Lesson Plan
Name(s)
Grade level, type of
lesson
Objectives
Kara Bell, Lauri Breisacher, Barbara Hoch
First Grade, map lesson
My main objective is that students will experience making a
map, so that after the second lesson they will gain an
understanding of all that goes into making maps (symbols,
consideration of spatial relationships) by first making the simple
map and then figuring out what they can do to make a better
(more representational) map.
Students will create a map to show the path Rosie the hen takes
around the farm after reading the book Rosie’s Walk. Students
will use symbols on the map to represent places/objects which
are in the book.
Standards
1.2 Students compare and contrast the absolute and relative
locations of places and people and describe the ph ysical and/
or human characteristics of places.
3.Construct a simple map, using (cardinal directions and) map symbols.
Motivation/problem/
introduction
Resources and
materials needed for
lesson
Procedures (steps,
include specific
questions). A
substitute should have
enough information
to be able to teach
from this plan.
Provisions for
individual learners
Read the story Rosie’s Walk, explain that we’re going to make a
map to show all the places Rosie went.
Whiteboard or butcher paper, markers, Rosie’s Walk by Pat
Hutchins, paper for students, pencils, crayons
Open book to first page—Rosie lives on a farm, where does she
start her walk from? (the henhouse) How could we represent the
henhouse? What symbol should we use? (can be a simple picture
of a house) May need to vote as a class to decide. On board next
to the blank space for the map start a key by writing ‘henhouse’
and drawing the symbol next to it. Explain what you’re doing as
you do it, although students will already have experience with
map symbols and keys. (students will put the key on the back of
their maps—wait till you’re done drawing the map before having
students turn papers over and copy the key onto the back) After
you’ve decided on a symbol, draw the henhouse in the top left
corner of the map. Next Rosie goes across the yard—what
symbol should we use for that? Same procedure as for the
henhouse. Your symbols will go across the top of the map:
house, yard, pond. Under the pond is the haystack, under the
yard is the mill, under the mill is the fence and next to the fence
under the house is the beehives. Spread them out so they fill the
map. This is a graphic representation of the path Rosie took.
Drawing pictures on board, actually walking through the school.
Could create a 3-D representation of all the things Rosie did (this
(Second language
learners, learning
disabilities etc.)
Specific evaluation
criteria and
procedures (rubrics)
Context for lesson:
what prior knowledge
do students need?
What will follow this
lesson?
I guess really this is a
two part lesson, I
hadn’t realized till I
wrote the ‘what
would come after’
and it came out so
long.
What concepts and
thinking processes
did you expect to
result from this
would make it a much bigger project, but the kids would
probably have a lot of fun) so that the kids could do all the things
Rosie did (go through, under, around, etc.).
Students should have the key and the symbols to show where
Rosie went, but their maps don’t need to look like the big one.
They could be copying from the board as you construct the map
together with the class, but if they’re making their own map
that’s fine, as long as it shows the route Rosie took.
Prior knowledge: students have been exposed to maps, and heard
about some uses of maps.
Following this lesson, students will go for a walk around the
school (teacher may wish to keep notes as to where the class
goes). When they return they will make a map like the one above
showing the path they took (using symbols, but not scale or
placement). Students will probably say that’s not where such and
such is during the construction of the map—that’s great. That’s
exactly what you want. If students do not mention this, then
you’ll need to bring it up and talk about how the maps we made
of Rosie’s walk and of our walk are not conventional maps.
They’re more like picture directions of how to follow the path
that we took (or that Rosie took). On a conventional (‘real’) map,
we have to place things relative to other things to represent how
they are in real life. So even though we went straight from the
classroom to the library, we would need to put in all the
classrooms/buildings (if your school has separate buildings go
with buildings rather than classrooms) that we passed on the way
to get to the library. And you have a conversation with the
students about how we could make our map more accurate.
You’ll be running out of time at this point, but do construct a
simple map of the area of the school that you walked through
with the class. You might want to draw the first map on a
portable whiteboard, so that you can move from desks to a story
circle or vice versa. But do move if possible (although if the
lesson is flowing well, you can remain in the same place) I
recommend however, coming back from the walk to sit in the
story circle, create the ‘wrong’ map. Then move to desks and the
big whiteboard to do the more accurate map. When you finish
you can have students copy the map if they want or you could
read Rosie’s Walk to them again, and ask at the end if we could
draw an accurate map of Rosie’s farm from the information in
the book.
An understanding that maps can be used to follow a
predetermined path, that symbols on maps represent real world
objects, that maps are created and anybody can make one.
lesson?