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Map Drills when to start
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I am doing mod 1 this year w/ my DS age 6 (4 y.o. is sometimes present as well). I am noticing this week a map drill of Africa. I realize this is for all ages, so I’m wondering when you started doing this. It seemed to me he was a little young to be filling in details about Africa. Does this seem right, or do you all have your first graders filling in maps of Africa?
I don’t know if we are doing right but I can share what I do with DD 6. We looked at a few key points which where Tigris and Euphrates, Sumer, Babylon, Ur, Mt. Ararat, Persian Golf and nowadays Iraq. Then went over to Canaan (Israel), Meditarrenian Sea, Red Sea, Egypt and the Nile River. All those place are assosiated with the bible stories we read. I also first split up the Africs map and worked first on a Middle East Map, then an Egypt map and last the Africa map. It is still hard for my DD6 to naviagte through the maps, she is still not competely grasping the “map concept”. We had now about 6 Map lessons and I just let her color the rivers and sea blue or help her find a starting point (e.g. “this area was call Sumer, can you show me Euphrates and Tigris?). I don’t know if that is the correct way, just the way we do it. We are working on learning to read a map more then on actually labeling (which I don’t see can be done without being able to read a map?).
I am excited to read what other families with young students do or how you got started with map drill:)
My son was 6 when we started doing map drill the way it was explained, he didn’t care for it and wasn’t writing that well. A few ladies here posted that they don’t start that until later when they are writing and spelling better. We stopped, now he is 7, and it is much more enjoyable. We still learn the basic countries and sometimes we’ll close our eyes and point and we have to take turns naming the country, etc. I like the ideas from ChristineAZ too. We were doing South America so the Spanish/portuguese spellings were confusing him too, so we just talk about them.
What I did when my son was 6 was buy a map book of our city (and got free maps of our province). I showed him the basics of how it worked… And then he would follow on the map when we drove places. At first it was best when both adults were in the car so that the one not driving could help him find where we were. I think that now he has a great understanding of maps.
My son, even though he is 12, has trouble writing (hand tremor) and can’t yet spell much beyond words like “w-i-l-l” or “c-a-k-e,” so we did his map drills a bit differently last year. I had him study the map of South America to learn the names of the countries and their locations, then I gave him an outline map and a set of the names of the countries that I had printed out and cut apart. Then he just taped the names where they belonged on the outline map. After he finished, I would have him read the names to me.
We tried it that way last year, and it was pretty much a miss, especially for my then-6yo who wasn’t reading or hardly writing. So we started doing it all orally. We started with continents and oceans. My younger dd (the 6yo, now 7yo) wasn’t as good at it, but my now-8yo is pretty good at it. After we learn continents and oceans, we are going to switch and go opposite and do local, state, country, North America, Western Hemisphere, and then world. It seems like this is what CM wrote about in her books, according to some quotes I wrote down (that I no longer have next to me) at a CM retreat I went to this summer. I did take a “geography lesson” as a breakout session, and the only other things would be whatever Geography book you’re using to draw a map (or use a map, if you’re bad at drawing 😛 and follow the route (for example, Minn of the Mississippi).
Suzukimom, we do the same for our kids, only we print out a new one on Google every time, and we highlight the route. The older one who can read can help the younger 2 who can’t, plus she can figure out where we are by looking at the highway signs now, too.
I also must say, I love Sue’s idea with printing the names and taping them on! I will have to try that with my 7yo, who is still learning to read. 🙂
I give them blank maps and write a few names of countires, continents, or whatever we’re learning on a white board and then they copy down where they go. Mine are 5 & 7 and I don’t expect a lot out of them in regards to this so far, but just want them to comfortable looking at maps and distinguishing between things.
We also read Me on the Map and talk about where we live. It’s a neat little book to talk about that.
Other than that, I pull out a map or globe anytime we are reading and a place is mentioned. We just look it up and see where it is.
I started they way it was explained, but DD would not remember more than about 2 countries. This week we got a GeoPuzzle of Africa off Amazon (someone had shared it on another thread). DD LOVES puzzles, and she not only remembered the four countries she had been trying to learn she knew a 5th one. I had her add two more countries to her map as well. She now wants to do the puzzle on other days, which is great b/c she can be reinforcing it and catching onto new countries on days she doesn’t have map drill. A week is a long time to go w/o studying a map and trying to remember it, particularly for a 6 y/o. DD is almost 7 y/o.
http://www.montessorioutlet.com/cgi-bin/category/5107
Montessori Outlet has inexpensive, large maps that I buy along with the labels and the kids put the labels on the right country, one or two added each week. When my daughter was 7 we started her with Africa the way SCM explains it, her 4 year old sister was included. It was torture b/c neither could write so I ended up having to label everything for both of them each week. I got the montessori map info on a post here and it has changed everything. For countries that are too small for the labels, I tape a toothpick to them and they stick them in the right country with poster putty. We also listen to the geography songs on cd. Once they are older I will probably do the maps where they write to label, but for now we love these maps.
I also print out 2 of the color maps of what we are studying and make file folder games with them so they can practice during the “free time” while the other kids finish up something. It helps them to see and feel the shapes, the names, the locations. It is very easy – like Sue’s idea. I just laminated the whole map, cut apart the countries and laminated them. Then you can use velcro or double side tape to match them up. Store the velcro pieces in an envelop stuck inside the file folder. If you use the tape, let them stay on the big laminated piece. We use lots of these type of things, since even the 2 year old can do this and be involved in school. =) Then we do the actual drill as recommended.
For my older children, when they hit the end of 2nd begining of third, I started doing map drills where they are expected to copy the names and landmarks correctly, starting each time with what they remember. For my younger kids ( 3yo and 6yo) they pick a state (or country), say it if they remember it or I will tell them, then they color it in. Then I’ll ask them one mor time what it was they just colored and they we move to the next state. We always start with ones they remember. They LOVE map drills! My 6 yo. has started copying the states names down during map drills “just for fun”. (I don’t require my 3 yo. to do map drills, but he insists. It’s one of his favorite things).
You also have to remember that, if you are following the six modules of history from the SCM curriculum guide, world geography is split up among those modules. So, your 6-year old who might be studying Africa this year will study it again in rotation six years from now. A 7th grader will certainly be able to learn and recall much more about a given continent than a 1st grader. Not to worry if it has to be done orally and in a more general fashion this year!
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