When the French Were Here
Champlain Quadricentennial
Activity II. Map Making Exercise
Directions for students:
- Make a map of the route you take to go home after school.
- Give directions in words to help a person find the right way.
- Now use words to describe your route home.
- How did you describe it?
- Did you use landmarks?
- Did you use distances?
- Did most people in the class use one kind of description (such as landmarks)?
- Which way would be more useful, landmarks or distances? Why?
Make a map that anyone could use, even a person who has never been to your school. Was it more difficult to do that than to make a map for a classmate? Why?
Now think about Samuel de Champlain. He had to make a map of a place that no one in his country had ever seen.
