WILD & WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY: Mapping my Day by Julie Dillemuth
ABOUT THE BOOK
Flora loves drawing maps and uses them to tell us about her life! Mapping My Day introduces spatial relationships and representation: where things and places are in relation to other things. This book intends to show readers how maps can convey information, inspire children to draw their own maps, and introduce basic map concepts and vocabulary. Spatial thinking is how we use concepts of space for problem solving and is shown to be a key skill in science, technology, engineering, and math. Includes a "Note to Parents and Caregivers" with extra mapping activities.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julie Dillemuth was mystified by maps until she figured out how to read them and make them, and it was a particularly difficult map
that inspired her to become a spatial cognition geographer. She lives
with her family and writes children's books in Santa Barbara,
California, where the west coast faces south. Visit her at her website: http://juliedillemuth.com.
Check out the fun activity pages on Julie’s website, and at:
REVIEW
Flora loves to draw maps. It all started the day she buried her treasures in her yard to hide them from her little brother and had to draw a map to find them again. Flora introduces us to a day in her life. Each part of her day includes a map. There's a map of her house, her backyard, the way to school, the playground, and her aunt's dog obstacle course. It was fun to read about Flora's day and then see it diagrammed on the map. Each map also introduces one important aspect of maps such as a compass rose, a scale, and landmarks. At the end, the author has included suggestions for a bunch of activities that parents or teachers can do with children to help them learn about maps. This is a fun way to introduce children to the concepts related to spatial relationships as well as a great starting point for learning to use and create maps.
INTERVIEW w/ Julie Dillemuth
*What led you from geography to
writing children's books?
(Note: I'm a
geography major also, but my love of books and reading lead me to become a
librarian, but my love of geography seeps through in themes like "Read
Around the World")
In
graduate school for geography, I was fascinated with research about the ages at
which children can understand spatial concepts like maps or imagining things
from another perspective. And I also learned that we don’t really teach kids
about spatial thinking like we teach them reading and math. Of course, some
parents and teachers do — they are really into maps, puzzles, and other spatial
activities. But there’s a big variation in kids’ exposure to spatial concepts.
About seven years ago, kinda out of the blue, I had an idea for a story for
babies that was full of prepositions and other positional language, and it
occurred to me that fun, engaging books with spatial thinking themes could help
promote these skills. I thought of more story ideas, and then realized I’d
better figure out how to write for kids! I joined the immensely supportive
Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and began going
to workshops and taking writing courses. The more I got into it, the more I
loved writing picture books, and I knew I wanted to make it my career. I’m
encouraged that so many people recognize the value of teaching spatial thinking
skills to kids, and I’m happy that I can use my expertise in such a unique way.
*What do you enjoy most about
maps and mapping?
My first
real interest in maps and mapping was as an archaeology major in college.
Before that, on road trips when I was little the road atlas was always within
reach, but I didn’t pay much attention. In college we mapped our archaeological
site with a plane table and alidade (really old school!) as well as with more
modern surveying instruments. And I did projects combining historical maps with
satellite imagery, which was really exciting. I love old maps of places I know—it’s
neat to see what’s different now.
But USING
maps to get around was a completely different story. I have a terrible sense of
direction, and I used to hate trying to find my way with maps. Without fail I
would get lost, and that’s an awful feeling. But that’s actually what led me to
study spatial cognition and how people use maps—I wanted to know why I got lost
and disoriented so easily, and why I found maps so frustrating. To my surprise,
in the course of researching maps and how people interact with them, I got so
much better at using maps myself and staying oriented! Now I look forward to
exploring new cities, I know how to prepare for a new trip before I get in the
car, and I’m confident in using maps.
I think
what I appreciate most about maps (and of course there are so many kinds of
maps), is that they show you a bigger area than you can see from where you’re
standing. And that’s a pretty powerful perspective.
*What does a spatial cognition
geographer do?
What’s
great about geography (as you know, being a geography major!) is that it’s
anything that has to do with the interaction of people and the earth. Geography
is everywhere! Cognitive geography is an intersection of psychology and
geography (and other disciplines), concerned with how people think, learn, and
problem solve with regard to physical or virtual space. So spatial cognition
topics include things like finding your way, using maps, spatial abilities, how
we talk about space with language, architectural design, virtual and augmented
reality, visualizing things that are to too small, too large, or too hidden to
see, reading diagrams, and the list goes on. There’s a lot of opportunity for
research in these areas, since there’s so much about the mind that we still
don’t know or fully understand. The more we discover about spatial cognition,
the more we can apply that knowledge to designing things more effectively,
whether it’s a navigation system, a building, a virtual environment, etc.—and
the better we can teach spatial skills and improve our spatial abilities.
GIVEAWAY
One lucky winner will receive a copy of MAPPING MY DAY (U.S. addresses).
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