Locating Places - Making a Map Grid
Objectives
The students will be introduced to a number and letter grid system.
The students will create a number and letter grid system on the Landscape Picture.
Vocabulary
map grid system
Materials Needed
Landscape Picture, map marker
Lesson
Pull down the Landscape Picture. Ask two students to describe the location of the airport. Tell the other students to listen carefully to the descriptions offered by the students. Ask them if the two descriptions were exactly the same. How were they different?
Tell the students that asking someone for directions may not always be helpful. That person may not know the location of the place you want to visit. There is a much better way to find a location. Mapmakers use a system to help you find different locations. This system is called a grid system.
Along the edges of the Landscape Picture is a series of letters and numbers. Across the top and bottom of the picture appear numbers from 1 to 7. Also at the top and bottom edges of the map are a series of "hash-mark". These small lines appear half way between the numbers at the top and bottom of the map. Have a student circle these lines that are half way between the numbers. Also, have another student draw a line connecting the hash marks at the top of the picture with those at the bottom.
Follow the same procedure for the letters at the left and right edges of the map. The letters progress from A-C. In between the letters is a hash mark. Have a student connect the hash marks on the left edge of the map, with the hash marks on the right edge of the map.
Tell the students they have created a map grid system. A map grid system is a series of lines that cross to form squares. The squares are identified with a letter and a number. For example the train appears in square C-1.
Tell the students that in the next lesson they will use the grid system to locate places.
Lesson .pdf file (Printable Lesson)