North, South, East, West — the compass rose

Morning Meeting Group Activity — children stand and turn to face each wall as the song names directions. North wall is at the top of the classroom (where the windows or front board is, as labeled).

• Establish 'North is always the same direction' — physically label all four walls
• Lead the song with TPR (arms up for North, down for South, right for East, left for West when facing North)
• Acknowledge that 'East' is to your right ONLY when you face North

When people make maps, they need a SHARED way to say where things are. So we use four big direction words that EVERYONE in the world uses: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST. We call these the CARDINAL DIRECTIONS. Most maps put NORTH at the top. Watch — here is our COMPASS ROSE.

• Notice: on our compass rose, North is at the top — like on most maps. East is to the right. South is at the bottom. West is to the left.

  model Point to each direction; name it; repeat

  prompt Show MG-6 Compass Rose with N/S/E/W and 'NORTH IS UP'
• Notice how the cardinal words help us SAY where things are without pointing.

  model The library is North of the school. The park is East of the school. The grocery is South of the school. The post office is West of the school.

  prompt Apply to MG-4 Neighborhood Map

• Which wall in our room is North?
• Is the library North or South of the school on our map?

MG-6 Chart

Compass Rose Anchor — 18x18-inch laminated compass rose with the four cardinal directions in 4-inch letters (NORTH at top, SOUTH at bottom, EAST at right, WEST at left). 'NORTH = UP' written below in large red letters. A hand-drawn arrow points UP from each child's chair toward NORTH for the term. Songs and TPR movements accompany ('North to the ceiling, South to the floor, East where the sun rises, West where it sets').

M-K-S-GEO-15-A Chart

18x18-inch laminated compass rose. NORTH at top in 4-inch green letters with up-arrow. SOUTH at bottom in 4-inch brown letters with down-arrow. EAST at right in 4-inch yellow letters with right-arrow. WEST at left in 4-inch orange letters with left-arrow. Center: a small compass needle illustration. Below the rose: 'NORTH = UP' in 2-inch red. Songs lyrics 'North to the ceiling, South to the floor' printed in small font at the bottom.

• Walking-game: teacher calls out a direction; children walk 4 steps that way and freeze

  scaffold Adult chaperones for crowd flow
• Map-talk: in pairs, take turns describing 2 places on the map using cardinal directions

  scaffold Sentence frame 'The ___ is ___ of the ___'

• Point to North in our classroom. Tell me 'The ___ is ___ of the ___' about two places on our map.

• Add N/S/E/W to Word Wall
• Preview: tomorrow we'll do a civic action thank-you for a neighborhood place

• At home tonight, find OUT which direction the front of your home faces (ask a family member). Tell us tomorrow.