Mapmaking 1.3: PreK/K & Lower Elementary
Hi parents,
We had another beautiful day to learn and practice our mapmaking skills.
The Prek/K class read a book called "North, South, East, and West" and we identified the cardinal directions. The kids got to hold a little compass and see that N always points North, no matter which way they turn. To be honest, this was mostly above their heads, but it was an introduction to Cardinal directions. Then they made small maps (using cardinal directions) of their area. This involved gluing a compass rose and picture of their face onto a piece of graph paper, then identifying one object in each direction and cutting/pasting (or drawing) those items onto their map, in the correct direction from them. Overall, this went well, and the kids were able to identify things in real life and put them in the correct place in relation to their spot on the paper.
Then I read the portion of "The Cricket in Times Square" where Chester Cricket tells Tucker Mouse the story of how he got from his home in Connecticut to a dirt pile in the Times Square subway station. I included the correct cardinal directions in my reading (they're not in the actual book). And while reading, we used Legos/train tracks/props to build a 3D map on a white board that had a compass rose on it. The kids did a great job with this and enjoyed it. I had planned for them to do another 2D map of Chester's trip, but we ran out of time. A couple of the kids wanted to take home the pictures to make the map at home. For those kids, I'm attaching the part of the story I read.
For the LE class, we looked at a sample map and I told them to notice the Key/Legend and explained what they are for. Then I read the portion of "The Cricket in Times Square" where Chester Cricket tells Tucker Mouse about his journey from Connecticut to New York City. I included the correct cardinal directions and some approximate distances for each leg of the journey (not included in original book). After reading, the kids recalled the different steps of Chester's trip and we built a 3D map on the white board using Legos and other props, making sure everything was moving in the correct direction. Then each student got a large piece of paper to create their own map of Chester Cricket's Journey. This map needed to include a compass rose, a title, and a key/legend. This was challenging for most of them, but it was ok - they still got the sequence of events.
After everyone finished up their maps, we played a Cardinal Directions game. Everyone got a piece of graph paper, and drew their face in one of the middle squares, and a compass rose in the corner (oriented correctly in our space). Then I gave them instructions like "Starting from your face, move West five spaces and draw a heart." It was a good way to practice, and something that's pretty easy to do at home, if you're so inclined (you can find printable graph paper under Google images).
Have a great week,
-Sarah B.
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(Excerpt from "The Cricket in Times Square")
In New York City, there’s a place called Times Square. It’s like a neighborhood, and it has a lot of theaters and stores and restaurants. AND on one of the streets, it has some stairs that go underground to a subway station. A subway is an underground train. And this book is about a cricket named Chester, who ended up in the underground Times Square subway station, in a pile of dirt. And we’re going to read his story about how he ended up in a pile of dirt, in an underground subway station, in Times Square, in New York City.
This is Tucker Mouse. He lives in the Times Square subway station, and he saw a boy named Mario find Chester and rescue Chester from the dirt pile. At night, after Mario left, Tucker Mouse struck up a conversation with Chester Cricket.
“Psst! Hey, you up there – are you awake? Psst! Psst! Hey!!
“Who is that going ‘psst’?”
“It’s me.”
“Who are you?”
“A mouse. Who are YOU?”
“I’m Chester Cricket,” said the cricket. He had a high, musical voice. Everything he said seemed to be spoken to an unheard melody.
“My name’s Tucker. Can I come up?”
“I guess so. This isn’t my house anyway.”
Tucker jumped up beside the cricket and looked him all over. “A cricket. So you’re a cricket. I never saw one before.”
“I’ve seen mice before. I knew quite a few back in Connecticut.”
“Is that where you’re from?
“Yes. I guess I’ll never see it again.
“How did you get to New York?”
“It’s a long story,” sighed the cricket.
“Tell me, “Said Tucker, settling back on his haunches. He loved to hear stories. Especially when they were true.
“Well, it must have been two – no, three days ago. I was sitting on top of my stump, just enjoying the weather and thinking how nice it was that summer had started. I live inside an old tree stump, next to a willow tree, and I often go up to the roof to look around. And I’d been practicing jumping that day too. On the other side of the stump from the willow tree, there’s a brook that runs past, and I’d been jumping back and forth across it to get my legs in condition for the summer. I do a lot of jumping, you know.”
“Me too. Especially around the rush hour.”
“And I had just finished jumping when I smelled something. Liverwurst, which I love.”
“You like liverwurst? Wait! Wait! Just wait!”
In one leap, Tucker sprang down all the way from the shelf to the floor and dashed over to his drain pipe. Chester shook his head as he watched him go. He thought Trucker was a very excitable person – even for a mouse.
Inside the drain pipe, Tucker’s nest was a jumble of papers, scraps of cloth, buttons, lost jewelry, small change, and everything else that can be picked up in a subway station. Tucker tossed things left and right in a wild search. At last he discovered what he was looking for: a big piece of liverwurst he had found earlier that evening. It was meant to be for breakfast tomorrow, but he decided that meeting his first cricket was a special occasion. Holding the liverwurst between his teeth, he whisked back to the newsstand.
“Look!” he said proudly, dropping the meat in front of Chester Cricket. “Liverwurst! You continue the story – we’ll enjoy a snack too.”
“That’s very nice of you,” said Chester. He was touched that a mouse he had known only a few minutes would share his food with him. “I had a little chocolate before, but besides that, nothing for three days.”
“Eat! Eat!” said Tucker. He bit the liverwurst into two pieces and gave Chester the bigger one. “So you smelled the liverwurst – then what happened?”
“I hopped down from the stump and went off toward the smell.”
“Very logical. Exactly what I would have done.”
“It was coming from a picnic basket. A couple of tuffets away from my stump the meadow begins, and there was a whole bunch of people having a picnic. They had hard-boiled eggs, and cold roast chicken, and roast beef, and a whole lot of other things besides the liverwurst sandwiches which I smelled.”
Tucker Mouse moaned with pleasure at the thought of all that food.
“They were having such a good time laughing and singing songs that they didn’t notice me when I jumped into the picnic basket. I was sure they wouldn’t mind if I had just a taste.”
“Naturally not. Why mind? Plenty for all. Who could blame you?”
“No, I have to admit. I had more than taste. As a matter of fact, I ate so much that I couldn’t keep my eyes open – what with being tired from the jumping and everything. And I fell asleep right there in the picnic basket. The first thing I knew, somebody had put a bag on top of me that had the last of the roast beef sandwiches in it. I couldn’t move!”
“Imagine! Trapped under roast beef sandwiches! Well, there are worse fates.”
“At first I wasn’t too frightened. After all, I thought, they probably come from New Canaan or some other nearby town. They’ll have to unpack the basket sooner or later. Little did I know! I could feel the basket being carried into a car and riding EAST and then being lifted down. That must have been the railroad station. Then I went up again and there was a rattling and roaring sound, the way a train makes. By this time I was pretty scared. I knew every minute was taking me farther away from my stump, but there wasn’t anything I could do. I was getting awfully camped too, under those roast beef sandwiches.”
“Didn’t you try to eat your way out?” asked Tucker.
“I didn’t have any room,” said Chester. “But every now and then the train would give a lurch and I managed to free myself a little. We traveled on and on, going SOUTH, and then the train stopped. I didn’t have any idea where we were, but as soon as the basket was carried off, I could tell from the noise that it was be New York.”
“You never were here before?” Tucker asked.
“Goodness no!” said Chester. “But I’ve heard about it. There was a swallow I used to know who told about flying over New York every spring and fall on her way to the North and back. But what would I be doing here? I’m a country cricket.”
“Don’t worry,” said Tucker Mouse. “I’ll feed you liverwurst. You’ll be all right. Go on with the story.”
“It’s almost over,” said Chester. “The people got off one train and walked a way down some stairs and got on another train going WEST – it was even noisier than the first train.”
“Must have been the subway,” said Tucker.
“I guess so,” said Chester Cricket. “You can imagine how scared I was. I didn’t know WHERE I was going! For all I knew they could have been heading for Texas, although I don’t guess many people from Texas come all the way to Connecticut for a picnic.”
“It could happen,” said Tucker, nodding his head.
“Anyway, I worked furiously to get loose. And finally I made it. When they got off the second train, I took a flying leap and landed in a pile of dirt over in the corner of this place where we are.”
“Such an introduction to New York,” said Tucker, “to land in a pile of dirt in the Times Square subway station. Tsk, tsk tsk.”