Textbook series in social studies introduce geographic instruction in grades 1 and 2 and emphasize geographic study in grades 3 and 4. Throughout the elementary grades the identification of map and globe terms, use of the compass to find directions, computation of distance, collection of information, and making of inferences, predictions, and drawing conclusions are the map and globe skills emphasized in the textbooks. In textbooks the learning of map skills begins in the first or second grade with the introduction of a picture of the earth. Children are asked to distinguish the shape of the earth and the differences between the land and the water. The first maps in the textbooks are of classrooms and familiar locations, such as shopping centers.
Children learn map skills related to the uses of symbols, the legend, and cardinal directions.
Children begin studying scale in the third grade and grid systems in grade 4. Small scale political maps of the United States begin to appear in textbooks as early as second grade. By the fourth grade the texts include many physical and cultural maps both within the text and in atlas sections. In addition to concentrating on the location theme of geography through map study, elementary geography currently places emphasis on learning the physical and human characteristics of places. In third grade rural and urban communities are investigated, while in fourth grade emphasis is on climatic and physical regions of the world and their natural resources.