Minnesota Map

Purpose: To help learners become familiar with the state of Minnesota and to work on map-reading skills.

Prep time: Variable

Materials: Each student or small group of students will need a fairly current highway map of Minnesota; other examples of maps might also be useful, e.g. city or neighborhood maps to show; a U.S. map is also required.

Note: AAA, the Chamber of Commerce or the Minnesota tourism office (Explore Minnesota, https://www.exploreminnesota.com/order-travel-guides) might be good sources for maps. Three Rivers Park District maps are available at many public libraries, for use in units on recreation and additional map-reading skills.

Prep: Enlarge the legend on the Minnesota map to use as a handout or on an overhead projector; create an additional handout if you wish or plan to use the board.

Procedure:

I do it (Tutor):           

1) Explain the purpose of the activity. Refer first to a map of the U.S. and situate Minnesota within the U.S.: Where is it located in the U.S.? What countries border the U.S.? What states border Minnesota?

2) Ask learners: What is a map? Be prepared to show examples.

When and why do you use a map? (Spend quite a bit of time on this one, so you can find out what experience learners have using maps.)

What kinds of information do you find on a map?

Elicit:

• roads/highways
• cities/towns
• parks
• airports, etc.
• rivers/lakes
• distances

3) Open the map of Minnesota and show the group where the legend is located on the map. Then work with the enlarged version and focus on no more than 10-12 symbols and what they represent. This will be determined by the map you have. Additional symbols can be introduced at a later time, with additional activities.       

Vocabulary to pre-teach:

• legend
• symbol

Other possibilities:

• interstate highway
• State Capitol
• cities/towns and population size
• historic site
• state park
• rest area
• national forest
• Indian reservation
• campground
• railroad
• bicycle trail
• U.S. port of entry

We do it (Tutor/learners together):

1) Hand out the maps and ask pairs to locate the legend.

2) Ask everyone to locate (on the legend) one of the symbols introduced previously, for example, historic sites.  

3) Now look at the map as a whole and draw attention to the numbers going down the sides and the letters going across the top and bottom of the map.

4) Ahead of time, locate one historic site on the map. 

5) Using their fingers, ask learners to move down or up and across the map to a specific location.    

6) Check with one pair or group to see if they’ve “arrived.” If they have it right, ask them to check the other groups and assist them if they aren’t on the right spot.

7) Do another example, then hand out the worksheet or write a list on the board for students to copy. 

You do it (Learners working independently or in small groups)

1) Students now work on their own to look for at least one example of each item on the list and write the coordinates next to the item. 

2) Repeat the two items used as examples in the “we do it” part, and ask groups to find different locations and coordinates for those items.

3) At the end, groups can exchange papers and check one another’s work.

For additional map activities, go to Reading for Life lessons, pages 3-16:

https://www.literacymn.org/sites/default/files/reading_for_life_volume_two.pdf