MSF SSS The Right Kind of Map

Activity Online

Geography

The Right Kind of Map There are all kinds of maps. Ms. Pool’s class went looking for a map. What kind of map was it?

Today, we made a map of our school.

Ms. Pool gave us the outline of our map and a list of words. We filled in the map.

Then Ms. Pool said, “Who likes to ice skate?” We all stared at her. What does ice skating have to do with maps?

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The Right Kind of Map

“I will take the class ice skating,” said Ms. Pool. “But first, you have to find a map for me. We need a map that shows where the ice rink is. Here is a clue. The map is somewhere in our school.”

So, we set off on a map hunt. First, we went to the library.

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At the library, we found a globe. A globe is like a map of Earth, but it is not flat. A globe is shaped like a ball. It is a 3-D model of Earth.

A globe shows the shapes and sizes of areas on Earth. We saw land and water. We saw many countries. We counted seven continents and five oceans. We saw areas of snow and ice. But we could not find the ice rink.

The World ARCTIC OCEAN

ARCTIC OCEAN EUROPE

NORTH AMERICA

ASIA

ATLANTIC OCEAN

PACIFIC OCEAN

AFRICA

PACIFIC OCEAN

INDIAN OCEAN

SOUTH AMERICA

ATLANTIC OCEAN

AUSTRALIA

W

N S

ANTARCTICA

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The Right Kind of Map

E

SOUTHERN OCEAN

The United States ARCTIC OCEAN

N Alaska

W

E S

CANADA

PACIFIC OCEAN

New Hampshire Vermont

Washington Montana

North Dakota

Minnesota

Oregon South Dakota

Idaho

New York

Wisconsin Michigan

Wyoming Nebraska Nevada

Utah

California

Pennsylvania

Iowa Illinois

Colorado

Kansas

Indiana

Ohio West Virginia

Missouri

Kentucky Tennessee

Arizona

Oklahoma New Mexico

Arkansas

Louisiana

PACIFIC OCEAN

Rhode Island Connecticut New Jersey

Virginia

North Carolina South Carolina

Texas

Hawaii

Massachusetts

Delaware Maryland

Georgia Mississippi Alabama

PACIF IC OCEA N

Maine

ATLANT IC O CE AN

Florida

MEXICO

Next, we went to Mr. Miller’s room. He had a map of the United States on his wall. This map showed all 50 states.

We found the state of California. We found the compass rose. We saw that Oregon is north of California. But we could not find the ice rink.

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Next, we went to the computer lab.

There we found a big map of California on the computer screen.

We saw where many mountains and lakes are on the map. We saw where rivers and cities are on the map. We even saw the Pacific Ocean. But we still could not find the ice rink.

The State of California Mountains Hills

N

Lowlands

E

W S

N T RA

TO EN AM CR LEY er SA VAL iv R Sacramen t o S GE

C OAS

E NG E RA CASCAD

Eureka

.

Kla m a t h R KLAMATH MTS. Mt. Shasta Shasta Lake Redding

Lake Tahoe SI

ER

Sacramento

R A

Oakland

AD

A

Fresno

Mt. Whitney DEATH VALLEY

GE

Bakersfield

S

i ve

MOJAVE DESERT

R Colorado

N

AN TR

San Luis Obispo

er

EV

Riv

UI AQ JO EY N LL SA VA

AS CO

Monterey

u in aq Jo

San Jose

N

n Sa

San Francisco

r

Santa Barbara

PAC I F IC O C EA N

Los Angeles Long Beach San Diego

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The Right Kind of Map

Salton Sea

Our last stop was the school office.

There we saw one more map. It showed our town. We found the park west of City Hall. We looked on all the streets.

“There is our school on Hill Street! What else is in on Hill Street?” Then we found the ice rink! It is next to the mall.

“We did it, Ms. Pool! Let’s go ice skating!”

The Right Kind of Map

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