Our class has been learning about mapping throughout the month of January. Students have learned the difference between maps and globes and what different map features (such as the key/legend, compass rose, and scale) are for. We have also explored different types of maps and discussed what they show and how/why people use them. Students put together a lapbook (a folder that fits our our lap :) full of their learning about maps which includes different maps we have learned about. As we learned about maps we started big and "zoomed in," exploring maps of smaller and smaller areas. If you look at the maps in your child's lapbook with him/her you will see a map of the world, then a map of our continent, then one of just the USA, a map of Vermont, a map of Colchester (with our school and street highlighted), a map of our school building, and finally, a map created by the student of our classroom! Your child should be able to tell you about the difference between maps and globes, what continent we live on and what the three large countries on our continent are, about the compass rose and cardinal directions, what some different types of maps are and how people use them, and more!
This week we have been doing some fun wrap-up activities with mapping, such as creating the map of our classroom, and today we explored Google Maps and Google Earth on the Smartboard. We tried zooming in and out with both tools to get different perspectives of familiar places as well as places we have not been but are curious about. We had a great talk about why people might use these tools and how having access to Google Earth and Google Maps can help us. Our class has had a lot of fun learning about mapping! Below are some photos I took of students with the maps and globe as well as a few others. Stay tuned for information on our weather unit in February!
Identifying continents and oceans on a world map
Exploring Google Earth
The kids with some maps and a globe!
No comments:
Post a Comment