Hands On Map Skills: Cross Curricular Project to Teach Map Skills (Grades 2-4)

The Hands On Map Skills cross-curricular project teaches essential map skills to grades 2-4 in an engaging, hands-on way. Students study real maps to learn important features like continents, oceans, countries, states, landforms, climate, and more. After building this foundation, students create their own local community map with roads, landmarks, geographical features, and other details. Finally, the class works together on a large world map with differentiated jobs to reinforce learning. This social studies focused project also connects to reading, as students use maps to answer questions, and math, as they use rounding and estimation. With detailed lesson plans, formative assessments, a full supply list, suggested books, and more, the Hands On Map Skills project brings maps to life for students instead of solely relying on dull worksheets.