Mater Amabilis™

LEVEL 1A – Year 1 – Earth Studies

Maps and Mapping

Key Text: Maps and Mapping by Barbara Taylor

This book is out of print but has been published under various editions and in multiple anthologies over the years and can usually be found affordably. Here are some Amazon links to try:

The Earth (contains all 4 books used in Level 1: Rivers and Oceans, Weather and Climate, Mountains and Volcanoes, and Maps and Mapping)

The Kingfisher Young Explorers Encyclopedia (contains Rivers and Oceans, Weather and Climate, and Maps and Mapping from The Earth)

Maps and Mapping

This is likely not a comprehensive list of every single Amazon listing or edition, but it should give you a good starting point for browsing the different options on Amazon as well as providing a variety of ISBNs that might help you do similarly comprehensive searches on Bookfinder, ThriftBooks, AbeBooks, etc… Shopping for the best prices on used and out of print books can take some practice and often requires thinking ahead or patiently waiting so you are not buying them at the same time everyone else is.

Additional Key Text:

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding by Bernard Nebel
This course covers concepts from his  D – EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE thread. The book offers further activities and guidance for educators in developing scientific inquiry regarding these concepts with students. An inexpensive non-printable PDF is available on the Outskirts Press website.

Suggested Supplements:

Supplies:

The following supplies are required for the recommended activities in Maps and Mapping and Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding.

  • Graph paper
  • A globe 
  • Compass
  • Sewing needle
  • magnet 
  • Slice of cork (as from a wine bottle)
  • Local maps (may be downloaded from the internet)
  • An atlas that includes a world map
  • Pad of sticky notes
  • One page map of the United States (printable version available here)

To complete the hands-on exploration of landforms in Geography A to Z, we recommend a moldable material such as salt dough, play dough, sand, kinetic sand, or similar.

Week 1: 

  • Set up a notebook to use for information about maps and mapping. This will be both a scrapbook and a place for your child to keep his own notes and pictures. 

Throughout the Year: 

  • Collect newspaper and magazine cuttings, pictures, poems and any other items you find relating to maps, contour lines, etc; add them to the scrapbook.
  • Consider adding maps to your nature journal, either as drawings or pasted-in from local nature sites.
  • Collect maps as you visit local attractions or when traveling. Ask family and friends to send extra copies of or pictures of maps from their travels. You can use these to expand on various lessons.

Suggested Activity: 

    • Walk around your neighborhood, noting street signs, natural or man-made landmarks, and other navigational clues.

Week 2: 

Week 3: 

  • Archipelago to Butte (Geography A to Z, p.7-9)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 4: 

  • Mapping Your Room (The Earth, p. 74-75; M&M, p. 6-7)

Suggested Reading: Me on the Map (Sweeny)

Week 5:

  • Canyon to  Continental Divide (Geography A to Z, p.10-13)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 6: 

  • Map Scales (The Earth, p. 76-77; M&M, p. 8-10 )

Suggested Reading: Map Scales (Wade)

Week 7: 

  • Continental Shelf to Fjord (Geography A to Z, p.14-17)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 8: 

  • Symbols and Colors (The Earth, p.78 ; M&M, p. 11 )

Suggested Reading: Map Keys (Olien)

Optional Activity: 

    • Visit local historic or natural sites of interest and practice navigating by the available maps. Pay particular attention to the map keys and any unusual symbols or drawings.

Week 9:

  • Ford to Gulch (Geography A to Z, p.18-21)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 10: 

  • Heights and Slopes (The Earth, p. 79; M&M, p. 12-13)

Suggested Reading: Types of Maps (Wade)

Week 11:

  • Gulf to Isthmus (Geography A to Z, p.22-25)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 12:

  • Exams

Week 13: 

  • Contour Lines (The Earth, p. 80-81; M&M, p. 14-15)

Suggested Activity: Print topographic maps of your local area or another area you’d like to explore. Free maps sized for regular home printers are available from National Geographic here.

Week 14:

  • Jungle to Mountain (Geography A to Z, p.26-30)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 15: 

  • BFSU D-3A: North, East, South, and West 
    • Part 1: “Designating Directions on a Globe”

Week 16:

  • BFSU D-3A: North, East, South, and West
    • Part 2: Connecting Maps to the Globe

Week 17:

  • Mountain Pass to Peninsula (Geography A to Z, p.31-34)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 18: 

  • Finding a Place (not in The Earth; M&M, p. 16-17)

Suggested Reading: We Need Directions! (Capua)

Week 19:

  • Palisade to Reef (Geography A to Z, p.34-37)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 20: 

  • Finding the Way (The Earth, p. 82-83; M&M, p. 18-19)

Suggested Reading: You Can Use a Compass (Trumbauer)

Optional Activity: Explore the changing location of magnetic earth.

Week 21: 

  • Measuring Angles (The Earth, p. 84-85; M&M, p. 20-21)

Optional Activity: 

    • Map your state: Use an atlas to mark major geographic features of your home state. Include the state borders, capital and other major cities, rivers, mountains, and places of personal significance like your home and parish. Print out a blank blackline state map here.

Week 22:

  • River to Seamount (Geography A to Z, p.38-40)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 23:

  • BFSU D-3: Reading and Drawing Maps
    • Part 1: “Drawing Maps”

Week 24:

  • Exams

Week 25: 

  • Sound to Valley (Geography A to Z, p.41-43)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 26:

  • Making Maps (The Earth, p. 86-87; M&M, p. 22-23)

Optional Activity: Look for maps in favorite picture books, or make a map of a fictional setting. The Red Carpet by Rex Parkin and Lentil and Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey would be good places to start.

Week 27: 

  • Volcano to Waterfall (Geography A to Z, p.44-45)

Suggested Activity: Make hands-on models of the geographical features. 

Week 28:

  • BFSU D-3: Reading and Drawing Maps
    • Part 2: “Reading Maps”

Week 29:

  • Mapping the World (not in The Earth; M&M, p. 24-25 )

Optional Activity: 

    • Use Google maps to look at the map of your area. Toggle between street view and satellite view, taking a bird’s eye tour of places your child knows.

Week 30: 

  • Zone (Geography A to Z, p.46-47)

Suggested Activity:  Explore this idea on your globe. 

Week 31: 

  • Latitude and Longitude (The Earth, p. 88-89; M&M, p. 26-27)

Suggested Reading: Latitude and Longitude (Aberg)

Week 32: 

  • Map Projections (The Earth, p. 90-91; M&M, p. 28-29 )

Week 33: 

  • Using Maps (The Earth, p. 92; M&M, p.30-31 )

Suggested Reading: The Moon Book (Gibbons)

Suggested Activities: 

Explore the maps you or others have collected on trips

Explore moon maps or star charts.

    • NASA moon map

Week 34:

  • Catch-up week 

Week 35:

Suggested Final Project: Make a salt dough map including as many of the geographical features as possible. 

Salt Dough Recipe:

    • 4 cups flour
    • 2 cups salt
    • 2 Tbsp cream of tartar
    • 1 1/2 – 2 cups water

Week 36:

  • Exams
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