Abstract:

In this lesson, Mimi Norton integrates world geography with the study of Chinese culture and history by engaging her young students in a variety of activities to locate natural and human-made landmarks on maps of China. To build background for this lesson, she has had the students create salt-dough maps of China and label them with map symbols. Ms. Norton begins the lesson by reviewing map symbols with students and having them use the symbols to locate important natural and human-made land forms on desk maps. Then the class sings a song about the continents and oceans and locates them on a floor map. Ms. Norton explains that they will use what they are learning about scale in math class to enlarge a small map of China to room size. To do this, Ms. Norton first draws a large grid on the floor. Then she hands out cards, each representing a small section of China. Students then copy the information on their card to the corresponding square on the floor grid. The result is a large floor map of China. After the map has been drawn, students label the natural and human-made features at the correct locations on the map. Ms. Norton reads a story about a fictitious traveler in China and has students trace the traveler's journey. As a culminating activity, students don a Chinese dragon costume and walk to famous locations on the map.