Neighborhood Map

1. On walks around the school neighborhood, invite students to take notes and sketch important features such as streets and buildings with Crayola® Washable Markers. Study local maps for neighborhood details, and note changes since the maps were printed. Conduct a classroom discussion focused on identified details. Ask students to point out the major features that are contained in a map in preparation for students creating their own maps. Provide additional text and electronic resources, if available, about their neighborhood and town for students to view.
2. Students prepare to draw a map of their neighborhood on a large sheet of construction paper using notes and sketches from the earlier discussion for reference. Inform students they will prepare a large 3-D map of the area. Determine who will make which building, landmark, etc.
3. Teams create a building model using small, recycled cardboard boxes, Crayola® Model Magic, construction paper, and collage materials. Cut paper to cover buildings with Crayola Scissors. Glue dry modeling compound and other items together with Crayola School Glue. Decorate with Crayola Washable Glitter Glue. Dry overnight.
4. Set the buildings in place on a solid base such as recycled cardboard or thick foam. Create street signs, landscaping, roads, people, and animals to complete the map.
5. Teams compose brochures for their neighborhood. Directions to specific buildings may be included! Teams determine the format of their brochures, as well as what additional information should be included.
6. Groups present their brochure to classmates while all are gathered around the neighborhood map.

LA: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

LA: Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.

LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

LA: Participate in shared research and writing projects.

LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

MATH: Draw points, lines, line segments, rays, angles (right, acute, obtuse), and perpendicular and parallel lines. Identify these in two-dimensional figures.

SS: Locate and distinguish among varying landforms and geographic features, such as mountains, plateaus, islands, and oceans.

SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.

SS: Examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment, the use of land, building of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected locales and regions.

VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.

VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

VA: Select and use subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning.

Possible classroom resources include: Me on the Map by Jane Sweeney; Where Do I Live? by Neil Chesanow; Maps and Globes by Jack Knowlton

Students may want to begin their map investigation by mapping their classroom, bedroom, etc. Encourage them to label furniture, windows, etc. to create a map that is easily readable for peers.

Challenge students to create a map of the town's downtown streets. Research the types of architecture and building construction. Use architectural research to summarize the types of buildings one would see if visiting downtown.

Challenge students to organize a scavenger hunt in their school. Hide a few items in discrete places. Students write directions as clues to assist with finding hidden items.