{"id":1963,"date":"2009-11-02T14:02:40","date_gmt":"2009-11-02T19:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1963"},"modified":"2009-11-02T14:02:40","modified_gmt":"2009-11-02T19:02:40","slug":"teaching-geography-with-childrens-literature-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/11\/02\/teaching-geography-with-childrens-literature-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Geography with Children’s Literature: Maps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"geography.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Maps<\/a>, by David L. Stienecker <\/a>and illustrated by Richard MacCabe, is a book designed to help introduce children to geography\u00a0with a\u00a0focus on maps and globes.<\/p>\n

This book highlists the many\u00a0purposes and differences between\u00a0maps and globes, how to read them, and the many ways in which they can be drawn.\u00a0 The author and illustrator provide child-friendly text and illustrations to show how maps can be used to visualize and locate specific regions, water features,\u00a0forests,\u00a0and landmarks\u00a0of the world, as well as dicussing that maps can also be created for make believe.\u00a0 The book\u00a0offers children a\u00a0view of North America on both a map and globe, and then slowly\u00a0zooms out to show\u00a0the Earth as a whole from the perspective of the sky.\u00a0 This book also provides children with\u00a0question prompts they can respond to\u00a0during or after\u00a0reading, while providing teachers with hands-on activitiy ideas for further study, a glossary of essential terms, and an index.\u00a0 Lines of latitude\/longitude, projections, compass, hemisphere, equator, and thematic maps are the main topics discussed throughout the book which allows the teacher discretion for how much content to share depending on varying student levels.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Maps<\/a> serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize several kindergarten – first grade geography learning objectives in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).\u00a0 Students can enhance their understanding in that a map is a drawing of a place to show where things are located while a globe is a round model of the Earth (SOL K.4a), facilitate identification of land and water features (SOL K.4c),\u00a0encourage understanding that maps and globes show a view from above the Earth and that\u00a0features are smaller in size\u00a0(SOL K.5a\/b), develop map skills by identifying map symbols (SOL 1.4a), and facilitate\u00a0accurate identification of\u00a0North America and Virginia on maps and globes (SOL 1.4d).<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n