Time Duration: Two 50-minute class periods
Grade Level: 4-5
Concepts Explored:
observation, interpretation of data, recording and symbolic representation
Materials:
desktop or work surface, lunch materials, paper, pencils and crayons, straight
edge or ruler
Background:
Mapping is an activity that allows students to make a transfer from the reality
of objects and locations close at hand to larger areas that cannot be seen from
the ground. A further extension of these activities involves examination of
aerial photographs of a particular area. Sources of these photographs might be
local television stations, newspapers or historical societies. Developed tract
homes may have had house plans or street maps filed with the city government
building departments. Emergency agencies have detailed maps which may include
fire hydrants, water main sources etc.
Procedure:
Day 1 -
Ask students to examine the contents of their lunches. Students who do not
have lunches may work with those students who have lunches. (Alternatively,
ask each student to bring from home an everyday item such as a toothbrush, a
hair brush, a salt shaker, a glass, etc.) Arrange items and observe and
compare from a horizontal perspective and aerial perspective. Let students
practice describing objects to each other to identify characteristics of the
objects from the different viewpoints. Students then generate their own
sketches and label objects from the two perspectives. Key concepts to be
introduced are spatial reasoning and an evaluation of the most accurate
perspective.
Day 2 -
Review the horizontal and aerial perspective from the previous lesson. Students
can be divided into groups to view the room from different locations. Some
students may be outside viewing the interior through windows. Their sketches
can then be displayed and compared. As in activity one, students then need to
produce an aerial perspective of the entire classroom. Discussion can focus on
correct representation of such features as windows and doors and the
architectural floor plan symbols can be explored.
Extensions:
Other possibilities for student maps are maps of bedrooms, homes, routes to
grocery stores or malls, neighborhoods, nearby parks or amusement parks.
Students can also map journeys taken by literary characters in stories such as
Goldilocks' trip to the home of the three bears, or the journey of the wolf in
the Three Little Pigs.