How do we find public rights of way? Objectives Children should learn Why we need maps. How to use map symbols. How to use basic grid references. Activities Using the images supplied, initiate a class discussion about how a map represents the 3D world around us in 2D (cover Symbols and Keys). Discuss why a horse-rider cannot be shown as a symbol but a bridleway can (temporary feature/ permanent feature). Relate the paths in the picture to the previous activity. In groups the children should work through the Understanding map symbols using an Ordnance Survey Explorer map, or the symbols on the Ordnance Survey website (see web link below). Discuss scale and why it s necessary and why maps use a grid system. Ask the children to complete the Map symbol story activity to introduce basic grid references. Let them complete the first part and then bring the class together to discuss the answers. Extension activity Produce a basic map of the school playground and ask the children to create their own symbols and add them to the map where they should be. Links English Group discussion and interaction. Listening. Mathematics Understanding shape, space and measures. Geography Geographical skills and enquiry. Learning Styles Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic. Outcomes Children Understand what a map is and how it is used to interpret the real world. Practise using enquiry skills to solve puzzles and identify map symbols. Can use simple grid references to identify location. Resources Understanding map symbols activity. Map of schoolyard (teacher to pre-draw). Map symbol story. Ordnance Survey map reading leaflet (website link below). For excellent explanations, games and quizzes visit - http://mapzone.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/. Further information / resources The Ordnance Survey is a government department responsible for mapping the British Isles. There are lots of excellent activities available on their website and also a very good leaflet, for introducing maps and map reading, available for download at - www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk.
Teacher notes Maps come in all shapes and sizes and they help us to find our way to places. A map gives us a bird s eye view of the world around us. Maps can show us areas of different size from small areas, such as a building plan, through to whole countries and even the world. A map can show us the distance between everyday features around us. From a map, we can measure how far it is between our home to school, or to the local shops and other places. Maps use symbols to represent features on the ground such as buildings, roads and places of interest like castles and picnic sites. To find out what these symbols mean, each map has a key. Look at the different symbols for churches to relate 3D Solids to 2D shapes. A church with steeple could be considered a conical solid and is represented by a circle shape, whereas a church with a tower, oblong shape, is represented by a square. The four points of the compass can be remembered by relating them to a circle or clock face and moving in a clockwise direction from 12 o clock with the first letter of each word relating to the point of the compass - Naughty Elephants Squirt Water. (More information is available in the Ordnance Survey leaflet, Map reading made easy peasy! ). Compass points can be related to angles and time keeping as well, see the activities sheets. If you look at a map there is a grid with numbers and/or letters at the end of each grid line. These can be used to describe the position of a feature on a map. This is called a map or grid reference. We give a map or grid reference when we want to describe where a specific location is to someone. All maps have something called a scale. Scale lets us fit a big area onto a small piece of paper. Imagine you wanted to draw a map of your school playground. You wouldn t be able to get a piece of paper the same size, so you would have to make your map smaller and draw it to scale. Extension activity An alternative idea to the suggested activity is; give the children a picture and ask them to transfer it onto a preprepared grid. There is also an additional activity, which may be suitable for some of the children. It relates the four main compass points to angles, clock faces/times and fractions and can be found in the resources section in the toolkit.
Understanding map symbols - map symbol quiz Put the key on the board and ask the children to match the symbols to the clues. 1. Where Kings and Queens used to live. 2. Choo, choo! 3. See for miles. 4. Where you might go for a picnic. 5. Where you may sleep under the stars. 6. Hole in one. 7. Thorpe Park, Disneyland. 8. Where you can see lots of wildlife. 9. Hook, line and sinker. 10. A sport on a four legged friend. 11. This has a steeple or spire. 12. Ring, ring.
Map symbol quiz KEY. G j ç d P
Map symbol story 1. Ask the children to complete the symbol story, without providing the key. 2. Put the key up on the board and go through the answers with the children by reading the story. Then ask them to provide either the answer for the grid reference or say the answer, for example, church and ask them for the grid reference. 3. Once the story is complete, ask the children which symbol was not used and at what grid reference. 4. Finally you could ask additional questions; where could I go for a drink? I m looking out of the castle window at where am I? When I stayed at the (A1) I went for a walk on a footpath. I walked past an (B1) and on to the (D2). I continued up to a (E2) and saw a (E1) in the distance. As I walked back to my (A1), I went past a (D3) with a spire and then back through a (C4) and a (B3) stopping for a rest at a (A2).
Map symbol story. A B C D E 1 1 2 2 j G 3 3 ç d 4 4 A B C D E
Map symbol story KEY. Camp Site G Golf Course View Point Railway j Castle ç Church Windmill d Nature Reserve Picnic Site Orchard