Maps & Navigation Reading Passages

Read the information a map communicates

A colored line, a small symbol, or a grid reference can help a reader locate something important. These maps and navigation reading passages explore how people represent places and use that information. The collection moves from a simple introduction to maps and train schedules to geologic maps, classroom navigation rules, and an observational sound map.

The selection includes a 2nd grade introduction, a Lower Elementary train text, an Upper Elementary explanation, and passages labeled 4th through 8th grade. Choose by each passage's reading-level label and the kind of reading you want students to practice.

Compare explanations, instructions, and school reports

Start with “How Maps Help Us Find the Way” to discuss symbols, keys, and routes. Compare that explanation with a train text, where readers must connect a station on a line with an arrival time. Older readers can examine how geologic maps use colors and cross-sections to communicate information about rock layers.

Several functional texts ask readers to follow coordinate clues, interpret game rules, or make a consistent legend. A sound-mapping procedure adds a different purpose: recording observations from one position. Ask students which details each map includes and what a reader could reasonably learn from it.

Discuss map design and its limits

The school reports and gallery announcement are classroom reading examples. Their events and submission instructions are part of the texts. One fictional report describes a tactile map prototype, including its testing problems and limitations; another follows students designing a trail guide.

Compare the choices made for different audiences before planning a mapping task of your own. For related subject reading, explore Geography Reading Passages and Rocks and Minerals Reading Passages.