Kindergarteners Learn About Maps
Our World - Our Community
I was invited to a Kindergarten class at Warrensburg Elementary School, located in Warren County in upstate New York, to help the students learn about maps and diversity of cultures and environments around the world. The visit began with the thirteen children gathered in a circle on the rug for a brief introduction, explanation of my job, and basic ideas about maps and globes.
This was followed by a PowerPoint presentation on the teacher’s computer, which included short videos of different environments and cultures around the world. Before each movie clip, I showed the children where the particular region is located on the classroom globe.
Three hands-on “centers” were set up in the classroom, with groups of students rotating to each activity (and supervised by the teacher, student teacher, and myself). Two maps showed outlined countries of the world, color-coded by climate (e.g., blue for cold regions, red for hot). On one map, the children had to match Velcro-backed photographs of people from different cultures to map regions (with images on the map as hints). On the second map, animals were matched to locations. The third center focused on a large aerial photo of the hamlet or downtown section of Warrensburg, on which the students had to place photographs of well-known landmarks (e.g., their school, town park, post office, fire house, town hall).
I wrapped up by providing the children (and teachers!) a blank page on which to draw a map of their own home and important things around it (such as a fence, mountain, road, etc.). It was fascinating to see how the children interpreted their home relative to features around the house (some added terrain features; others included friends and family houses living nearby).
