
Mapping Your Mind
Walk Around the Block
Pages 14-15.
Make your own example of The Map activity below and copy it to an overhead transparency. Use the projected image to demonstrate the paths and areas described below. Make this interactive. For example, "I just saw a water tower. What symbol shall we use for water tower?" Remind the students of the map legend symbols they created.
We are getting ready to make a map. Before you begin, think about the same things that city planners think about when they help to plan or organize the city. You are the city planner. In this example, we are creating a map of the places between your home and your school. "Map" in your mind:
1. The driving path that you use to go from your house to your school.
2. Other paths that you use.
Example: Perhaps you return home using a different route.
3. The path you use for walking.
4. Major "signals" that help you to reach your destination.
Example: Buildings, directional signs, monuments and art, geographic formations, what else?
5. Busy "gathering" places along the route.
Example: shopping centers, ice cream parlors, fast food restaurants, gas stations
6. Other places which are not quite as busy.
Example: a place kids gather in front of the school, a dry cleaners, a fountain, a bus stop
7. An area that is so identifiable or of such scale that you could give it a name. For example: a neighborhood, a small city
8. Any major boundaries such as geographic features like rivers, forests, mountains or hills or man-made boundaries like railroad tracks, highways and freeways
The Map
On a piece of paper put the directional symbol near the top right hand corner.
Draw your house symbol in a place where there is plenty of room.
Now, "Map the route" between your home and school.
Include paths, edges, districts, and landmarks.
Add these symbols to your map if you have overlooked them. Compare your map to someone else's. How is your map different?
What else?
You can use this same idea to "map" not just towns and cities, but your own school, your classroom, your home or room at home, even your purse or notebook.
In some cultures, north, south, east, and west are not the only directions to consider for your map legend. For instance, if you are mapping a Pueblo Kiva, you will also need to add a symbol representing the directions "up" and "down."
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