Coordinate Mapping Our School

Today we were introduced to a great new math challenge: How can we create a coordinate map of our entire school?

We began our challenge with what we knew and what we needed to know about coordinate graphing. Then, we all worked hard to create a map of our classroom.

This proved to be quite a challenge with several odd angles and corners in our room, but everyone did a great job. We began by creating an appropriate scale, and then worked in groups to take measurements of the various furniture around the room. Students collaborated by sharing measurements with one another, and worked in groups to convert the measurements for their paper map.

Students measuring the doorway to our room

 



Teamwork! Students measure the whiteboards



A coordinate map of our classroom

After drawing the layout of our classroom, we drew a grid overlay on top of our maps, dividing the classroom into 4 quadrants. Finally, we found the coordinates of various items in the classroom and used this to create a directory. Now, students can trade coordinate maps to find locations of various items in our room.

A directory for the coordinate map

 



Now that we have created our classroom map, we are on to our real challenge: To create a coordinate map of our entire school! Stay tuned for our next post.

Questions to respond to:

How did you use math in creating your classroom map? Give a specific example and short explanation.
What questions or concerns do you have about creating your school map? Be specific and explain why you need to know this to complete your project.
How did the classroom map activity prepare you for creating the school map? Give a specific example and short explanation.