Me on the Map!

Topic: How our community fits into the rest of the world.

During an integration unit, I had to find a way to integrate Social Studies and the Arts. It was purely by luck that I was browsing through Toadstool Bookstore in my college town and found the book Me on the Map by Joan Sweeney. It was the perfect book to start my lesson on how our community fits in with the rest of the world!

This book was a perfect read aloud for an introduction to maps because each page shows a picture of the place the girl is describing, and the adjacent page shows a map of the place. It helps students visualize the difference between photographs and maps, and the little girl starts her journey in her room, and expands her view to the entire world. Abstract concepts such as this are often difficult for students to understand, so the book was a great visual, although my students were upset that the wording was so simple (they're lean, mean, reading machines - so a page of a book that says "This is me" was SO beneath them!). 

Source

I found a wonderful mapping flip book activity on TeachersPayTeachers that I decided to use. I talked about Marlborough and New Hampshire with the students, making sure to explain some of the landmarks or important features of each place, so that students had an idea of what to make on their own flip books.

One student's finished flip book. 

I also made a differentiated version for one of my students, which was really fun! Her task was to put the pictures in order from smallest to biggest (just like the flip book activity above); the only difference is that I pre-made the pictures and labels for each flap, and her job was to color them and put them in order.

The student's flip book before she put it together.

The finished product!

Click here for the lesson plan, which includes:

• "Me on the Map" flip book pages and instructions.
• "Me on the Map" differentiated flip book coloring pages.

Credits:

• Me on the Map flip book activity: Mrs. Faulkner on Teachers Pay Teachers.
• See the lesson plan for coloring page credits.