Best for
Years 1-4 social studies or integrated literacy units where students are learning that a map is a useful picture of a place, not just decoration.
Social Studies / Tikanga-ā-Iwi • Spatial Thinking • Years 1-4
Maps & Mapping
Introduce ākonga to simple maps, symbols, and direction words through a real map-making task. The page moves from noticing map features to drawing a classroom, playground, or local-space map with a key and a clear sense of where things are.
Free junior map shell, premium localisation path
This worksheet already prints cleanly for tomorrow. If you want a bilingual version, school-specific landmarks, or multiple ability versions, Te Wānanga and Creation Studio can localise it quickly and keep the same child-friendly structure.
- Swap the drawing task to your classroom, playground, marae, or local reserve.
- Create extra symbol cards or simpler direction prompts for early readers.
- Save the adapted junior geography pack to My Kete.
Kaiako planning snapshot
- Use length: 30-40 minutes.
- Grouping: Whole-class model first, then independent or buddy map-making.
- Prep: Decide which familiar space students will map and pre-teach any key place names you want used.
- Teaching move: Keep reinforcing that maps show important parts of a place using symbols, labels, and position words rather than trying to draw everything exactly.
Resources already provided
- Introductory map vocabulary
- Symbol examples
- Direction sentence stems
- Large map-making box
- Teacher-only curriculum companion
No extra worksheet or cut-up cards are needed before teaching.
Ngā Whāinga Akoranga / Learning Intentions
- We are learning that maps show a place from above using symbols and labels.
- We are learning how to use simple direction words to describe where things are.
- We are learning how to make a map of a familiar place that another person can understand.
Paearu Angitu / Success Criteria
- I can add a title and a simple key to my map.
- I can show where important things are using pictures, symbols, or labels.
- I can use at least two direction or position words to explain my map.
Curriculum integration / Te Mātaiaho alignment
This handout supports early place and mapping work, especially where students are beginning to talk about how places are organised and how maps help people understand and move through them.
Why this matters in Aotearoa
Maps help ākonga make sense of the places they belong to: the classroom, school grounds, local park, marae, awa, or the route to kura. In Aotearoa, place is about people as well as position. Names, landmarks, and stories matter.
A mātauranga Māori lens reminds us that a place is not just empty space on paper. Maps can show relationships with whenua, wai, and people. Even in a junior task, using correct local place names and talking about who cares for a place helps map work feel more real and respectful.
1. What do we see on a map?
2. Talk like a navigator
3. Choose symbols for your map
4. Draw your map
Choose a familiar place: your classroom, playground, library corner, marae space, or another place your kaiako approves.
Differentiation and support
Keep the task chunked. Students can talk through the plan before drawing, trace over model symbols, or dictate labels to an adult or peer if writing is a barrier.
Hononga Marautanga · Curriculum Alignment
Social Sciences — Tikanga ā-Iwi
Level 3–4: Investigate social, cultural, environmental, and economic questions; gather and evaluate evidence from diverse sources; communicate findings and reasoning clearly for different audiences and purposes.
English — Communication
Level 3–4: Read, interpret, and evaluate information texts; write clearly and purposefully for specific audiences; apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources and construct well-reasoned responses.
Aronga Mātauranga Māori
This resource sits within a kaupapa that recognises mātauranga Māori as a living knowledge system with its own frameworks, values, and ways of understanding the world. The New Zealand Curriculum calls for learning that reflects the bicultural partnership of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which means every subject area has an obligation to engage authentically with Māori perspectives — not as cultural decoration but as substantive contributions to how we understand our topics. The concepts of manaakitanga (care for others), kaitiakitanga (guardianship), whanaungatanga (relationship and belonging), and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) provide a values framework applicable across all learning areas, and all are relevant to the work in this handout.
Ngā Rauemi Tautoko · Support Materials
This handout is designed to be used alongside the broader unit resources available at Te Kete Ako handouts library. Related resources from the same unit are linked in the unit planner. All resources are provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.
📋 Teacher Planning Snapshot
Ngā Whāinga Ako — Learning Intentions
Students will engage with this resource to apply systems thinking to real-world civic and community challenges — analysing feedback loops, leverage points, and emergent properties within social, environmental, and governance systems in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Ngā Paearu Angitū — Success Criteria
- ✅ Students can identify system components and their interactions within a real-world context.
- ✅ Students can apply indigenous systems thinking principles to analyse and propose community action.
Differentiation & Inclusion
Scaffold support: Provide systems mapping templates and sentence starters for entry-level access. Offer extension tasks asking students to identify a second-order effect or design an intervention at a leverage point within their chosen system.
ELL / ESOL: Pre-teach systems thinking vocabulary (feedback loop, leverage point, emergence, interdependence) using visual diagrams. Allow students to annotate systems maps in their home language first.
Inclusion: Use visual, spatial, and collaborative formats wherever possible — systems maps are inherently accessible for diverse learners. Neurodiverse learners benefit from structured inquiry steps and chunked analysis tasks. Ensure group roles are clearly defined.
Mātauranga Māori lens: Systems thinking has deep resonance with Te Ao Māori. Whakapapa is a relational map of systems — tracing connections between people, place, and time. Kaitiakitanga frames our responsibility within systems. Mauri provides a measure of system health. These indigenous concepts enrich Western systems thinking frameworks.
Prior knowledge: Students should have completed foundational systems thinking lessons (phases 1–2) before engaging with phase 3 inquiry tasks. No specialist prior knowledge required for standalone resources.
Curriculum alignment
- Understand: Systems shape how people and groups organise themselves — rights, responsibilities, power, and fairness in Aotearoa and globally.
- Do: Explore perspectives, use evidence to form conclusions, and share ideas — compare systems, map decisions, present new solutions.
- Identity, Culture, and Organisation: Understand how people participate individually and collectively in response to community challenges.