Location, Location, Location!

Our third unit for this year is on Where We are in Place and Time.

Grade 3 and 4 are exploring the Central Idea that maps enable us to orientate ourselves locally and globally.

Our first line of inquiry with this Transdisciplinary Theme is into Interpreting maps. For this LoI we are concerned with the concepts of Form and Function.

For this unit we are going to be cartographers.

We begun by 'thinking about what we already know about maps'. We had a class discussion sharing what we already know, what we think we know and some of our initial questions...

In order to become cartographers, we need to understand what a cartographer does.

We did a quick study and here are some ideas the learner pairs came up with:

"A cartographers explores different places/countries and collects information"

- Miller & Aira

"A cartographer uses satellite images to create maps of the Earth"

- Brandon & Hirohito

"A cartographer makes map routes"

- Tiago & Stella

"A cartographer uses technology (like drones) to create maps of countries"

- Elvis & Aruto

Here are some illustrations of a cartographer at work used to further explore this idea:

We also spent time inquiring into the Learner Profile attributes and Approaches to Learning we will focus on during this unit.

We answered the questions 'How can we be Inquirers as cartographers?'

and 'How can we be Risk Takers as cartographers?'

And we answered the questions 'What research skills do cartographers need?'

and 'What thinking skills do cartographers need?'

Thinking skills poster is still under construction - watch this space :)

We will begin next week by unpacking the Central Idea for the unit before we dive into our first Line of Inquiry. We will be using Scot Ritchie's popular introductory text Follow That Map! as the catalyst for our inquiry into the form and function of maps.