Map Making Skills

Map Making:

Knowing where you are is important, but telling others how to find someplace is also important and is a learned skill. One of the best ways to tell others (and yourself in the future) how to get to a certain spot is to use a map. People who make maps are called cartographers.

• Use a topographic map or a street map to learn about how maps work. Have students relate what they see on a map with visible landmarks.
  
  
• Use Aerial photos to locate features of the landscape near your school.
  
  
• Study aerial photos from different years to show changes in the landscape over time. Notice how landmarks are needed to work out how the area has changed.
  
  
• Practice drawing maps in the classroom. Use graph paper to represent the floorplan of the classroom. Relate the squares on the paper to measurements of the classroom and the objects in it. Draw a map of the classroom with the windows, doors, desks. For older students, make a map of the school grounds or school neighbourhood.
  
  
• TREASURE HUNT! Have a treasure hunt in a nearby park or reserve or perhaps on the school grounds. Obtain a map of the area to be searched and make photocopies for the student teams. Be sure to locate landmarks on the map everyone can use to start their treasure hunt.
  
  • Make up a list of possible "treasure troves" that might be found:
    
  • A crab, a bird (extra points for a bird nest), a sea shell, or other creature.
    
  • A kind of algae, beach plant, tree, flower, moss.
    
  • Students must find the treasure and mark it's location on the map, drawing in landmarks and pacing off distances. Set a time limit for the hunt and map-making.

The treasure is only "discovered" when another student or the teacher can follow the student's treasure map to find it again. All creatures must be left unharmed.