Explore Our Town

While coaching a first grade teacher, we came up with a plan to have students practice cardinal directions utilizing Create Path animation in Keynote. I created a simple map in Keynote and added photographs of different places students would recognize like a park, police and fire station, and a few local stores. The teacher customized the map further by adding a picture of their school.

We used Apple Classroom to facilitate a quick Airdrop to all students. Students used shapes to add a car or other mode of transportation of their choice. Then, students used the Create Path animation to animate the car driving from one location to the next following the directions given by the teacher.

Students also created their own slide with animation and recorded audio using cardinal directions to describe the path.

Customize the attached Keynote file to fit your students needs, add your school or other locations nearby. Duplicate the slide as many times as your students will practice the skill.

Attachments

5 replies

December 08, 2023

I love this activity, Ashley! Such a fun and engaging way for students to practice the difficult skill of cardinal directions! I also love the real world connection of "driving" to areas around their local area.

December 08, 2023

Agree with Kelsey! Ashley this is a wonderful way also to teach mapping. I can envision older students creating a map of their favorite spots in their community by taking photographs and adding them to Apple Maps. They could also create their own “fly overs” by using screen recording. Thanks for the ideas!

December 11, 2023

This was a such a fun activity to get to see in person! Thanks for sharing this great idea and resource, Ashley!

December 13, 2023

What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!

December 20, 2023

I really love this activity, Ashley! 🙌

Geography and mapping are always best approached by starting with where we know best: home.

So many great skills and ways of learning all within one activity! Great job! 👏

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