Lessons and Materials
Below are helpful materials and lesson plans to accompany a Giant Map of Colorado.
Materials
These materials are downloadable and helpful for nearly all Colorado Giant Map activities.
- Colorado Giant Map
- Colorado Giant Map Key
- Compass Rose
- Giant Map Rules and Expectations
- Colorado Map
Make your own lesson plan or use one of the lessons below for the Colorado Giant Map.
Other materials to help plan and execute your Giant Map lessons.
Colorado Locations and Features
- Animal Cards
- City Cards (Word | PDF)
- Grid Relay and Grid Relay Locations
- Historic Sites List
- Landforms/Habitats (Option 1 | Option 2)
- Land Features
General Resources
See below lesson plans for additional materials adaptable for your lessons!
Colorado Giant Map Lesson Plans
Where is My Town?
Recommended Grade(s): 2nd & up
Students will learn about basic cartographic concepts and decisions made by cartographers while practicing using grids and latitude and longitude lines.
Discovering Colorado Ecosystems
Recommended Grade(s): 2nd
Students will locate Colorado habitats on the map and explain why plants grow and animals live in different parts of the state.
Download Colorado Ecosystems Lesson
Additional Materials: Colorado Ecosystems Cards/Descriptions
Reading Maps Together
Recommended Grade(s): 3rd
Students will interpret symbols and visual cues to read a globe, a hand-held map of the United States, and a giant floor map of Colorado.
Colorado as Headwaters – Exploring Our Rivers
Recommended Grade(s): 3rd – 5th
Students will be able to identify and learn about a river and its watershed and determine the direction of its flow from higher to lower elevation.
Download Colorado Headwaters Lesson
Additional Materials: Headwaters River Cards
All Aboard! Racing to Build a Railroad Across Colorado
Recommended Grade(s): 3rd – 5th
Students work cooperatively to plan a route for a railroad across Colorado and discover the constraints on the development of railroads in Colorado.
Download Colorado Railroads Lesson
Additional Materials: Narrow gauge railroad tracks, Standard gauge railroad tracks, Railroad map, Topographic map
Grid Coordinate Connect Four
Recommended Grade(s): 4th
In teams, students will play "Connect Four," attempting to be the first team to place four markers along grid coordinates in a row by answering correct trivia questions on geography, economics, history, and civics.
Additional Materials: Connect Four Instructions
Place Names, Keys to the Past
Recommended Grade(s): 4th
Students will define boundaries of Spanish Territory as they once existed in Colorado, identifying the natural features creating boundaries.
I Can See Clearly, Now! - The Continental Divide & Colorado’s Watersheds
Recommended Grade(s): 4th
Students will identify the Continental Divide and major Colorado rivers, determining rivers that flow east and west of the Divide for an understanding of watersheds.
Elevate Your State: Study of Colorado’s Elevations
Recommended Grade(s): 4th & up
Students will understand elevation and scale, creating towers representing elevation on the Giant Map, discussing how elevation might affect humans.
Download Colorado Elevations Lesson
Additional Materials: Places, Location cards, Block legends
Coloradans on the Move
Recommended Grade(s): 4th & up
Students will discover population patterns in Colorado over time and speculate about why people choose to live in certain areas.
Big Map Lesson Plans Using Census
Recommended Grade(s): k- 4th
Lessons to help students learn about the 2020 Census in conjunction with use of the Giant Map.
Do you have a Colorado Giant Map lesson to share?
Contact Kelly Langley Cook to post
your lesson for other Colorado teachers.
