Reading a Road Map

We're fixing to head out on a multi-state road trip next week, so Sophie and I pulled out the road maps we are going to be using, to plan our route.

Lesson:  Reading a Road Map

Objective:  Student will identify map symbols on a road map.

Materials:  Laminated road maps.  Dry erase marker.

Process:

1. Observe the road maps with the child.  Identify which state each represents.  Identify roads, cities, mountains, airports, camping areas and rest stops.  
2. Find your city on the map and draw a box around it with the dry erase marker.  
3. Pick a destination city for a real or imaginary trip, and draw a box around it. 
4. Together with the child, decide which roads to take to get to the destination city.  Pick out some places to stop the car for bathroom breaks, lunch, or to play.  

Mapping My Neighborhood

We took a little field trip to the park up the street, and mapped the neighborhood on the way.  What I liked about this lesson:  It encouraged Sophie to pay attention to street signs, street names, and reinforced what she had learned previously about street numbers!

Lesson:  Mapping My Neighborhood

Objective:  Child will create a map of her neighborhood, identifying streets, street signs, and determine what is deemed important to include on a map.

Materials:  A piece of paper.  Pencil.  Book to write on.  Water and sun hats - it's hot out there!

Process:

1. Instruct child that you will be creating a map of your neighborhood.  Tell child that not everything is included on a map - only important things.  Brainstorm about what would be 'important' enough to put on the map of  your neighborhood.  (Sophie at first thought that the flowers in front of our house were important, because they make seeds to grow other plants.  So I had to reinforce that what is 'important' for a map are things that help us find our way.  Do flowers help us find our way? No.  But street signs do.)
2. Draw out the basic route you will be taking.  I drew our street, and the street we would be walking up to reach our destination, the playground.
3. Start out on your walk, stopping when you come across something that needs to be added to the map.  We added each arterial street as we passed it, and labeled them.  

We added street signs.  We added our house and a friend's house. We added the fire station at the end of the block.  And, of course, the playground itself.  

Mapping My Street

Had I been a classroom teacher, this would have been the lesson when I herded my children out of the classroom to map our school building.  However, since we're learning at home (Me: "Xander, what did you do at Sunday school today?"  Xander:  "No, I homeschool."), we mapped our street instead.

This lesson turned out very well - Sophie enjoyed it, it was a chance to get outside, and it drove home the concept of street numbers for her.  A useful bit of information for life skills.  It also made her really think carefully about how her map was oriented, and where to place each 'house'.

Lesson:  Mapping My Street

Objective:  Child will create a map of her street, showing the houses and street numbers.

Materials:  A sheet of paper.  Pen.  Construction paper, cut into 1 inch squares.  Glue.  A hard surface to write on (book or clipboard)

Process:

1. Before you go outside, explain that you are going to create a map of your street.  Draw the street down the middle of child's paper.
2. Walk to the end of the street.  Stop and observe the first house.  
3. Glue a square (representing the first house) on the paper.  

4.  Instruct child to observe the house again and find its street number, then write street number on the corresponding square.

5.  Instruct child to observe the house across the street.  Glue another square in the appropriate place, corresponding with this house.

6.  Direct child to observe this house's street number, and write on the corresponding square.  

7.  Continue the process down the street.  

... And maybe stop to say hi to the friendly puppies on the way!

Hands On Mapping

In order to make the concept of maps more concrete, we made a map with electrical tape on the living room floor today.

Lesson:  Make Your Own Floor Map

Objective:  Child will understand that a map is a pictoral representation of a real place.  

Materials:  Masking or electrical tape.  Scissors (optional).  Dolls, dollhouse furniture, Legos, blocks.  Construction paper.

Process:

1. Review the concept that a map represents a real place.  Revisit the maps from the books you read, and the map you made of your room.
2. Using masking tape, outline a large square on the carpeted floor.
3. Ask child to direct you in where to block in each room.  "What room do you want to add first?  Where should it go?"  Suggest doors, windows, and halls as necessary.  
4. When the map of the house is completed (it probably won't look like the floor plan of any 'real' house), encourage child to furnish the house with dollhouse furniture, or make his own out of Legos, blocks and construction paper.  

Mapping My Room

For the 'extra' subject this month (i.e., not math, reading or writing), we're doing a map unit.  I had an inkling Sophie would be intrigued by the concept, once she grasped it.

I started out reading two books that have a simple map in them.  Sally and the Something, by George O'Connor is a new favorite we discovered last summer, and it has a simple map on one page showing the path Sally travels from her house to the swamp.  Fancy Nancy, Explorer Extraordinaire, by Jane O'Connor has a fabulous map of Nancy's neighborhood.

Here are some books I wish we could have read, had they been available  (hint, hint, Ami):

• Me on the Map, by Joan Sweeney.  This amazing book starts out with a map of the little girl's room, and expands her world with each subsequent map.  It 'zooms' out, showing maps of her house, neighborhood, state, and finally the world.
• As the Crow Flies:  A First Book of Maps, by Harvey Stevenson.  Follows a crow's journey from the mountains to the sea, mapping in simple, bright, clear illustrations the farms, villages and towns it flies over.  
• My Map Book, by Sara Fanelli.  I. Love.  This.  Book.  Illustrated with the crayon drawings of a child, each page is simply a 'map' of different things in a child's world:  my room.  My body.  My dog.

We talked about the things the maps in the books showed.  I pulled out Xander's car map rug, and we looked at the map printed on it.  Then we took some construction paper, scissors, and glue into Sophie's room and made a map of it.

I drew the shapes, Sophie cut them out (fine motor skills), and glued them in place, after we discussed where on the map they went.  Then she added some extra details with a marker (you can't forget kitty!).  

Sophie was so enthralled with this concept, she then drew her own map of the walk from our house to the nature trail down the street.  Notice the rocky part, and the bridge right after it (the red stripes).

Even the car map rug is getting a lot more use!  Love tricking the kids into learning by playing.  Waaa ha ha.