Using Maps for Reading Comprehension & Vocabulary-Building: A Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill
Grade Level: This lesson is intended for 3rd-6th grade students with scaffolds for English-learners.
Essential Question:
- How do cartographers use map details and text to convey their purpose?
Lesson Objective: Students will use close looking and reading comprehension strategies to examine textual and visual evidence from a primary source map from the Battle of Bunker Hill, learn how map-makers convey geographical and historical information, and decipher possible meanings of new vocabulary terms using clues from the map.
Lesson Description: This lesson asks students to examine a historical map as both a visual and a textual source, and explore how the map’s labels and annotations explain a historical event while its visual information situates the event in a specific location. Students will use a map depicting a plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill to answer questions about the battle. Then, they will notice and discuss visual clues on the map to try and understand the meaning of novel vocabulary terms.
Content Standards Addressed in the Lesson:
D2.Geo.2.3-5. Use maps, satellite images, photographs, and other representations to explain relationships between the locations of places and regions and their environmental characteristics.
D2.Geo.8.3-5. Explain how human settlements and movements relate to the locations and use of various natural resources.
3.L.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Lesson Procedures:
Part 1: Reading Comprehension with a Map First, as a whole class guided by the teacher(s), students will spend one full minute looking closely at the map, looking from top to bottom, left to right, and “zooming in” on the details that pop out or inspire curiosity. Students should be directed to look at both the visual and textual components of the map before working in pairs to capture their observations and ideas about the map by answering the questions in the Reading Comprehension Note-Catcher.
Materials needed:
- Students’ Reading Comprehension with a Map Note-catcher
- Map Source: A Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill (Note: only use the recto side of the map; do not use the song lyrics printed on the verso side) https://www.argomaps.org/maps/commonwealth:q524nd88q/
Part 2: Vocabulary-Building with a Map First, the teacher(s) will write the words “auxiliary”, “picket”, “sloop”, and “howitzer” on the board and invite students to search the map for them. Next, as a whole class guided by the teacher(s), independently, or in pairs, students will use clues from the map (including the location of the term, what symbols or features it is close to, how many times it appears, etc.) to help them decipher possible meanings of each new vocabulary term. After some map exploration and discussion, the teacher(s) will share definitions of each term with students, who will use these definitions and the map to answer questions about the words in context.
Materials needed:
- Students’ Vocabulary-building with a Map Worksheet
- Map Source: A Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill (Note: only use the recto side of the map; do not use the song lyrics printed on the verso side) https://www.argomaps.org/maps/commonwealth:q524nd88q/
Scaffolds and Supports
- Printed copies of the map might help support students who struggle to read faint penmanship at a distance
- Pre-teach vocabulary as necessary (some possibly unfamiliar terms for students may include reinforced, informed, cleared)
- Provide sentence stems, such as
- At ___ o’clock the map text says ___ happened.
- I see ___ near the ___ on the map, so I think that ___ .
ARGO Tags: Battle of Bunker Hill, British and colonists, weaponry, infantry, encampments, point of view, elementary-grades 3-6, map purposes, vocabulary
ARGO Map:
- A Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill https://www.argomaps.org/maps/commonwealth:q524nd88q/
Students’ Reading Comprehension with a Map Note-catcher
| Text from the right side of A Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill: Rebel Forces On the ground at the time of the attack about 2000 (3 o’clock). reinforced about 4:30 by about 1200. Informed 1st force led by one, Prescott. 2nd force by one, Putnam. Rebel forces cleared from Lexington about 5:15 o’clock leaving five guns, etc.Additions on Report [unclear]for Comm. [Commanding] Forces 4th Oct., 1775H. Clinton Maj. Gen. | Why do you think this map was made, and who do you think it was made for? What do you see that makes you say that? |
|---|---|
| What do the phrases and notes from the map show us about the patriot forces during this battle? | How would you describe the location of the battle from what you can see on the map? |
| How many rebel troops (patriots) were fighting on the ground at 3 o’clock on October 4, 1775? | How many more rebel troops (patriots) entered the battle at 4:30pm on October 4, 1775? |
| Why do you think the troops needed to be “reinforced” during the battle? | What happened in the battle at 5:15 pm? |
| What did the rebel troops (patriots) leave behind? | Why do you think the commanding officers “cleared rebel forces” from Lexington? |
Students’ Vocabulary-building with a map worksheet
| Definitions of Vocabulary Terms: | |
|---|---|
| “Auxillary” — a navy ship designed to support war efforts | Where were the auxiliary ships located on the map? (HINT: use North, South, East, and West, landmarks, and description to answer this question!) |
| ”Howitzer” - a short gun used for firing shells on high trajctories at low velocities | Why would a howitzer be needed in this battle? |
| ”Picket” - a group of soldiers poste don guard ahead of the main force; each picket would have included 40-50 troops | What was the purpose of the picket and how many picket locations are shown on this map? |
| ”Sloop” - Royal Navy ship posting guns, (such as the Lively and the Falcon during the Battle of Bunker Hill) | What is the name of one of the sloops shown on the map? |
- All definitions adapted from Google Definitions, July 2023