Subscribe

1st grade · Social Studies · Unit 6 of 15

Maps

Symbols, directions, near and far

What your child practices

Reading a simple map with north at the top, using north, south, east and west, map symbols and legends, and near and far.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 1.8 · map features such as a title, a key and directions, and making maps of familiar places

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. A map shows where places are.
  2. The legend (or key) tells what each symbol means.
  3. North, south, east, west. The sun comes up in the east.

Example: What tells you what the symbols on a map mean? Look in the map's corner box. It is called the legend, or key. Answer: the legend (or key)

Maps in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 6 of 15 in 1st grade Social Studies, after Goods and Services and before Our Land.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A map of your classroom would show…

    • 🪑desks, doors and windows
    • 🪐the planets
    • 🌊the ocean

  2. Question 2

    Which one is farthest from the child?

    🧒🐈➖🧸➖➖🍎
    • 🧸teddy bear
    • 🐈cat
    • 🍎apple

  3. Question 3

    Look at the map. What is north of the house?

    ⬆️ North is up

    🟩 🏪 🟩

    🌳 🏠 📚

    🟩 🚒 🟩

    • 📚library
    • 🏪store
    • 🌳park

  4. Question 4

    Look at the map. Which way is the fire station from the house?

    ⬆️ North is up

    🟩 🏥 🟩

    🏫 🏠 🏊

    🟩 🚒 🟩

    • ⬇️south
    • ➡️east
    • ⬆️north

  5. Question 5

    What is the opposite of east?

    🧭
    • ⬆️north
    • ⬅️west
    • ⬇️south

  6. Question 6

    What does a map show?

    🗺️
    • 🥪what we ate for lunch
    • 📍where places are
    • ⏰what time it is

More 1st grade