1. Mollie Fitzpatrick Stacie Ellerbrock Brianna Miller
Maps Resource Unit
Mollie Fitzpatrick
Stacie Ellerbrock
Brianna Miller

2. Table of Contents Introduction Objectives Vocabulary/Concepts
Activities
Teacher References
Student References
Media References
Evaluation

3. Introduction
Ohio academic content standards tell us that students should be able to use the knowledge of geographic locations, patterns and processes to show the interrelationship between the physical environment and human activity, and to explain the interactions that occur in an increasingly interdependent world.
This week-long resource unit will help students understand the skills required to read and create maps for a variety of purposes. This unit is filled with hands-on activities to better the mastery of map skills.

4. Objectives Students will use a map to find given locations.
Students will identify components of a map, such as title, key, compass, and symbols.
Students will identify and describe the landforms, climate, vegetation, population, and economic characteristics.

5. Objectives Con’t
Students will use a compass rose and cardinal directions to describe the relative direction of places.

6. Vocabulary/Concepts Map Map Key Landforms Plateau Mountain Valley
River
Lake

7. Vocabulary/Concepts Desert Continent Globe Equator North South East
West

8. Activity #1 Read aloud Me on the Map by Joan Sweeny.
Discuss as a group the location of their town on the map.

9. Activity #2 Read Flat Stanley by: to the children.
Have the children make their own Flat Stanleys to mail to two relatives.
Include a letter with the Flat Stanleys asking for the relatives to write about a day they spent with Flat Stanley. Also ask the relatives to mail the Flat Stanleys back to the class.

10. Activity #2 Continued
When the class starts receiving the Flat Stanley’s back place them on a map to see where Stanley has traveled.
Discuss as a class where Stanley has all traveled and if he had been at one place more than once.

11. Activity #3
Using a map grid, have the children design a map of an imaginary country including all the required symbols:
Compass Rose
Key
Grid labels
Title
One water source
Five cities
Three different landmarks

12. Activity #4 Read aloud Introducing Landforms and discuss as a class.
Have children make a flip book of the various landforms (mountains, valleys, plains, rivers, etc) using various materials.

13. Activity #5 Provide students with a map of their city.
Have the students use coordinates to determine locations of important places in their city.
Have the students describe the relative direction of various places in the city from their school

14. Activity #6
Have the children design a map of their classroom in small groups.
Have the students follow their maps to find objects located around the classroom.

15. Activity #7
Have students create a fire escape plan for their houses with their parents.
Students will draw their plan.
Students will explain their fire escape route to the class.

16. Activity #8 Give each table several containers of Play Doh.
Instruct the students to form the various types of landforms (mountains, valleys, plateaus, etc).
Have the students create a name for their landform environment.

17. Activity #9 The teacher will read aloud How I Became a Pirate.
Have the students create a “treaure map” as one of their centers.
Have the students trade and follow a friend’s map to find the “treasure.”

18. Teacher References www.busyteachercafe.com

19. Student References www.kaboose.com www.pbskids.org

20. Media References VIDEOS: Dora the Explorer - Map Adventures
The Magic Map
The Geography Tutor, Map Skills, Vol. 3
Types of Maps & Map Projections
The Geographic Tutor; Maps and Globe Terms

21. Media References, Con’t
BOOKS:
Me on the Map by Joan Sweeny
Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown and Scott Nash
Introducing Landforms Bobbie Kalman

22. Evaluation
Students will be evaluated on the work they complete for each activity.
After the unit, the students will be given a comprehensive map test, designed by the teacher.