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Geography · Grade 1

Cardinal Directions with Models

Learners meet north, south, east and west on a compass rose, use them to tell where places are on picture maps, and move step by step on grid maps of a make-believe park. They finish by using the sun, which seems to rise in the east and set in the west, as a natural direction helper.

  • 4 lessons
  • About 55 minutes
  • Directions check: 8 questions
  • Ways to answer: fill in the blanks, choose an answer, plot points, label a picture, match pairs and type a number
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What learners will discover

  • Name the four cardinal directions and find them on a compass rose.
  • Use north, south, east and west to tell where one place is from another on a map with north at the top.
  • Move on a grid map by counting squares in a direction, and find where a route ends.
  • Explain that the sun seems to rise in the east and set in the west, and use this to find directions.

Lessons

  1. The compass rose 8 steps4 practiceabout 12 min
  2. Directions on a map 7 steps4 practiceabout 12 min
  3. Moving on a grid map 7 steps4 practiceabout 14 min
  4. The sun shows east and west 8 steps4 practiceabout 12 min
  5. Directions check 8 questions at the end

Keep exploring

Games to practice with

  • Globe ExplorerSpin a real 3D globe, flip to the flat map, and find continents, oceans and countries.
  • Mapmaker QuestFollow directions to make a map, then read its legend, compass rose and scale.
  • Landform ExplorerMountains, valleys, peninsulas and deltas — learn the shapes of the land and find them on Earth.

More 1st grade geography

Guide for grown-ups