Materials & Prep
- Prepare one large, teacher-created 3-by-3 “Oak Street Neighborhood Map” and one copy per pair. Place a north arrow at the top. In the center cell, draw a black house. Above it, draw a purple circle; to its right, a green triangle; below it, an orange square; to its left, a blue wavy line. Add this key: black house = school; purple circle = library; green triangle = park; orange square = fire station; blue wavy line = river.
- Prepare a second quick-check map with the same layout but different symbols and key: house = school; yellow diamond = post office north of school; red dot = park west of school; blue square = clinic east of school; green star = playground south of school.
- Gather one small counter or paper clip per pair and four direction-arrow cards labeled N, E, S, W for the teacher table. No student reading is required.
Gather and model
Ask“Without leaving your spot, point to the classroom door. Now turn your body to face the back wall. Is the door still on your left?” Let children show and briefly explain. Reveal that left and right can change when our bodies turn, but map directions stay the same when we use a north arrow.
IntroduceDisplay the Oak Street Neighborhood Map. Explain that you made this map today for a visitor who wants to find places near the school. Ask, “What can a visitor learn from this picture? What did I choose to include, and what did I leave out?” Establish that a mapmaker chooses what is important for a purpose.
ConfrontPoint to the purple circle and ask, “Who thinks this is a library? Who thinks it might be something else?” Accept predictions, then cover the key with a sheet of paper. Ask, “Could we know for sure?” Uncover the key and have children chorus, “The key tells what symbols mean.” Explain that the key is not decoration. It is the map’s helper for reading symbols.
Think aloud“I am starting at the black house. The key says black house means school. I need to find the library. I see a purple circle, but I will not guess what it means. I match purple circle to the key. It means library. The purple circle is above the school. The north arrow tells me up is north, so the library is north of the school.” Place a counter on school, then move it one space north to the library.
ClarifyHold up the N, E, S, and W arrow cards as the class points up, right, down, and left on the map. Emphasize that east is to the right only after checking that the north arrow points up. The common mistake is using a child’s own right and left after the paper has been turned.
Check for understandingPoint to the green triangle. Ask, “Use the key. What place is this? From school, which direction is it?” Listen for “park” and “east.” Children show east by pointing right on the map.
Map detectives
TransitionSend partners to tables with a map and one counter. Partner A is the Navigator, who moves the counter. Partner B is the Key Checker, who touches the matching symbol in the key and says what it means. After each prompt, partners switch jobs.
PromptSay one direction challenge at a time so children listen and act rather than read: “Start at school. Find the place north of school.” “Start at school. Find the place east of school.” “Start at school. Find the place south of school.” “Start at school. Find the place west of school.” Partners must answer with both the place and direction, such as “The park is east of the school.”
CirculateAsk, “How do you know that symbol is the park?” and “Where did you look to decide north?” Look for children matching symbol to key before naming a place and using the compass arrow rather than turning themselves.
ScaffoldPlace the four large direction-arrow cards around a small teacher-group map. Have children put one finger on the school, trace up, right, down, or left with another finger, then match the destination symbol to the key. Give the spoken frame: “The is of the school.”
ChallengeGive ready partners a two-step route: “Start at the fire station. Go north one space, then east one space. Where are you?” They move from the fire station to school, then to the park, and explain, “We used the key to name the park and the north arrow to move.” Ask, “Would a visitor need every detail of this neighborhood, or only helpful details?”
Come back together
DisplayShow the new quick-check map. Tell children it is a different map, so they need the new key, not their memory of the first map.
Show me: Point to the yellow diamond north of the school. Each child quietly touches the yellow diamond on the displayed map, points north, and tells a partner, “The post office is north of the school.” Then point to the red dot west of school and ask children to identify the place and direction orally.
Listen forIndividually note children who can use the key to name each symbol and use cardinal directions to locate it. If a child names a symbol without checking the key, prompt, “What does the key tell us?”
Close: Have the class complete the chant with gestures: “The key tells what symbols mean. North, east, south, west help us find places!”