"Walking and Talking Geography"
In the first-grade classroom I am student teaching in, we began our map unit by drawing maps of the classroom. I remember this being very difficult for the students; they struggled with scaling the drawing so everything would fit and making sure everything was in the right place.
We first drew it all together on the carpet area. I drew the outline of the classroom on the board and the cardinal directions in relation to the classroom. We have the cardinal directions posted on the walls in the classroom and we used these to identify where to draw each item. I had my students raise their hand to suggest one thing to put on our classroom map and I would ask them where we should draw it. The sentence stem I provided was: "We should draw the _______ on the (north, south, east, or west) side of the classroom." The students understood when we were doing it all together on the carpet and I was the one drawing the items on the map. However, once the students split up and drew their own maps, it became very difficult for them.
I really enjoyed the story the article used, about Mr. Fertig walking around his neighborhood. I think this would be a great introduction into maps. In my classroom, we abruptly brought it up and expected the students to do it. Perhaps if we had done an engaging story first, such as the Mr. Fertig story, the student's would have a better sense of the subject.
Another point I thought of while reading this article was how we study different habitats in science. The article says, "first-through-third graders are not ready developmentally to learn how to identify species of animals living in a rain forest or to color code Earth’s five oceans and seven continents." In the habitat lessons, we are learning about oceans, deserts, tundras, forests, etc. None of these habitats are related to Houston. In this case, should we first start with the Houston habitat before moving on to other habitats? Or should we only focus on the local habitat and not talk about other habitats entirely?
We first drew it all together on the carpet area. I drew the outline of the classroom on the board and the cardinal directions in relation to the classroom. We have the cardinal directions posted on the walls in the classroom and we used these to identify where to draw each item. I had my students raise their hand to suggest one thing to put on our classroom map and I would ask them where we should draw it. The sentence stem I provided was: "We should draw the _______ on the (north, south, east, or west) side of the classroom." The students understood when we were doing it all together on the carpet and I was the one drawing the items on the map. However, once the students split up and drew their own maps, it became very difficult for them.
I really enjoyed the story the article used, about Mr. Fertig walking around his neighborhood. I think this would be a great introduction into maps. In my classroom, we abruptly brought it up and expected the students to do it. Perhaps if we had done an engaging story first, such as the Mr. Fertig story, the student's would have a better sense of the subject.
Another point I thought of while reading this article was how we study different habitats in science. The article says, "first-through-third graders are not ready developmentally to learn how to identify species of animals living in a rain forest or to color code Earth’s five oceans and seven continents." In the habitat lessons, we are learning about oceans, deserts, tundras, forests, etc. None of these habitats are related to Houston. In this case, should we first start with the Houston habitat before moving on to other habitats? Or should we only focus on the local habitat and not talk about other habitats entirely?
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