Cardinal Directions

Grade Level: 1 – 2

Teacher Guidelines ▶ pages 1 – 2

Instructional Pages ▶ pages 3 – 5

Activity Page ▶ pages 6

Practice Page ▶ page 7

Homework Page ▶ page 8

Answer Key ▶ page 9

Classroom Procedure:

Approximate Grade Level: 1 – 2

Objectives:

The students will be able to identify the four

cardinal directions and apply the information

using a map or a sunrise and sunset.

Common Core State Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.1

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.1.6

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.1

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2.7

Class Sessions (45 minutes):

1 to 2 class sessions.

Teaching Materials/Worksheets:

Cardinal Directions content pages (2), Activ-

ity page, Practice page, Homework page

Student Supplies:

Construction paper, colored pencils, scis-

sors, handouts

Prepare Ahead of Time:

Determine cardinal directions in the class-

room, pair students and supplies for the ac-

tivity. Copy handouts.

Options for Lesson:

Students may work alone or in groups for the

activity. Take students outdoors and identify the

cardinal directions. Students are assigned one

of the directions, given a local map, and name

the different places found away from that area of

the school. Students use a local or state map,

travel the different directions to places, labeling

their movement using the cardinal directions.

An extra-large compass rose is created to cover

the wall in the classroom. Introduce the use of a

compass to the students.

Determine the cardinal directions of the classroom.

Separate the class into four groups, place one group north,

one group east, etc. Ask students: What is the difference

in the location of each group?

Allow for responses and discussion. Choose a few students

individually and ask them to move to a new spot. Once

moved, ask the same students to explain how they moved

from one place to another.

Allow for responses. Each student will likely use a different

explanation for the move. Ask the class if they know words

that are used to explain directions.

4. Allow for responses and discussion. Introduce Cardinal

Directions to the class.

5. Distribute Cardinal Directions content pages. Read and

review the information with the students. Save the nal

question for the lesson closing. Use the additional resources

to enhance understanding.

Distribute Activity page. Read and review the instructions.

Pair students. Allow sufcient time for students to make

5 sentences. Use dictionaries if necessary. Question 2:

The students may work together on the designs, but with

question 3, each student will choose a compass rose to

redraw on the paper provided, color and cut it out.

Once completed, the student pairs will share their sentences

and compass roses with the class. Display the compass

roses in a prominent area of the classroom.

8. Distribute Practice page. Check and review the students’

responses.

9. Distribute the Homework page. The next day, check and

review the students’ responses.

10. In closing, ask students: If you left your home and could

travel in only one direction, which cardinal direction would

you choose? Why did you choose that direction?

11.

Allow for responses and directions. Tell students they could

walk over or through obstacles as they walk. Students must

remain moving in one direction.

Teacher Notes

The short lesson introduces students to the cardinal directions. Most students know the four different words

for the directions, but often get confused when applying the information on maps or when outdoors. It is

important for students to know where the sun rises and sets. There are many resources teachers may use

from the Internet to enhance the lesson as well. The lesson may be used with other topics related to maps

or sunsets and sunrises.

Additional Resources:

Content:

https://www.geolounge.com/teach-children-cardinal-directions/

https://kids.kiddle.co/Cardinal_direction

http://kinooze.com/what-are-cardinal-directions/

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/activity/explore-cardinal-directions/

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/activity/cardinal-directions-and-maps/

Worksheets:

http://connieyuzeng.cmswiki.wikispaces.net/le/view/map-it-out-workbook%5B1%5D.pdf

https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/cardinal-directions/

https://cardinaldirections.weebly.com/worksheets.html

https://www.pdx.edu/geography-education/sites/www.pdx.edu.geography-education/les/CardinalDirections_on_a_Compass-

Rose.pdf

https://www.havefunteaching.com/resource/third-grade/cardinal-directions-worksheet-2/

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2I81_BFb-s (2 min-song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXGN2qKrWFE (4 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te0Td0QVoj0 (2 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeeLivQH7Ok (3 min-song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIuVN5GcB60 (6 min)

Cardinal Directions

You and your family travel to different places. You walk

or ride a bus to school, go shopping with your mom, take

vacations to a special place, or simply walk around the

block. Each time you go somewhere, you travel or move

in a direction, which is the course or path you move.

You might walk down the street and then turn right or left,

later turn around and return home. You are moving in

different directions throughout the day. In the same way, cars, airplanes, buses, trains, and other vehicles

move in different directions too. However, instead of turning to the right or left, or traveling up or down the

street, there are special words used to name the directions a vehicle or person can travel.

There are four main directions or points called cardinal directions (sometimes cardinal points). The four points

include north (N), east (E), south (S), and west (W). The direction words are found on maps, compasses,

street signs, and in many other places. The cardinal directions help people travel from place to place.

There are place names in the United States and the world that use the cardinal direction words such as North

and South Dakota, North and South Carolina, South Korea, West Virginia, East Texas, Middle East, and

many others. Using the cardinal directions help people know the location of a place or how to nd a place.

Each cardinal direction has a special location. The NORTH always points to the north pole of the Earth,

sometimes called “the top of the world”. The SOUTH points to the “bottom” of the Earth or the south pole.

The EAST always points to the place where the sun rises in the morning, and the WEST

always points to

the place the sun sets in the evening.

The cardinal directions can be displayed using a COMPASS ROSE.

The compass rose uses the letters for each direction, N, E, S, W.

Notice the places each direction points. This will help you when

you are trying to remember the cardinal directions. There are

many different designs of compass roses, but all point to the

north, east, south, and west.

Using Cardinal

Directions

Now that you know the four cardinal directions, you

can use them when traveling from place to place,

with a map, or when you need to give directions to

another person. You may also hear the cardinal

directions used when a GPS system in a car or on

a phone narrates directions to a place.

The voice may say things like,

“Turn west onto Water Street; in one-quarter mile,

merge south onto route 10; and then drive east

towards Marble Avenue.”

SUNSETS SUNRISES

SOUTH POLE

NORTH POLE

The cardinal directions can be found and used on all types of maps too. They are used on maps showing

the entire world, a single country, a state, city, or one part of a small town. Review the map below and using

a compass rose, answer each of the questions.

1. Which direction would you travel from the school to the park? __________________

2. Which direction would you travel from Joe’s Market to Longwood Forest? __________________

3. Which direction would you travel from the Corner Deli to Beth’s Salon? __________________

4. Which direction would you travel from Yellow Alley to the Jagged River? __________________

Yellow Alley

Red

Street

Grand Central

Park

Joe’s Market Go-Go Gas

Green Street

Beth’s Salon Corner Deli

Red Street

Longwood Forest

Orange Alley

ABC Elementary

School

Jagged River

Did you answer correctly?

In the map above, Go-Go Gas is east of Joe’s Market. ABC Elementary

School is south of Longwood Forest. Yellow Alley is north of Orange

Alley. Beth’s Salon is west of the Corner Deli. In addition, Red Street

runs north to south or south to north, and Green Street runs east to

west or west to east.

One way to remember the cardinal directions is by using the rst letter

of each word to form short sentences. Examples: Never Eat Sugar Water;

Nice, Easy, Slow, Water. Can you think of a new one?

Remember, when you are outside, locate the sunrise, it is in the east. If you are facing

the sunrise, north will be to your left, south will be to your right, and west is behind you.

Practice using the cardinal directions while riding in a car or on the bus. Also, notice

the street signs using the four cardinal directions- north, east, south, and west.

1. North, 2. East, 3. West, 4. South

If you left your home and could travel in only one direction, which

cardinal direction would you choose? Why did you choose that direction?

Activity Name __________________________ Date _________

Work with your partner for each of the following instructions.

1. Use the rst letters of the cardinal directions and make short sentences to help remember them.

N___________________ E___________________ S___________________ W____________________

2. Use the spaces below to make 4 designs for a compass rose:

3. Using the paper your teacher provides, you and your partner will copy one of the compass roses, color

it, and then cut it out.

Practice Name __________________________ Date _________

Find the state and tell which states are found north, east, south, or west of its borders.

STATE North of… East of… South of… West of…

1 Kansas

2 Oregon

3 North Dakota

4 Colorado

5 Louisiana

6 New Mexico

7 Missouri

8 Texas

9 Minnesota

10 North Carolina

Find your state, and tell what states are to the north, east, south, and west:

Homework Name __________________________ Date _________

Follow the instructions using the boxes.

Start at the X, move two boxes east, place a 1

move two boxes south, place a 2

move three boxes east, place a 3

move two boxes south, place a 4

move two boxes east, place a 5

move four boxes north, place a 6

move three boxes west, place a 7

move ve boxes south, place an 8

move three boxes west, place a 9

move two boxes south, place a 10

move ve boxes east, place an 11

move three boxes east, place a 12

move one box south, place a 13

move six boxes west, place a 14

move one box south, place a 15

Answer each question.

1. Which direction is the sunset?

2. Which direction is the sunrise?

3. Which direction points to the “top” of the

Earth?

4. Which direction points to the “bottom” of the

Earth?

5. What is used to display the cardinal direc-

tions?

6. What is the course or path you move in

called?

7. What are the four abbreviations for the cardinal

directions?

8. True or False: A person always moves south when

they walk straight ahead.

9. True or False: The opposite of north is south.

10 True or False: The opposite of east is west.

Homework Name __________________________ Date _________

Answer Key

Follow the instructions using the boxes.

X 1 7 6

2 3

4 5

9 8

10 11 12

14 13

Start at the X, move two boxes east, place a 1

move two boxes south, place a 2

move three boxes east, place a 3

move two boxes south, place a 4

move two boxes east, place a 5

move four boxes north, place a 6

move three boxes west, place a 7

move ve boxes south, place an 8

move three boxes west, place a 9

move two boxes south, place a 10

move ve boxes east, place an 11

move three boxes east, place a 12

move one box south, place a 13

move six boxes west, place a 14

move one box south, place a 15

Answer each question.

1. Which direction is the sunset? West

2. Which direction is the sunrise? East

3. Which direction points to the “top” of the Earth? North

4. Which direction points to the “bottom” of the Earth?

South

5. What is used to display the cardinal directions? Com-

pass rose

6. What is the course or path you move in called? Di-

rection

7. What are the four abbreviations for the cardinal di-

rections? N, E, S, W

8. True or False: A person always moves south when

they walk straight ahead.

9. True or False: The opposite of north is south.

10 True or False: The opposite of east is west.