Virginia SOL S.K.b

Social StudiesKindergarten

The Standard

applying geographic skills to identify and understand geographic features

Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify common land and water features in pictures, models, maps, and globes. They describe features using words such as mountain, river, lake, ocean, and plain.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students correctly name a feature from its shape and location. They can tell whether it is land or water and describe one visible trait.
Common Misconceptions: Students may call every body of water an ocean or confuse rivers with lakes. They may think map colors always look the same or that mountains are only pointed peaks.
How to Assess It: Give students a simple picture map. Ask them to circle the river, color the mountain brown, and explain how the two features differ.

Lesson moves

Build a landscape with play dough and blue yarn, then place picture labels on the mountain, river, lake, and ocean.
Show two landscape photos and ask, “What land and water features do you notice, and how are they different?”
Play Feature Match, with students pairing picture cards to mountain, river, lake, ocean, and plain word cards.
Use a local map or aerial photo to find nearby water, hills, or flat land and discuss how people use each place.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to S.K.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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