Reflections from a Third-Grade Classroom

After learning about addresses and how they work, students began studying maps. My CT began the lesson by discussing maps and the four cardinal directions (north, south, east, and west). The children were divided into two groups and given a large map. On the map were cards containing various locations (playground, bank, grocery store, blue house).

The children took turns “driving” a toy car to the various locations. This could be done easily. The difficult part came in the fact that they had to explain their directions. For example, if I were driving to the playground, I might say, “I’m heading west on Okemos Rd. I’m turning north onto Yellow St.” The children, however, were more interested in racing the cars over the grass and crashing it into various locations. It took a lot of prodding and fierce attention to make sure that they completed the assignment correctly.

There were a lot of really great things that I saw in this lesson. The children were able to manipulate tangible objects to interact with abstract spatial ideas. But I think that if I were to use the lesson in my own classroom, I would have one child dictate directions to a second child, who didn’t know where they were going. That way, the “driving” child would be forced to pay attention and think carefully. Also, it would move the children through the lesson more quickly. There was simply not enough time for every child to drive.