditions
Had gold mines
Laid across the trade routes between the Sahara Desert and the West African region
Contained the important city of Timbuktu
2. As review, have students locate places on the world map they have studied. Be sure to do a brief review of
map terms and hemispheres, as well as a review of ancient Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome.
3. Introduce the country of Mali using a large wall or floor map of the world. Have students locate the continent
of Africa and the country of Mali. Discuss characteristics of its location, climate, land, and locations of bodies
of water. Have students brainstorm problems the people of Mali long ago may have experienced because of
the country’s location and environment (e.g., deserts: hot and dry climate, lack of water: difficulties in
farming crops). Compare Mali’s water sources to those of ancient Greece and Rome.
4. Initiate a Think, Pair, and Share activity.
Provide students with resource materials.
Have pairs of students research a question on Mali. Give the same question out more than once so that
you will get a variety of answers.
Possible questions:
– What were the land and the environment like?
– What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in this environment?
– What natural resources did they have? What could they do with them?
– How did the people adapt to living in their environment?
– What jobs did the people have?
– Did they farm any crops? If so, how?
– Did they trade like ancient Greece and Rome? If so, how?
You may want to have students finish this activity for homework and share the results with the class the
next day.
5. Give students the map of Mali. Have students color in the land (brown) and water (blue). Have the students
add a map legend.
2010 History and Social Science Standards of Learning Enhanced Scope and Sequence
Virginia Department of Education 52