Map Work…what ages?

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  • July 27, 2011 at 6:17 pm
    Ladyofthehouse
    Member

    I am working on entering our lesson plan into the Organizer and as I was scanning the Curriculum Guide I realized I hadn’t really nailed down my plans for Geography/Map Work. I understand how the map drill works from seeing Sonya’s demo in the All Day Seminar, what I am wondering is what age do you start?

    My girls are both just beginner readers with VERY beginner spelling skills. Should I have them just color in the map instead of writing the name of the country? I remember Sonya showing her youngest daughter’s map with the colored in countries but I am wondering if that was because map drill is recommended for the very young or that was just a way to keep a younger occupied while the older ones did a more advanced map drill?

    Thanks….:o)

    July 28, 2011 at 2:17 am
    lgeurink
    Member

    My youngest starter in map drill was only 4 and I painfully wrote her countries in for her each week for a whole year, and I had to write most of my older daughter’s as well as she was only 7.  This past year though somebody here gave me the great suggestion of getting inexpensive maps from http://www.montessorioutlet.com along with their country labels.  I attached the labels to toothpicks and gave the girls poster putty to put them on each country and stick their flags in.  100% better for all of us!  This way too, there are never seeing the incorrect spelling of the country and they learned to ready them all at 5 and 8.  This coming year we are doing the same thing.  Mod 3 has geography along the Med. coast but I am going by continent instead for map drill only and the maps work great if you use the geography songs cd.  Highly recommended and a terrific value for the price.

    July 28, 2011 at 2:58 am
    missceegee
    Participant

    In addition to the Montessori Maps and the Geography Songs cd mentioned above (both of which I love), we have the following apps for iPad that my kids love:

    • Stack the States – by Dan Russell-Pinson

    • Stack the Countries – by Dan Russell-Pinson

    • Shake the States – by Third Chicken

    • Montessori Approach to Geography (Europe, USA) – by Mobile Montessori

    • TapQuiz Maps World Edition – by Rolzor

     

    July 28, 2011 at 4:26 am
    MamaSnow
    Participant

    I have done map work orally with my 5 yo this year (and my 3yo has picked up a lot as well, incidentally…he’s actually quite fascinated by maps).  I just ask her to find the different states/countries for me.  We have just been using a labelled map for now.  I figure at this age it’s more for exposure, and when she is older and writing better we can do the “fill in a blank map” method.

    Jen

    July 28, 2011 at 5:06 am
    swtonscrappn
    Participant

    Man…I wish someone had mentioned these options a year ago.  My youngest two have been struggling non-stop with doing map drills.  My oldest is doing well.  Thanks for all the tips!

    July 28, 2011 at 3:58 pm
    pangit
    Participant

    I have 2 DD, 5 and 7.  Last year we were doing mod 1 and africa for geography.  We would look at the labeled map and learn where a country or 2 were.  Then I would give them each a blank map and have them point to that country.  As the year went by they were pointing out more and more countries.  This was simple and they both enjoyed it.  Didn’t help much with learning to spell them, but we will get to that later.

    I like the idea of the flags with putty.  I’ll have to look into that one.

    July 28, 2011 at 4:48 pm
    Ladyofthehouse
    Member

    Thanks so much for all of the ideas ladies! I will try to implement some of your suggestions.

    One thing I realized reading all of your responses is that we have already been doing map drill, just informally. I guess like Pangit said I can always work on the spelling later on.

    I did hang a world map at eye level for the kids a few months ago and started working on having them point to and name a continent and several of it’s major countries. So far they can do North and South America and Europe along with half a dozen or so countries, I was getting ready to move on to Asia next. Also I have one of those large inflatable globes with all of the countries outlined in black on a white surface. As we memorize a continent I color it in with a colored sharpie maker, different color for each one. Then we play “catch” but as each of us throws the globe we have to say a persons name and the name of the country or continent they have to catch, for instance, “Johnny, catch Europe”. Johnny then catches and has to pass it along saying a different place, “Sally, catch Mexico”. The kids love it :o)

    July 28, 2011 at 7:14 pm
    amama5
    Participant

    Thank you so much for the posts!  I had wanted to post but felt badly asking so many questions, but my just turned 7 yr old really detests map drill, as I’ve been having him label the countries.  These ideas will work much better for us for quite a while. 

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