Maps and Globe Skills Lesson 2
By: Tatiana Bull
Audience: Lower Elementary, 1st Grade, Magruder Elementary School
Standards: 1.5 The student will construct a simple map of a familiar area, using basic map
symbols in the map legend.
Materials/Space/Time: 22 students, 50 minutes, computer, projector, document camera, maps,
my neighborhood worksheet. Whole group instruction
Lesson Description
Anticipatory Set (5 minutes): Gather all students on the carpet. Show the students a
neighborhood map on the projector screen. Ask the students “Tell me what you see in this map?”
“What does it look like to you?” Tell the students this is a map of a neighborhood. Tell the
students that one thing most maps have in common is a map key. Show the students what a map
key looks like. Tell them that it can either be referred to as a map key or legend – this is what
you use to help you read a map better because it helps to locate places on a map.
Objective and purpose: 1) Given a map of a neighborhood, students will use the map key to
locate places. 2) Students will draw their own map and construct their own map key to go along
with it.
Instructional input (10 minutes): Tell students that map study is important because it helps us
locate places and it helps to find out hot to get to places. Tell the students that map keys can be
confusing at times depending on how detailed the map is, sometimes it is impossible for maps to
show everything that is in that area, especially if the map is showing a big area. Tell the students
that if you focus on one small area (show picture of map), the key helps. Explain that on a map,
the key is used to explain the meaning of the symbols found on the map. Explain that a symbol
is something that stands for another object. Show this by taking a small toy car and telling the
students that the toy car is a symbol for a real car. Take the picture of the park for example.
Cover the map so that only the key is showing. Point to a symbol on the key and demonstrate
what it represents by showing them on the map where it is actually located. Cover the key and
ask the students to raise their hands and tell them what symbols they see on the map. Ask the
students, “Can you guess what any of these symbols mean? Some of these symbols are a little bit
harder than others.” Reveal the map key. Tell the students that symbol on the map key looks
similar to the real life object. Explain to them that it is suppose to remind someone of the real life
object because when a new person looks at a map, they will be able to easily locate what they are
looking for. Explain to them that there are some common symbols you might find on certain
maps such as bathrooms and telephones. Tell the students that even zoos have maps too (show
them map of the zoo). Tell the students that the zoo is a big place and it is easy to lose your way
and get lost. Demonstrate that if someone is standing by the Reptile House and it is lunchtime,
they will be able to find the nearest restaurant by looking at the map’s key. “What symbol would
they need to look for on the map?” Have the students raise their hands to answer. “What is
telling you that that is the symbol for food?” Have the students raise their hands to answer. Then
finally ask a student to tell you a rough location of the restaurant (e.i by the polar bears/by the
trees). Ask the students “Do you think it would be easy for someone to find the restaurant if the
map did not have a key on there to let me know? The map helps people know where specific
things are and the key helps people know what the symbols mean.” Tell the students that they
will have an opportunity to make a map of their own neighborhood. Explain to them that one
thing that they might find in their neighborhood is a post office. Tell the students that a post
office is a place that provides service to the neighborhood because the people who work there
make it their job to send mail from one place to another. Ask the students “What might be a
symbol you could use to represent a postal office?” Reiterate the the symbol should look similar
to something that reminds them of the post office if they were to look at it. Listen to suggestions.
Modeling and Checking for understanding (10 minutes): Show students the teacher-model of
a drawn out neighborhood with symbols. Ask the students “What are some symbols seen in this
map and what do they stand for?” Ask students to participate using thumbs up or thumbs down –
thumbs up if you are right, thumbs down if you are wrong. Proceed to choose various symbols
on the map and ask if the meaning of the symbols is correct. Example: “The dog symbol is used
to represent the ice cream shop.” If it is incorrect, ask a student to explain why it is wrong.
Guided practice (10 minutes): Have the students pick up a “My neighborhood” worksheet and
bring it back at their desk. Show the same worksheet they have at their desk on the document
camera. Instruct them that they will be creating their own dream neighborhood where they get to
make all the rules. Make sure the first thing the students draw is a four-way road in the shape of
a cross. Instruct them that everybody must have two things on their map: they must have one
post office and one playground. Demonstrate this. Draw a picture of mail in the key and write
“post office” next to it. Walk around to make sure the correct symbol and its label is being
drawn. Next, draw a playground in the key to represent a playground. Walk around to make sure
the correct symbol and its label is being drawn. Tell them that they are permitted to place these
symbols anywhere on their map as long as they put the correct picture and it’s meaning in the
map key.
Independent practice (10 minutes): Tell the students to fill out the rest of their map key and
place the appropriate symbols on their map. Tell them that they can put whatever else they want
on their map. Make sure the students are using color to help differentiate between all symbols,
especial symbols that might look similar in shape.
Closure (5 minutes): Have some students share what they put in their dream neighborhood using
the document camera. Instruct them to point to symbols in the key and symbols on the map to
explain what they used that symbol for and why.
Evaluation:
Formative: Formative assessment will take place through out the lesson. Teacher will
ask students various questions along the way to make sure that they understand what is
going on and what is expected of them to know. Participation in the “Checking for
Understanding” portion of the lesson plan is necessary as well to see if the students are
ready to move on to the guided and independent practices. During guided, teacher will
walk around to make sure all students have written down the appropriate symbol as
demonstrated on document camera.
Summative: The teacher will evaluate the maps created by students to make sure the
students are making/creating keys and symbols correctly on the map. Three multiplechoice questions will be administered. Students will be given a map and are expected to
answer the question correctly based on the knowledge used from looking at the map. One
multiple-choice question will ask the following:
The meaning of the symbols found on a map can be found in a:
A) History Book
B) Map Key
C) Story
D) Store
Background information:
During this lesson, students will “construct a simple map of a familiar area, using basic
map symbols in the map legend.” In addition, students will know the importance of keys and
legends that are found on maps and will be able to articulate what they are used for. Students will
understand that the map key is used to show what the symbols on the map means. They will
know that these keys can be found on a lot of maps but not on every map, sometimes a map key
is not needed because the map might not have symbols on there. However, most directional maps
do have them, such as a map to get around a zoo, mall, or around a college campus. It makes it
easier to identify popular places throughout the mapped out area. What if you need to find the
nearest bathroom? Instead of drawing actual bathrooms into the map every single time it shows
up on the map, the creator of the map can use a symbol to help people find them quicker. It is an
essential skill that people need to acquire, especially since the maps get harder to understand as
the years go on.
Students will learn that a symbol is something that represents another object. Symbol can
be something that is touchable, such as a toy car, or something that is can only be seen with the
eye, such as a symbol in a map key. The postal office is used in the lesson plan to give a brief
lesson on goods and services, which is used as an economical event. Students will understand
that the reason why this is an example of goods and services is because the postal workers
provides service to their community by delivering mail to and from houses. Students will already
have some prior knowledge on this topic because three lesson before this one, students will be
instructed on good citizens within the community such as police officers, firefighters, etc.
Students will have the opportunity to create their own map, which will essentially further
advance their map skill practices.
Learning how to read and create maps is beneficial to young children because the
knowledge gained is useful in other subject areas as well, including math and language arts! To
have first grade students learn how to read map legends and apply it their newly created dream
neighborhood allows the student to practice symbolization and representation. According to
Lynn Huber and Rosalyn Lenhoff, “Representation and symbolization are key concepts in
thinking and in becoming literate…Children begin to represent through motor activity and with
objects at an early age. The child who picks up a stick and uses it as a microphone is
symbolically representing that idea” (Huber, Lenhoff 7). Therefore, these concepts “lead to
higher levels of thinking in these young children” (Huber, Lenhoff 7). Students learn how to
analyze and interpret at various levels using maps.
Perhaps for some students, interpreting skills will develop later on in life without
instruction, however, some students might need that instruction earlier on to help the skill
develop further. By creating a dream neighborhood as oppose to an actual representation of their
neighborhood, students are allowed to reflect on personal experiences and desires. Some students
might choose to only put things in their neighborhood that already exists in the one the live in,
but on the other hand, students who want a skate park in their neighborhood might put one in
their dream neighborhood. This gives them the freedom to create a map of the neighborhood. In
addition, they are able to practice their symbol-making skills, which further assist them in
reading symbols as well. If students practice creating symbols in a way they find entertaining
they are ultimately feeding their interpreting skills.
Name: __________________________________
Pre-Post Assessment
Date: __________________
1) The meaning of the symbols found on a map can be found in a:
A) History Book
B) Map Key
C) Story
D) Store
2) Look at the map key. Circle the picture is the symbol for a park.
3) Look at the map key. Circle the picture is the symbol for a city.
Name: __________________________________
Pre-Post Assessment
Date: __________________
1) The meaning of the symbols found on a map can be found in a:
A) History Book
B) Map Key
C) Story
D) Store
2) Look at the map key. Circle the picture is the symbol for a park.
3) Look at the map key. Circle the picture is the symbol for a city.
Pictures used:
Nam e: ________________________________________
My Neighborhood Map
Directions: Draw a map of your neighborhood. Think about what types of homes and
businesses are in your neighborhood. Draw and label the roads and use symbols to
show the schools, playgrounds, and other community features you have.
Map Key
© www.HaveFunTeaching.com
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"First Grade Fanatics." BlogSpot. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
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(2000): 7. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/42727842.> Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
"Maps of Familiar Places." National Geographic. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
<http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/maps/maps-and-models/?ar_a=1>.
"Neighborhood Map Worksheet." Have Fun Teaching Neighborhood Map Worksheets. Web. 14
Oct. 2014. <https://www.havefunteaching.com/worksheets/grade-level-worksheets/firstgrade-worksheets/neighborhood-map-worksheet>.
"Using a Map Key." Education.com. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.education.com/worksheet/article/using-map-key/>.