What Is a Map?

A map is a picture or chart that shows the rivers, mountains, streets or other kinds of landmarks in a particular area.

Maps help us to see the locations of things all around the world. We even have maps on our phones that tell us how to get to places that are close and far away from us!

There are many different types of maps, such as:

• maps of the world
• maps of a country
• maps of an area showing natural landmarks (rivers, lakes, mountains)
• maps of an area showing man-made landmarks (streets, highways, state lines)
• maps of an area that show both natural and man-made landmarks.

What Are Map Skills?

Map skills can be described rather simply as what students need to know in order to read a physical map. This teaching presentation has been specifically designed to teach map skills to early years students. It covers concepts such as:

• the compass rose
• cardinal directions
• legends and keys.

The presentation also includes quick check quizzes so you can assess your students’ level of understanding as new concepts are presented.

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

A team of dedicated, experienced educators created this resource to support your lessons on map skills.

If you have a mixture of above- and below-level learners (and we’re sure you do!), check out these suggestions for keeping students on track with the concepts:

🆘 Support Struggling Students

• Pre-teach (or re-teach) key vocabulary to students to help them engage more successfully with the resource.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

• Encourage fast finishers to draw a map of the classroom that includes the map features from the presentation.

Choose Your Preferred File Format

Use the dropdown arrow next to the Download button to select between the Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint version of this resource.

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This resource was created by Jennifer Hall, a Teach Starter collaborator.