Virginia SOL 3.8.a

Social Studies3rd Grade

The Standard

locating the ancient empire of Mali on a map of the world

Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students locate the ancient Mali Empire in western Africa on a world map. They use Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Sahara Desert, and the Niger River as reference points.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can point to and label the approximate area of the ancient Mali Empire on a blank world map. They can explain that it was in western Africa, south of the Sahara Desert.
Common Misconceptions: Students may confuse the ancient empire with the smaller modern country of Mali. They may also label all of Africa or place Mali in northern or southern Africa.
How to Assess It: Give students an unlabeled world map and ask them to circle the approximate location of ancient Mali and write one location clue.

Lesson moves

Give pairs a world map, yarn, and labels to mark Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Sahara Desert, the Niger River, and ancient Mali.
Ask students to write two sentences explaining how they would guide a traveler from the Atlantic Ocean to ancient Mali.
Play Map Point Relay, where teams race to identify Africa, western Africa, the Sahara Desert, the Niger River, and ancient Mali.
Compare a map of the ancient Mali Empire with a current political map, then list which modern countries overlap its former territory.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 3.8.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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