Four World Regions on Physical Maps - Equator, Hemispheres, and Living Places

Calendar Circle + locate Equator on globe + estimate which of the four regions sit on/north/south of the Equator

• Lead routine standing
• Affirm continuity with prior lessons

Walk through each of the four region maps in MG-3. For each, name central physical features and CURRENT nations. Andes: high mountain cordillera, altiplano, Lake Titicaca; current Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile. Sahel/Sahara: desert and grassland savanna belt, Niger River; current Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger. East Asia: Yellow River and Yangtze River valleys; current China. Pacific Ocean/Polynesian Triangle: Hawaii, Aotearoa-NZ, Rapa Nui; current nations Hawaii (USA), New Zealand, Chile (Easter Island), Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti. Show each region's Equator/Tropic position.

• The Equator is a 0-degree latitude line; some regions are above, some below, some right on it.

  model The Andes - in Ecuador. And Polynesia - the Equator runs north of Tahiti and south of Hawaii.

  prompt Which of the four regions straddles the Equator?

• Point to the Andes on the globe. What current countries cover the Andean region?
• Where is the Equator on the West Africa map?

Children examine each of the four maps as cartographic primary sources. They notice scale bars, compass roses, contemporary borders alongside historical sites, the Equator and Tropics. Apply the G3-Fall map-as-source routine.

M-3-S-GEO-03-A Map

MG-3 four coordinated 24x36-inch maps mounted as a horizontal set. Each map has full G3-Fall cartographic apparatus (title, compass rose, scale bar, legend, grid) plus the Equator and Tropics. Children physically point to features and trace the Equator across regions. The contemporary-borders-alongside-historical-sites design enforces the present-tense protocol.

MG-3 Map

Mounted along one classroom wall as a coordinated set. The four-region framing is INTENTIONAL - it teaches that geography is the precondition for cultural development without becoming geographic determinism. Children locate the same Equator across all four maps to teach KS2 Geog 1.1.A. The contemporary borders on each map (alongside the historical sites) enforce the present-tense protocol - the regions are CURRENT places, not erased pasts.

• In pairs, pick ONE region. Locate it on the globe AND on its specific MG-3 map. Identify three physical features and one current country.

  scaffold Sentence frame: 'The ___ region is in ___. It has ___, ___, and ___. One current country there is ___.'
• Locate the Equator on your chosen region's map. Is the region north, south, or straddling the Equator?

  scaffold Equator string available; teacher checks each pair

M-3-S-GEO-03-B Chart

MG-4 48x36-inch laminated chart with 40 illustrated vocabulary tiles in 6 colored bands. Cordillera, altiplano, sahel, savanna, atoll, archipelago tiles are placed during this lesson. Bilingual subtitles in Quechua, Bambara, Mandarin, and Hawaiian greeting words introduced. QR code provides native-speaker pronunciation audio.

MG-4 Chart

Mounted on classroom wall at child-eye-height. The six-band color coding teaches that the unit has six conceptual zones. Velcro example tiles refreshed weekly with child-found examples from museum-object viewing and oral-epic listening. The 'culture-specific' purple band is the heaviest pedagogical move - it teaches that real cultural knowledge requires real cultural vocabulary in the people's own words. Pronunciation audio for every term provided via QR code on the wall.

• Match each region to its physical-environment description: ANDES / SAHEL / EAST ASIA / POLYNESIA <-> high mountain cordillera / savanna grassland south of desert / river valleys / ocean and islands.

• Restate: 'Geography is the precondition for cultural development, but it is not destiny'
• Preview lesson 4's introduction to artifacts as a sixth source type

• Discuss today's lesson with a caregiver and record 2 sentences.