Please use the following questions to promote conversation between you and your student in order to help him or her study for our Geography quiz on Map Skills.

Thanks, Miss Dominy, Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Weldon

1.    When would you use a map rather than a globe?

2.  Discuss the communities of which you are a part and locate them on a map (i.e.  Houston, Texas, U.S.A., North America, Earth)

3.  How do you use a map key or legend?  Why is it important to give attention to the symbols used on a map key or legend?

4.  When would you use a landform map?

5.  When using a grid map, how do you locate objects?

6.  What are cardinal directions?

7.  What are intermediate directions?

8.  Where can you locate cardinal and intermediate directions on a map?

9.  When would you use a map scale?

The following are possible answers that your student might share….

1.  It would be better to use a map when we are going on vacation.  A map can help me easily locate two points and measure the distance between those two points using a map scale.  I might use a globe when I want to compare the size of continents or get a good picture of what the world looks like.
2. Please discuss the facts that we live in the CITY of Houston, the STATE of Texas, the COUNTRY of the U.S.A., the CONTINITENT of North America, and the PLANET Earth.
3. We use a map key to help us notice what features we will find on a map.  It is important to look over the map key so that I know what things I will be able to find on a map.  I know that symbols are small shapes or designs that help me easily locate points of interest.
4. I use landform maps when I interested in the physical features or landforms I might find in an area. I might check out a landform map when I visit a new region to notice the various landforms.
5. I use the letters and numbers along the vertical and horizontal sides of the map to locate objects.  It is important to locate objects by identifying both location points and using my fingers to find the object.  Often I use one index finger to move down and one index finger to move across.  When the fingers meet inside a box on the grid map, I have found my location.
6. Cardinal directions are north, south, east and west.
7. Intermediate directions are northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast.
8. I can use a compass rose on a map to help me locate directions.
9. I use a map scale to measure the distance between two points on a map.