Marvelous Maps!

Getting a little behind on my posts! Hopefully I can get caught up over Fall Break! :) A few weeks ago we did a fun unit on maps. I was really surprised how much my kids already knew about maps! We started the unit by making a web with all the ways we use maps. The kids talked about finding places you want to go, finding your way when your lost and one of my students even said that firefighters use a map find the house on fire. Way to make connections among units! :) We also looked at our big classroom map...love how the kids went "WOOO!" when I pulled it down.

Over the week we did several activities from my map unit! First we talked about map vocabulary such as symbols, legend, near, far and next to. We talked about how a symbol is a picture that stands for something. The kids then colored a map by following directions. On the back they labeled the symbols from the map.

 Next we talked about what a compass rose is and each of the directions (north, south, east, west). The kids labeled a compass rose and then used one to answer questions about where different landforms were located.

I wanted to let you know a super fun directions game we never got a chance to do. You label your classroom with the north, south, west and east directions on the correct wall. You choose one child to be "it" and that child stands in the middle of the room with their eyes closed. All the other kids choose a wall to stand by before the "it" person counts to 10. When they are done counting, they choose a direction with their eyes closed still (Ex. "West!") All the kids on the west wall are out. The it person closes their eyes and starts again. You repeat these steps until there is one student left. That student is now it!

Our final map activity (and the kids favorite) was a treasure hunt! I had to include one in my unit since we have a pirate themed room. While my kids were at specials, I put clues around the school to lead them to treasure. I forgot to take pictures of the first three clues at their locations.  First clue was on the classroom door, the second clue was at the cafeteria and the third was at the library. The fourth clue was in the gym, the fifth was at the "nurse/receptionist office", the sixth was at the principal's office, the seventh was on the playground and the last clue was in our classroom by the treasure chest!

   

   

 

 

The kids also drew maps of their houses with their book buddies (our 2nd grade friends we meet with once a week). They had a great time drawing them and labeling them!

 

If you are interested in my unit, click on the picture below!!