Primary-school Geography

Here is a “kit” of materials to support mapping activities
in early childhood (Pre-K through grade 2 or so):

Primary classroom geography kit

For several years, we were asked to help design mapping lessons
for high-poverty K-2 schools in Harlem. Each of these activities
has a focus on a different mode of spatial reasoning.

CAUTION: the graphics are not designed for use in classrooms,
They are intended as guides for teacher planning sessions,
where teachers discuss how they will implement the lessons
with their own materials that fit their classrooms (see kit above).

• RoW 0_Read Me First
• RoW 0_Representing Our World
• RoW 1_ModelsAndMaps
• RoW 2_SimilarOrDifferent
• RoW 3_NearOrFar
• RoW 4_TowardOrAway
• RoW 5_ThisGroupOrThatOne
• RoW 6_SoonerOrLater
• RoW 7_InsideOrOutside
• RoW 8_InTheSamePosition
• RoW 9_StringsRingsAndBunches
• RoW 10_TogetherOrSeparate
• RoW 11_ObserversAndObjects
• RoW NESW Wall Labels

For more tips, see Chapter 6 of Teaching Geography (Guilford Press, 3rd ed., 2014;  www.guilford.com).
The Appendix to Chapter 6 is a review of research about spatial thinking with visual images like maps.