Open Wide, Look Inside

As the Crow Flies written by Gail Hartman and illustrated by Harvey Stevenson is a great way to introduce maps to young children.

The book follows the paths of an eagle, a rabbit, a crow, a horse, and a gull.  At the end of each animal’s journey a simple map illustrates the places the animal has visited.  “AS THE RABBIT HOPS. A path winds around a farmhouse, past a shed, to a garden where the sweet greens grow.” On the facing page the author shows “THE RABBIT’S MAP”, a simply illustrated map with a path from “my house”, to the “farmhouse”, to the “shed”, to the “garden”.  At the end of the book the author follows the moon as it shines on each of the animals paths, including the rabbit, “It shines on the garden near the farmhouse in the country.”  On the last pages the paths of all the animals come together to form one big map titled “THE BIG MAP”.

Curriculum Connections
This book would work well when introducing students to maps as part of a Geography unit.  It is best suited for a kindergarten or 1st grade classroom. The concepts included in the book work with lessons where students will describe the relative location of people, places, and things by using positional words, use simple maps to develop an awareness that a map is a drawing of a place to show where things are located, describe places referenced in stories and real-life situations, and develop an awareness that maps and globes show a view from above, show things in smaller size, and show the position of objects (SOL K.3, K.4a,b and K.5a,b,c).

Additional Resources

• The UEN website has four good classroom activities for developing map skills.
• Have students create a story map using a story they have read, or make a map of their school.
• A geography unit plan, Our Place in the World, designed to create awareness of city, state, country, continent, and world.

Author: Gail Hartman
Illustrator: Harvey Stevenson
Publisher: Aladdin
Publication Date: 1993
Pages: 32
Grade Range: K-2
ISBN: 978-0689717628

 The Scrambled States of America is a hilarious and adorable book about the fifty states, and their desire for exploring other areas of the United States.  The states have gotten tired of their neighbors and monotonous daily routine, and want to meet other states.  Kansas and Nebraska decide to have a party and invite all of the states.

“So, with a little help from their neighbors, Missouri and Iowa, those wacky little midwestern states planned the biggest party ever… At last the big day came, and little by little the states arrived at the party… Within minutes after their arrival the states began making friends with each other.”

At the party, Virginia and Idaho decide they would like to change places to see other parts of the US.

” ‘ Yes,’ Virginia chimed in. ‘Then we thought maybe all of you might want to try it, too.’  A wave of excitement swept through the room.  They could hardly wait.  Immediately the states made their plans to switch places.  They said their good-byes, and went directly home to pack.”

While the switch and new places were exciting at first, it didn’t take long for the states to miss home.

“Alaska, who had been wanting a little more interaction with the other states, was irritated by Oklahoma’s handle jabbing into his left side and Michigan’s thumb tickling his right.”

Soon enough the states decided they wanted to switch back, and packed their bags and made their way home.

“That night, all the states in the country went to bed feeling happy about the new friends they had made but, most of all, feeling very thankful to be home.”

Curriculum Connections:

 This story is a cute way to introduce the VA Geography SOL 1.4, 1.5, and 1.6 to students, as it will familiarize them with the proper placement of the fifty states on the US Map, as well as some of the characteristics of and products of those states.

Additional Resources:

This lesson plan for sixth graders is a way to incorporate this book into a secondary classroom looking for an interactive way to study the 50 states in depth.

This teacher blog is full of many ideas for teaching the states to your students.

Use this video and song to teach the 50 states to your students!

General Information:
Book:  The Scrambled States of America
Author/Illustrator:  Laurie Keller
Publisher:  Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date:  October 15, 1998
Pages:  32 pages
Grade Range:  K-2 Grade
ISBN-13:  978-0805058024

From Here to There , written by Margery Cuyler, is a simple, yet beautifully illustrated, book that shows where a little girl, Maria, lives with her family.  It illuminates the concept that we are all part of a world that is bigger than our own home, town, and state.

Curriculum Connections:  From Here to There is a good book for teaching the concept that we are all part of the solar system we live in, as seen in the beautiful pictures of the progression of where her home fits into this world.  It starts at her home, then moves to her town, her county, her state, then country, hemisphere, planet, solar system, galaxy, and beyond.  Geography SOL 1.4

Additional Resources:
This website provides instructions on setting up a lego station so that children can work as a team to build a community by constructing roads and prominent buildings, such as fire stations, their school, grocery store, etc.  This is a good idea to continue reinforcing the idea of maps and the use of map symbols.

This website offers instructions on how to teach children about maps.  It starts with making a map of the classroom, then a map of the school, then the community, and so forth.  You can make this activity reach as far as you want it to, based on the level of your students…just like the book!

This website is an interactive website that could be done independently, or collectively as a class, projected onto the board or screen.  It is a simple map with questions that help teach basic map symbols, how to follow a map, and use of the compass rose.

General Information:
Book: From Here to There
Author: Margery Cuyler
Illustrator: Yu Cha Pak
Publisher: Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd.
Pages:  32
Grade Range: K-2
ISBN:  0-8050-3191

Somewhere in the World Right Now, written and illustrated by Stacey Schuett, shows the reader events taking place around the world at the same time.

“Somewhere, the night wind sighs and murmurs.  The moon shines through a window.  A little girl is dreaming of tomorrow.  But somewhere else, right now, tomorrow is already here.  Dawn is breaking.  A rooster crows and people are waking up.”

Somewhere in the World Right Now takes the reader through events that are happening at the exact same time all around the world.  In  Kenya, elephants are sleeping standing up.  In Madagascar, a little girl is dreaming of tomorrow.  In China, the day has already started – people are going to work and children are heading to school.  Each page has a map of the area being discussed as the background.  This book does a nice job of illustrating different parts of the world and also introduces the topic of time zones.

Curriculum Connections:
Somewhere in the World Right Now is a fun book to read when introducing map concepts to students.  It can be used in lessons discussing the way a community, climate and physical surroundings affect the way people live, basic map recognition and reading, and describing different geographic regions.  These topics correlate with the Virginia History and Social Science Standards of Learning K.4, 1.6, 3.5, 3.6.

Additional Resources:
Continents Lesson Plan: This lesson plan helps students learn the names and locations of each continent by creating their own world map.

Where on Earth are you? Lesson Plan:  This lesson plan introduces basic map skills and map history to students.  It also includes some worksheets and activity ideas.

Time Zone Bulletin Board: This short article includes an idea for creating a bulletin board with clocks made during a time zone lesson.

Literature Mapping: This link provides a month long activity idea for students to plot locations on a world map of different stories as they read them.  There is a nice list of suggested books included.

General Information:
Book: Somewhere in the World Right Now
Author: Stacey Schuett
Illustrator: Stacey Schuett
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: November 1997
Pages: 40
Grade Range: K-5
ISBN-10: 0679885498
ISBN-13:  9780679885498

Adventures in Ancient Egypt written by Linda Bailey and illustrated by Bill Slavin is a developmentally appropriate, text within a text approach to teaching children about the geographic and cultural history of ancient Egypt.

Linda Bailey does an excellent job of presenting the factual information alongside a kid-friendly and engaging story line by using a text within a text approach. She begins by instantly engaging students using a comic book-like format and three bored children with nothing to do on a summer day. They end up in a run down travel agency which eventually leads to a trip back in time to ancient Egypt. “There was a terrible, wonderful flash and . . . in one brief moment, everything changed!” The book continues by following the kids’ adventures along the Nile River, visiting an Egyptian town, school, and pyramid along with experiencing other culturally important Egyptian concepts. Bailey pairs this adventure with detailed historical commentary about the locations and cultural features the kids are experiencing along the bottom of each page.

Presenting the information and concepts by using these methods simultaneously allows students to learn about ancient Egypt on two distinct and effective levels.

Curriculum Connections 

Adventures in Ancient Egypt effectively introduces second or third grade students to the relationship between ancient Egypt’s environment and culture (VA SOL 2.4b).

Additional Resources

• This lesson plan is a great hands-on way for students to interact with hieroglyphs.
• Teachers can use this coloring sheet to stimulate discussion on pyramids and their importance in ancient Egyptian culture.
• This website provides extra background material and visuals on ancient Egypt.
• This website is a conglomeration of on-line ancient Egyptian games and activities to further re-inforce the concepts students are learning.

Book: Adventures in Ancient Egypt
Author: Linda Bailey
Illustrator: Bill Slavin
Publisher: Kids Can Press
Publication Date: September, 1 2000
Pages: 48 pages
Grade Range: 2-3
ISBN: 978-1550745481