how can map can be taught in elementary classrooms? how its concept map should be?

Question

i want to know how to teach latt, long, direction, globe, requirement of map and many other initial concepts to the class 1st to 8th in spirally building up manner?

Answer 1

Children love maps. To begin with I teach the concepts of land and water. Then I have them use a sensorial land/water globe. On these the continents are made out of sand paper so the young children can "Feel" the land. A globe like this is available through Montessori Material stores like Montessori Sources. The Sandpaper globe here is 38 dollars. http://www.montessoriresources.com/Sensorial-Curriculum-C5.aspx

Once the children understand the land water concept, then I teach them about continents. First I use the sandpaper globe, then I use a regular globe, then I use a map. To make the transition from globe to map I draw the continents on a grapefruit and then cut it in half, scoop out the inside and then flatten it, making sure the rips are on the top and the bottom of each half. This not only shows the children how we go from a sphere to a plane, but allows me to talk about distortion of Mercator projection maps at the poles.

After that, I use a large rug map of the world. There are many kinds. Some have the major lines of longitude and latitude on them (for example http://www.rugsontheweb.com/NoFrame/items_direct/077434nf.html?adid=4--077434) while others don’t. I personally like the ones that don’t because I can then have the children draw in the lines with chalk when we are studying them.

To start with, we find the different continents. We sing songs such as- North American, South America, Africa and Asia, Europe, Australia, and DON’T forget Antarctica, these make up the continents of our world. Put your finger on … Initially I have them find the town that we live in and then once I know they can do that I have them find other places in the world. Another game that they enjoy is Continent Twister (which later can become water form twister, mountain range twister, lake twister…) Here I make two spinners, one with left foot, right foot, left hand, right hand, and another with the land or water forms we are studying. Then they play twister with the rug. Never more than two children at a time.

Next we learn that continents are broken into countries and that countries are broken into states and provinces, which in turn are broken into cities and towns.

After that each morning I start our day with the children sitting in a circle around the map. As we talk about current events, historical events, or even stories that we are reading, we find the places on the world map. When solstices and equinoxes happen we draw out the equator and the tropics and mark on the map where the sun is over head. As the children's knowledge grows I add more and more places. Although I don't have to, the children will do it for me. They will ask where a certain place is, or what a certain island or peninsula on the map is. That leads us into using an atlas to answer their question and the internet to research what the place looks likes. As you can see, the possibilities become limitless! One example, when talking about the book we call an atlas we discuss the Greek god Atlas and draw the territory of ancient Greece on the map with chalk.


Lastly, if you are wondering why I go from large to small with geography as opposed to small to large, the way the public school curriculum does, (I start out with continents the public school starts out with your neighborhood), it is because by starting large you make “folders” for the children’s brains to put information in and it becomes easier for them to retain it and to connect it to other things we are learning. When we start small, the children have to figure out the “folders” and many connections for themselves, not something everyone seems to do. I find if I teach this way, by the end the third or fourth month of first grade, I can cover the traditional curriculum in order and the children are light-years ahead of their peers.

By the way, I teach 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade in a public school to mainly low income minority 2nd language students. By the time they go to 4th grade most have a better understanding of world geography than most college students.

Answer 2

Start by having them make a map of the classroom, using desk rows and columns as points of reference.

Answer 3

Get their attention with a treasure map, then slowly introduce map basics.