Classroom Mapping

BLAZING TRAILS THROUGH THE URBAN JUNGLE is a classroom mapping tool designed to help children get to know their neighbourhood better. Suitable for students in Grades 4 to 6, it involves a series of fun activities, relates to various parts of the curriculum, and can be done independently or linked to the Walking School Bus effort.

The Blazing Trails booklets are available here:

• Blazing Trails Student Workbook Adobe (PDF - 611 KB)
• Blazing Trails Teachers' Guide Adobe (PDF - 769 KB)

Associated documents are available here:

• Sample Parent Letter MS Word (DOC - 43 KB)

Tips to obtain a school catchment area map for the Blazing Trails Student Workbook:

The STUDENT BOOKLET resource requires an 8½ x 11 map of your school catchment area – or the community immediately surrounding your school – that clearly identifies the nearby streets and public places. If you don’t already have such a map, you could:

• get one from your school district, or
• get one from your municipal planning department, or
• create and print your own from an online mapping facility.

How to get a School Catchment map from the Internet:

YouTube tutorial for Google Maps at: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/mymaps/create.html

1. Go to Google Maps http://maps.google.ca
2. In the entry bar beside the “Search Maps” button type in your school name, municipality & province.
3. The result will list several Place Marks (they look like push-pins).
4. Select the correct push-pin and right-click on the push-pin and select “Centre Map here”.
5. Zoom in by clicking the “+” button along the scale at the top left corner of the map.
6. Keep zooming in until you have a workable image of your school area.
7. Click on the Print icon (above the Map, Satellite tabs).
8. Scroll down to display the map fully, and press the Print Screen (PrtScn) key on your keyboard.
9. Open an image editing application and paste the screenshot into it.
10. Crop the image to capture the desired map portion.
11. Copy and paste the map into Page 3 of the Student Booklet.

"Blazing Trails ties into the existing math and science curriculum as students work with legends and keys to map out their routes. The workbooks also increase knowledge of the kids' own communities."
Grade 3/4 Teacher, Toronto