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1st grade · Social Studies · Unit 1 of 9

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.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 1.G1.1; 1.G1.2 · making and reading maps, and using a grid to find 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 Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 1 of 9 in 1st grade Social Studies, 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: Arizona Department of Education

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

    Which one is nearest to the child?

    🧒🌳➖🍎➖➖🧸
    • 🌳tree
    • 🧸teddy bear
    • 🍎apple

  2. Question 2

    What do we call a round model of the whole Earth?

    • 🌍globe
    • 🧭compass
    • 📏ruler

  3. Question 3

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

    ⬆️ North is up

    🟩 🏥 🟩

    🏪 🏠 🚒

    🟩 📚 🟩

    • 🏪store
    • 📚library
    • 🏥hospital

  4. Question 4

    The sun comes up in the…

    • 🌇west
    • ⬆️north
    • 🌅east

  5. Question 5

    Look at the map. Which way is the store from the house?

    ⬆️ North is up

    🟩 🌳 🟩

    🏪 🏠 🏫

    🟩 🏊 🟩

    • ⬇️south
    • ⬅️west
    • ⬆️north

  6. Question 6

    On most maps, what color shows water?

    • 🔵blue
    • 🔴red
    • 🟡yellow

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