We read a chapter a day from the book, My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett to set up the discussion of mapping and adventure for our Sense of Place unit. We focus on how my father uses the contents of his knapsack to get out of tough situations with wild animals living on Wild Island so it is mostly a story time discussion. When we finish the book, I ask the children to draw the map of Wild Island, how my father got there, as well as anything else they can remember about the island from the description of it in the book. For example, sticky leaves, clearings, the stepping stones, and the river are all things children name as they draw. They often designate certain symbols as "danger" or where we can find the dragon.
I love working with maps with children! Maps are a practice in abstraction to me, because they represent how our own brains thing about place and space. This is such an interesting project - I want to know more!
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