Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Maps, Maps, Maps!


Recently the Kindergartners have been learning about Maps!  In Social Studies children are responsible for knowing the purpose of globes and maps by the time they leave Kindergarten.  In the past week children have been immersed in so many different map skills.  We have been playing directional games in the classroom and on the Smartboard.  We have been learning about map keys and the different types of maps that there are.  For example: globes, road maps, navigation systems, etc.  They have also learned about straight-on view versus birds eye view.  They have been regularly using the different terminology.  The kiddos even practiced by playing a fun Memory game with the different features.  This week we read a book called My Map Book by: Sara Fanelli. This book shows us that places are not the only things that can be mapped or charted.  For example we can map our day, heart, bedroom and even our stomach! 
This book was so inspiring to us that we decided to make our own map book.  This week we are going to be working very hard on our book.  We are going to make a map of our day, stomach and heart.  More traditionally we are going to make a map of our neighborhood and classroom.  You can look forward to seeing our own Map Books at Open House!