by Paula Owens

Geography Resources How can we get to Grandma's safely?

Key Stage 1

About Digimap for Schools Digimap for Schools is an online mapping service for use by teachers and pupils providing easy access to a range of current Ordnance Survey maps including the most detailed mapping available for Great Britain, OS MasterMap, as well as digital versions of Ordnance Survey's famous paper maps, the Landranger and Explorer series. Also included are street level maps showing street names and road-atlas style maps. Maps can be printed as PDF files at A3 or A4 size with an individual's own map title and name included with the scale bar and school name and address. Search tools include postcode, place name or national grid reference and maps can be moved to centre on any chosen location within Great Britain. Map keys are available for each scale map to explain the symbols used within the map. Maps can be annotated with symbols, lines, areas, text and can be saved to be reused during another session. Digimap for Schools is a subscription service. Schools purchase a subscription for 12 months access to the service. Details on subscriptions can be found at http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/subscribe.html. Terms of use of the service can be found at http://digimapforschools.edina.ac.uk/termsofuse.pdf. For further information or to give feedback on our resources, contact the EDINA Help Desk on 0131 650 3302 (Mon- Fri 9-5) or email edina@ed.ac.uk.

About the Author: Dr Paula Owens

Paula worked for many years as a primary teacher and Deputy Head and is currently a freelance consultant, author and trainer specialising in primary geography and sustainable schools. She is also employed two days a week by the Geographical Association as Primary Curriculum Development and Primary Geography Quality Mark Leader.

Paula has worked with government agencies and NGO’s to develop curriculum materials and provided INSET in National and European contexts. She is co – editor of the award winning series ‘Geography Plus: Primary Teachers’ Toolkit’ and leads an online network of ‘Geography Champions’ to support primary teachers.

Geography Champions network http://geographychampions.ning.com The Geographical Association www.geography.org.uk

© EDINA at the University of Edinburgh 2012 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

Digimap for Schools Geography Resources Ref No: 5 Title of Activity: How to get to Grandma’s safely? Level: Key Stage 1 Context: Dangers in the local environment Location within GB: Can be applied anywhere in the GB. Knowledge / Skills: Recognizing simple map features / Creating maps showing routes and features / Knowing how to stay safe out of doors. Link to Curriculum: locating and describing places in the locality, managing risk and staying safe. Scottish Curriculum For Excellence: (Social Science Outcomes: People, Place and Environment): 1-07a, 1-08a, 1-11a

Note to Teacher The amount of independent work children are able to manage will depend on their familiarity with the software and experience of using maps in general. The step by step tasks are not meant to be read alone by children but as a guide for you the teacher to demonstrate with the whole class and / or direct individuals as appropriate. Each activity has several ideas within it that you can tailor and adapt to suit your class and children. The aim of the pack is to:

• Support you in developing the use of Digimap for Schools in the classroom across the primary age range

• Develop the skills of your pupils in the use of the full suite of tools that is currently available

• Suggest some ideas for developing mapping across the curriculum • Save you time and provide inspiration!

The contexts for the learning include both ‘physical’ and ‘human’ geography, and will explore different scales of mapping from the school grounds to locations in England, Scotland and Wales.

Digimap for Schools Geography Resources

Activity The activity uses a film made by pupils at Southborough Primary School in Kent to think about risks in the local area. The film is a take on Little Red Riding Hood’s journey only this time the ‘Bad Wolf’ becomes a ‘Good Wolf’ who helps her to identify dangers along the way and how to avoid them. After watching the film, pupils think about places in and round their locality that might be dangerous and map a route to show them

Introduction This activity is a useful focus for a fieldwork activity, although it could be done without going outside. It’s good practice to involve pupils in a risk assessment of their local area, especially when they might be going out on fieldwork. Digimap for Schools enables pupils to zoom in to a map and examine features such as streets, alleys, shops, woods and parks around their school, prompting them to think about the dangers that might be encountered in different places. There is a strong link between maps and stories. Skills in storytelling and writing such as scene setting, sequence and context are helped by referring to visual and spatial prompts.

Main Activity Remind children of the traditional tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf and show them the short film made by children from Southborough Primary School, in which the ‘Bad Wolf’ became the ‘Good Wolf’ and helped Red Riding Hood stay safe as she made her journey. Ask pupils to note down the different kinds of places that Little Red Riding Hood visits in the film as they watch. Discuss the places Little Red Riding Hood went to in the film (a wood, a busy road, an alleyway, an electricity sub – station and a playground) and whether there are any of these features near you. Use a map of your local area to help you. Ask pupils what other kinds of places might be dangerous. Explain that you are going to create a fictional route for Little Red Riding Hood in your locality featuring places that might be dangerous. The task will be to map the route, identifying and describing the dangers found at each place. Provide access to aerial imagery to help pupils investigate their suggested places more thoroughly. A suggested format might be for pupils to work in groups of four or five and to look for four or five places in the locality respectively. Adapt to suit your pupils. Each group will create a map showing the route and the stops along the way. Each person in the group will take responsibility for one of the stops and be able to explain both the risk and the possible action that might be taken there. Give pupils time to gather information; describe the risks and actions verbally and finally, time for the group to collaborate and develop a group story. Use the school as the starting and end point for an imaginary journey by Little Red Riding Hood. Pupils will have to devise a circular route from and back to the school.

Tasks

Working in your group:

1. Brainstorm places near to the school and what some of the dangers might be. Make a list of places and dangers, for example the local high street and busy roads.

2. Open Digimap for Schools and enter the postcode for your school into the search bar so that you can find your locality.

3. You might want to use the scale bar to zoom in and out or to move the map until

you can find the places you thought about. Look at the map closely and see if there are some places you have missed. Choose the most suitable places.

4. Mark your chosen places and label them. Open the Annotations toolbar and select ‘Add Marker’.

Select the marker you want to use and click on the map where you want the place to be. Then click ‘Place label’ from the ‘Draw and Create’ section of the toolbar, choosing the smallest text. Click near to the marker you have just added and write in the name of the place. Repeat this and add another label saying what the danger is. Or, you could try writing the name of the place and the danger on one label.

Taking it further

• Create a class ‘risk’ map of the locality showing all of the identified dangers pupils have found and use this to create a guide to staying safe in the local area.

• Link this to fieldwork and use this activity as pupils’ risk assessment preparation

• Try setting the tale in an unfamiliar, contrasting locality.

• Make your own film.

Weblinks

Strengthen understanding of Ordnance Survey mapping features through use of aerial imagery and ‘Street View’ www.maps.google.com Watch the film made by Southborough Primary school and teacher Jonathon Kersey and download the supporting resources including planning documents and teacher evaluation. http://www.geography.org.uk/projects/younggeographers/resources/southborough/