Using a Compass Rose

In the communities unit of our Social Studies book, they wanted me to teach the kids how to use a compass rose. So we did just that!

After introducing the compass rose, pointing out the compass rose on every map in our room, and reading the pages in our book, we played a fun game that reinforced the cardinal directions!

One at a time, a kid would sit outside the room while we'd hide our traveling buddy, Tyrone, somewhere in the room.

Then we would bring the kid back inside and use our knowledge of the cardinal directions to help the kid find Tyrone!

They loved this game! We played it 12 times so that every kid had a chance to find Tyrone. They got CRAZY loud because they felt the need to scream out the directions to the kid trying to find Tyrone. The noise paid off, though, because today in one of our read-alouds, the author wrote about some town in the north, and I said, "So which way is north?" And everyone pointed north right away! Hooray!

Afterwards, the first and second graders drew maps of our classroom including a compass rose. This was a little tough for some of them because they had to draw the room from an angle that they don't usually see, but I was really impressed with their hard work and all the little details they included!

Now what I need are some clip-arty direction signs! My handwritten ones that I made during morning recess are not beautiful.