Skip to Main Content
Aerial View

Aerial View

Show off your knowledge of geography as you pretend to be an extraterrestrial creature! Draw several states and landmarks as they might appear from a spacecraft window.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Map
  • White Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    Display a map that identifies states, provinces, cities, and/or regions. Have students identify a region to focus on. Imagine being a creature from another planet, looking out of the spaceship window and seeing states, landmarks, etc.

  • Step 2

    Ask students draw the scene they imagine seeing from the spacecraft and how it might make sense to a creature who has never been to Earth before.

  • Step 3

    Have students write aDescription based on their research of the geographic areas. Write aDescription from the point of view of the extraterrestrial.

Standards

LA: Write using words, numbers, and images to inform and explain, share experiences, and create narratives, either fictional or non-fictional.

LA: Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

SS: People, Places, and Environments: Use maps, globes, and other geographic tools. Demonstrate understanding of the use and misuse of the environment and the relationship between human populations and the physical world. 

Adaptations

Have students perform a drama based on their art and written description, explaining what this outerspace creature sees and how it makes sense of this new area.

Students can delve more deeply into landforms or landmarks seen on the original map and use this information to coach the space creature or answer some of its questions.