Project

This project was a collective effort of my mentor Susan, myself, and all of the students of Room 5!   The art program at Phoebe Hearst isn't result-oriented as I discussed in the Daily Updates. The real learning and progress came from the process of the kids looking at and exploring the maps. Unfortunately, the projects we made couldn't make it back to Colorado, but I took lots and lots of pictures. This way, you can see some of the process in action.

This Map Project Developed:

• Motor Skills
• Cognitive/Problem Solving Brain Development
• Understanding of Space and Perspective
• Recognizing Landmarks
• Memory Skills
• Identifying/Understanding Concept of Different Viewpoints (i.e. Map of Classroom vs. Map of California)
• Forces Kids to Recognize and Analyze their Surroundings
• Fosters the Concepts of Self-Reflection (Seeing themselves from a new perspective)

The project had 3 parts. The first was very artsy. The kids were given shapes of maps cut into different pieces and made their own art. (You can read even more about this in Daily Updates)

The 2nd piece was a map of San Francisco, labeled with approximately where each student lived!

The last piece was very play-oriented. The children were given a mat of maps (say that ten times fast) and decorated toilet paper rolls and small boxes to like themselves or buildings, and played with them on the map.