Coffee and sharing

We have been holding Saturday morning coffees once a month during the school year now for a couple of years. I have to say that I look forward to every single session. In recent years, our parent educator volunteer Aimee Domire has led the sessions and that makes it even more enjoyable. The company is fantastic and the sharing is fabulous. I learn something each and every Saturday.

Last weekend, the session was called, “Mapping with Children.” Attendees asked for a follow-up and I thought it would be nice to share the follow-up through this blog for them and then if you didn’t get to attend (because of course you are always invited) you can get an idea about what to expect. You can find the whole schedule <here> which includes a link to register.

This session shaped the idea of mapping with children. We talked about how to create maps of walks and geographical destinations, and then launched right in to the idea that we can also use children’s literature to create maps!

I started with a favorite book, Max and the Tag-Along Moon by Floyd Cooper. Using pen and paper, I sketched out the journey Max makes from his grandfather’s house to his own home, followed all the way by the full moon. Just as his grandfather promised.

There are many ways to create maps. I chose to work through sketching one out in order to show that with just pen and paper, we could transfer the information found in the book about Max’s journey using symbol and color (Think: Map Key or Legen) to organize the information in a new, accessible way.

For the next part of the session, the attendees were invited — and they jumped in with both feet!!! — to choose one of the books I collected for this purpose. The attendees used materials from our collection of beautiful stuff. Enjoy!

Here are the books we used;

Finding the just-right materials to create the just-right maps.

Looking through the books to find the mapping opportunities.

Brainstorming Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. Just how far does Mr. Tiger need to go to get good and wild?

The teams talked and sorted and mapped those books using all kinds of materials found around the Classroom. Once everyone was done, we took a museum walk to take a closer look at each map.

This map reveals each stage of “the plan.”

You can see the different stages of the characters’ search for the bird from, Shhh! We Have a Plan.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild takes us on a wild ride from city to the wilderness.

The animals in the city of Mr. Tiger Goes Wild.

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild

Mr. Tiger in his happy place!

Josefina February lives on a hill. She can see the ocean from the tree in her front yard. Halfway between the ocean and her house is the town market.

The team decided to make a map that featured the hill from Josefina February

Henri Goes to Paris in four steps phases! The team found materials to represent each step of the journey.

Henri doesn’t actually get to Paris. He finds his way only back to his very own home. Is there another map to Paris? Yes, there is!

Square in the book, Square goes on a short journey. From his special place filled with squares to trying to figure out how to make a sculpture of Circle.

This map really brings some of the more abstract concepts in this book to life. What is a reflection? What is a sphere or a cube? Once these visuals are sorted, the reader can dive in deeper to the complicated story!