Grades K-2 Lesson Plan - How Far Away

Map 12 Main Page

Core Map: Rand McNally Junior Auto Trails Map, Florida (Chicago: Rand McNally for Texaco, ca. 1924). Newberry Library call number: RMcN AE 017.2   © 1924 by RMC, R.L.03-S-87. www.randmcnally.com (Printable PDF version of the Core Map)

Overview
In this lesson students investigate how a historic map drawn in the early days of interstate automobile travel represented distances. Students will also learn to measure distance within their personal space.

Objectives
By the end of this lesson students are expected to:

1. understand how spatial relationships are shown on a historic map.
2. apply pacing to measure distances.
3. recognize the importance of knowing distance.

Materials
Computer image or overhead of core map, copies of core map for students, an outline map of your school and school grounds

Time
One and a half hours

Getting Started

1. Mark out a distance of twenty feet in your classroom floor, playground, school corridor, or other handy location.

2. Ask students to think about times when it might be important to know how far it is from one place to another. Note the class responses on the board or overhead.

3. Tell the students that they have a tool that they can use to help measure how far it is from one place to another. It is their bodies.

4. Have each student walk the twenty feet that you have marked out. Make sure they use normal steps. Count the number of paces it takes the student to walk the twenty feet (a pace is usually 2 feet). Repeat the process. The average number you have is the length of each student's pace.

1. Present the core map on the computer, in printed form, or on an overhead transparency.

2. Tell them that it is a road map and that many road maps show the distances between the places that appear on the map.

3. Direct students in a search of the map for background information that helps them understand what is on the map (names, drawings, title, etc.). See the curator's notes for specific explanations of the map symbols.

4. Ask the students what they think the numbers along the lines that indicate roads show. Be sure that they understand that the numbers in circles or squares are the names of the highways and that the numbers that do not have circles or squares around them indicate the distance in miles between places along the road. Discuss with students their experiences of driving with their families or on school trips when it was important to know distance between places.

5. Practice adding some numbers along highways to get distances between locations. Students can do this alone, in groups, or as a class. Try, for example, calculating the distance between West Palm Beach and Miami, Lake City and Jacksonville, Lake City and Ocala, and Tampa and Orlando.

6. Discuss with students why people using this map would want to know the distance between places on the map.

7. Remind students of the pacing activity that you previously completed. Hand students a copy of a map of your school (and school grounds, if appropriate). Orient students to the map.

8. Assign students two points on the map for them to measure distance with their pace. Depending on the level of your students you could do this as a class or in small groups.

9. Compare their results with the actual distances.

10. Remind students of the importance of knowing the distance between places that they discussed in the previous steps. Have students tell or write about the following: two reasons why knowing the distance between two places is important (in or out of school) and two ways that they can figure out the distance between two places.

For 3 points, the student accomplishes 3 of the tasks listed above.

For 2 points, the student accomplishes 2 of the tasks listed above.

For 1 point, the student accomplishes 1 of the tasks listed above.

Extensions

1. Have students measure other distances within their community using pacing.
2. Have students measure distances on other maps between places with which they are familiar.