Maps!

March Week 1

To coincide with the Iditarod start, we are learning about maps and ways we can travel. 

We started by talking about what maps are. Nobody knew! So we read Me on the Map and a REALLY cute book called My Map Book.

Map of My Heart

In My Map Book, there is a "Map of My Heart." We made a list of things we loved, and got to work making our own heart maps. We used sharpies for drawing and writing, and then painted with watercolor pans.

In the above map, the student likes fishing, boats, bikes, school, juice, and his family! So much practice sounding out words, spelling sight words, using spaces, and seeing an authentic reason for writing!

This student put a ton of detail into her work!

Here are the finished products!

Pirate Treasure Maps

 

We couldn't talk about maps without talking about pirates. This really got the boys interested. We looked at a few examples from How I Became a Pirate and My Map Book, and then worked with partners to make our own treasure maps. They had to label at least 5 items on their map.

This one has an island, some boats, 2 suns (!), and an X marks the treasure spot.

This one has a shark and a dragon!

Going on a Bear Hunt Story Map

Finally, we read Going on a Bear Hunt and made a map to sequence the story. I was afraid this would be too many directions and materials for them to manage, but I was happily wrong! They worked in partners for this one too, and now have the labeling thing down pat!

The idea for this one came from Buggy and Buddy.

I used the Nature Papers from Lakeshore Learning for a lot of this, but you could definitely use construction paper too. The snow was made from cotton balls, and we used colored pencil for the mud and labels.