CONTEXT

Stories from literature can be the basis of many classroom activities. Students enjoy hearing and doing activities that pertain to their favorite stories. The story of Cinderella is used in our activity.

CHALLENGE

Many years ago there was a young prince that was looking for a fine girl to become his wife. His father, the king, held a party in the prince's honor and every girl in the town was invited to attend so the prince could choose a wife. While at the party, the prince met a lovely lady and danced with her the entire evening, yet never learned her name. Unfortunately, when the clock rang twelve, the beautiful lady ran out of the mansion and the prince could not find her. The only trace of her that remained was one of her glass slippers.

The prince has searched the entire town, going to every house, looking for the owner of the lost glass slipper. He has been to all of them, expect for one on the far edge of town. (Little did he know that this is the home of Cinderella, the beautiful lady from the ball.) The prince wants to visit this house, but does not know how to get there. This is where he needs your help. The prince would like you to create a map of the town. Then he needs you to write a set of directions, beginning at his mansion, explaining how to get to Cinderella's home, the house he has not yet visited.

OBJECTIVES

1. The students will improve and develop language arts skills.
2. The students will become familiar with using and understanding maps by creating their own and learning how to use it. This skill is essential for many school projects and later on in everyday life.
3. The students will realize that planning is an essential step before beginning a project.
4. The students will understand the value of working together in small groups in order to achieve a common goal and produce the best possible final project.
5. The students will write clear instructions on how to get to Cinderella's house using descriptive terms and will create a map with a key and compass rose.

RESOURCES

The story of Cinderella
Social Studies textbook
Compass Rose

MATERIALS

Scrap paper for planning sketches
Piece of poster board for the base of the map
Pencils/Markers
Ruler
Scissors
Glue
Multi-colored paper

PROCEDURE

1. The students will read the story of Cinderella.
2. The students will be organized into small groups of three or four children, which will be assigned by the instructor.
3. The students will be given a copy of this handout to read to themselves.
4. In a cooperative environment, the students will brainstorm what they want their town to look like.
5. In planning a town, the following guidelines should be considered:
*The prince must cross two railroads on the way to Cinderella's house.
*Cinderella must live at least 50 miles away from the price. One inch equals one mile.
*On the way to Cinderella's, the prince must pass by the school, playground, church, gas station, police station, fire station, drug store, and a neighborhood of houses. All of the landmarks must be 1 1/2 miles apart.
*Five other landmarks, besides the ones listed above, must be included on the map.
*A map key and compass rose must be included on the map.
*Each supply from the list must be used on the map.

6. The students will create rough sketches of their town before beginning to construct the map. Be sure to include the prince's mansion and Cinderella's house on the map.

7. Each place you put on your map must have a symbol that is included in the key.
8. On the rough sketch, draw the roads in that the prince will need to follow in order to get to Cinderella's house.
9. The students must write a clear set of directions on how to get to Cinderella's house, making sure all guidelines are included. Use the rough sketch to determine directions using the compass directions (north, south, east, west).
10. Have the rough draft of the directions, map key, and sketch of the map checked by the instructor.
11. Construct the prince's map using the given supplies. Be sure that the symbols for each landmark are well defined, easy for everyone to understand, and that a variety of colors are used. Use your textbook as a reference for the map symbols.
12. Draw roads on your map so that the prince can get to Cinderella's house.
13. Create a final copy of the directions to Cinderella's house, find the way there from the prince's castle, making sure that the directions are easy to understand.

ASSESSMENT

The small groups will rotate and try to find the way to Cinderella's house following the group's written instructions, evaluating each group's project. If the visiting group does not follow the correct path, the small group needs to revise their written directions.
Each small group will present their final map to the class and explain how each guideline is fulfilled on the map.
The teacher will check and make sure all required guidelines are on the map. He/she also needs to be sure that the map key and compass are developed and included.

FEEDBACK

After assessing the final project, discuss the positive and negative aspects of the project with the creating group. The instructor should point out the strengths of the project and ways in which it could be improved.

REDESIGN

The small group will have one chance to revise the directions to Cinderella's house and correct guidelines that were not followed the first time. After the revisions, the student will resubmit the project to the instructor for a chance to receive additional points.