Virginia SOL USI.1.a
The Standard
locating North America in relation to the other continents and the oceans
Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students find North America on maps and globes. They describe where it sits using nearby continents, the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students label North America correctly on an unlabeled world map. They use direction words to explain its position and name the oceans along its coasts.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may confuse North America with the United States or South America. They may reverse the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans or overlook the Arctic Ocean.
How to Assess It
- Give students an unlabeled world map. Ask them to circle North America, label its three bordering oceans, and write one sentence describing its location.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a globe and sticky notes to mark North America, nearby continents, and the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans.
Ask students to write directions that would help an alien find North America on a world map.
Play a map relay where teams place continent and ocean cards on a large blank world map.
Trace a flight from Virginia to Europe or Asia, then identify the ocean crossed and the direction traveled.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- USI.1.b
locating and describing major geographic regions and bodies of water of North America and their impact on the early history of the United States; and
- 3.2.a
locating and describing the seven continents and the five oceans; and
- 1.6.c
locating Virginia, the United States, continents, and oceans on maps and globes; and
- 2.11.a
locating the countries of North America and the bordering oceans
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