Students launch a Map Makers Mission in which they use a read-aloud, travel clues, and a class wall map to figure out where they are, trace where they could go next, and begin telling the story of a journey from Kentucky as Home Base. Through map talk, movement, sketching, and short writing, they practice using symbols, labels, locations, and route words such as home base, direction, landmark, and journey to answer: How can a map help us figure out where we are and where we could go next? The experience builds observation, communication, and self-reflection as students create passport entries and a final passport page with a sketch, labeled route, and a sentence comparing what they knew at the start to what they can explain now about maps and journeys.

Students will use map words such as home base, route, direction, landmark, and journey to explain where they are, where they could go next, and how a path is shown on a class map. They will read symbols, labels, and locations on the map, use clues and the read-aloud to gather information, and trace a possible route from Kentucky to another place using evidence from the map. Students will create passport entries with a sketch, labeled route, and complete sentences that show what they noticed at the start of the lesson and what they can explain now about maps and journeys. Students will also practice listening, sharing ideas, and reflecting on their learning as they co-create investigation questions and discuss how maps tell the story of a trip.

Students create a travel passport with a first entry that includes a sketch of Kentucky as Home Base and one sentence about what the map helped them notice, then add family-supported identity details at home to share back. As a class, they co-create a large wall-map display with a Home Base star on Kentucky, yarn routes, travel clues, and charted investigation questions about how maps show location, direction, landmarks, and journeys. By the end, each student completes a final passport page that includes a sketch, a labeled route, and a reflection sentence comparing what they knew at the start to what they can now explain about maps and journeys. Students may also record a short spoken explanation of their route using map vocabulary and visual displays to share their learning clearly.

Begin with a “Map Makers Mission” read-aloud of Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, then send students to follow 3–4 short travel clues around the room that lead to a giant wall map. At the map, students help place a Home Base star on Kentucky and use yarn to trace one possible route, naming direction, landmark, route, and journey as they decide where they could go next. Pause to ask one essential question such as, “How can a map help us figure out where we are and where we could go next?” and co-create 2–3 investigation questions on chart paper. Students finish the launch by sketching Kentucky as Home Base in a passport entry and writing one sentence about what the map helped them notice before completing family-supported passport details at home.

Host a “Passport and Map Museum” where students display their final passport page with a sketch, labeled route from Kentucky, and a reflection sentence explaining how their thinking about maps and journeys changed. Invite families, another 3rd grade class, or school staff to walk the room as students stand by the giant wall map, use map vocabulary like home base, route, direction, landmark, and journey, and explain how the yarn path tells the story of travel. Add a short audio station where students record themselves reading their passport entry or a favorite line from the story while pointing to visual map details that support their explanation. End with a gallery walk feedback moment where visitors leave one note about what the student helped them understand about using maps to figure out where we are and where we could go next.