3rd Grade Social Studies Curriculum – Map and Globe Skills Unit – TEKS-Aligned

Are you an upper elementary teacher looking to find a quality TEKS-aligned resource that targets map and globe skills? Looking for minimal-prep and engaging lessons and activities to teach social studies concepts to your 3rd grade students? Look no further!

Unit 1 of the Smart and Simple Social Studies Communities Guided Curriculum is about Map and Globe Skills. The main topic of this unit is designed to help upper elementary students develop a foundational understanding of maps and globes.

This 3-week unit includes lesson plans, guided notes, practice activities, exit tickets, a project, unit assessment, and more. Each lesson includes slideshows in both PowerPoint and Google Slides, as well as student digital activities of the notes, practice activities, exit tickets, project, and unit assessment.

This unit primarily correlates to the current TEKS 3rd grade Social Studies standards (adopted 2024). It includes EVERYTHING you need to teach map and globe skills – just print & go!

This unit covers the following topics:

• Lesson 1: Introduction to Map and Globe Elements
• Lesson 2: Cardinal Directions
• Lesson 3: Intermediate Directions
• Lesson 4: Locating Places on Maps and Globes
• Lesson 5: Scale and Distance
• Lesson 6: Types of Maps
• Lesson 7: Creating Maps
• Lesson 8: Interpreting Maps
• Lesson 9: Other Map and Globe Features
• Lesson 10: Map and Globe Skills Review

What’s included in this resource?

• 3-week pacing guide and overview
• Scope and Sequence
• 10 teacher lesson plan guides
• 9 non-editable slideshows (Google Drive & PPT versions)
• 1 editable slideshow review game
• Guided notes for Lessons 1-9 (2 versions: fill-in-the-blank and highlighted words)
• 7 practice activities
• 10 exit tickets
• Digital and full-color version of student activities
• Unit Project
• Unit Assessment
• Answer keys for all student activities

What makes this Guided Social Studies Curriculum Smart and Simple?

✅ The social studies daily lessons and activities are bite-sized and can easily be implemented in 30-45 minutes.

✅ The social studies curriculum is TEKS-aligned (for Texas) but are still flexible enough to use in any order and in conjunction with any state curriculum.

✅ Each social studies unit has everything you need to simply teach social studies – easy-to-follow lesson plans, guided notes, practice activities, exit tickets, and more!

It’s everything you need to implement engaging social studies lessons that students love and teachers enjoy (because it’s comprehensive and easy to prep)!