Jennifer Gay

4161C

Map a Town

This activity allows students to create a map of a town while using specific geometric terms. Students will be given grid paper and asked to develop a map of a town with streets that are parallel, perpendicular, and that intersect. They will also be asked to develop buildings that are in the shapes of rectangles, squares, trapezoids, and a rhombus. Prerequisites for this project include knowledge of specific geometric terms. This activity could be used for students in the 4th-5th grade and would be on a difficulty level of moderate.

You are employed to design a map of the town that you will create. Your map must have a specific street layout. Also, whatever buildings you place in your town must have a certain design.

Your town map must include:

  1. Three streets that are parallel to each other. Label the streets Oak, Patterson and Ashley.
  2. Two avenues that are perpendicular to the three parallel streets. Name your avenues Baytree and Alden.
  3. One boulevard that intersects three streets but is NOT perpendicular to them. It does not cross the avenues. Name the one boulevard Georgia.
  4. Five rectangular buildings. Color each rectangular building red. Four square buildings. Color each square building brown. Two trapezoid buildings, color them green. One rhombus structure. Color the rhombus structure yellow. Create a color key on your map. Label the buildings.
  5. Design a park with two triangular shaped sandboxes: scalene (orange) and isosceles(purple). Label the triangles by their shape. A swimming pool in the park should be equilateral shaped and colored blue. Enclose the park in one large rectangle and give the park a name.
  6. Use crayons or markers to add landscapes.
  7. Name your town.
  1. Draw an example of two parallel streets from your map and give the names of each of the streets.
  1. Give the definition of a perpendicular line and give the names of two streets that are perpendicular to one another.
  1. Draw an example of lines that intersect and give the names of two streets that intersect on your map.
  1. Give the definition of a rhombus and name the building from your map that you labeled as a rhombus.
  1. Draw an isosceles triangle and give the definition of a scalene triangle.

Answer Key

1. Drawings and answers will vary for each student.

2. Perpendicular lines are two lines that intersect and form two right angles. Answers will vary for street names.

3. Drawings and answers will vary for each student.

4. A rhombus is a parallelogram with four equal sides.

5.

A scalene triangle has sides and angles that are unequal.