Chapter 14 — Maps and Locations

Chapter 14 of the Class 5 Mathematics NCERT textbook (Maths Mela), "Maps and Locations", teaches students to identify the four cardinal directions, read street maps and metro maps, and use grid coordinates to locate positions — download the PDF to access the full set of activities including the Zoo grid, Delhi Metro route-finding, and the bird-watching camp map.

• Cardinal Directions — Students learn to identify North, South, East, and West by facing the rising Sun. Activities ask them to describe the direction of objects — windows, beds, cupboards — relative to their own position in a room.
• Reading Street Maps — A street map of a neighbourhood (with named roads such as Hospital Road, Park Road, and Market Road) is used to trace bus routes and answer questions about which houses are east of others, which bus stop is closer to Lali's house, and how to help Golu reach the nearest stop.
• Reading a Metro Map — Children navigate the Delhi Metro network to travel from the Qutb Minar station (Yellow Line) to the Supreme Court station (Blue Line), comparing routes, counting station stops, and identifying interchange stations such as Hauz Khas.
• Grid Coordinates — A zoo map drawn on a numbered grid introduces ordered pairs such as (1,1) for the Panda. Students practice the rule: move horizontally east first, then vertically north, and write the meeting point as (column, row) — an early introduction to coordinate geometry.

1. 01Facing the rising Sun is one way to find East; your left hand then points North and your right hand points South.
2. 02The bird-watching camp activity uses directional clues (north of, south of, east of, west of) to colour tents on a map.
3. 03The Delhi Metro map activity shows that different coloured lines represent different routes, and passengers may need to change lines to reach their destination.
4. 04Grid coordinates are written as (column, row): move east (horizontal) first, then north (vertical), and record where the lines meet.
5. 05An ant-in-the-zoo activity combines distances and directions — for example, crawling 2 cm east to reach the laddoos — practising multi-step directional movement.
6. 06Students are asked to make their own maps (of a room, of the school) and create a key for the symbols used, developing real map-making skills.
7. 07The chapter connects to real-world navigation: Siberian Cranes flying from Siberia to India are used to spark curiosity about how living things find directions.