Currently, some kindergarten students at MES are getting their hands messy! The classroom of Kelly Thomas has been busy with an activity creating and comparing maps and globes.
One of the kindergarten standards of learning states that students will know a map is flat and is seen from a bird’s eye view, unlike a globe which is a round model of the earth.
To provide visual representation of maps and globes, Thomas’s students created flat maps and then covered balloons with paper mache to make globes. Visualizing the differences allows the students to then use Venn diagrams to compare and contrast the two.
Thomas chooses this fun, inventive activity to tie the maps and globes SOL to other standards which focus on texture and 3D shapes. Although the activity is messier than some, the students truly benefit from Thomas’s incorporation of hands-on learning in her classroom.
Middlesex County Public Schools 