Virginia SOL S.2.b

Social Studies2nd Grade

The Standard

applying geographic skills to identify and understand geographic features and connections

Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students read simple maps, globes, and pictures to locate land, water, roads, buildings, and communities. They describe where features are and how places or people are linked.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students correctly use a map key, symbols, and direction words to locate features. They can explain a simple connection, such as why a road links two towns or why people settle near water.
Common Misconceptions: Students may treat map symbols as the actual size or shape of a feature. They may confuse left and right with west and east, or label human-made features as natural features.
How to Assess It: Give students a simple map with a key. Ask them to identify one natural feature, one human-made feature, and explain how two places are connected.

Lesson moves

Build a tabletop map with clay landforms, blue yarn rivers, and craft-stick roads, then label how two places connect.
Study a town map and answer, “Why might families choose to live near the river, road, or school?”
Play Map Symbol Match by pairing picture cards of roads, rivers, parks, and buildings with their map symbols.
Trace a route from school to a nearby park, naming features passed and explaining how streets connect the two places.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to S.2.b, 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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