Highway Sign Reading
About 60 minutes, indoors, for ages 11 and up.
Where it works
Works in any indoor space
Who it's for
ages 11 and up
Clues To Collect:
- a town name that describes the land
- a sign for an industry or crop
- a water tower with writing on it
- an exit that serves only one business
- a brown sign for something historic
Today's Challenge
- 1.What did the signs tell you about this place before you could see it?
- 2.Which guess turned out to be wrong once you arrived?
- 3.What would a sign for your own town say?
Quick Start: What you need
- 1notebook
- 2pen
The Goal
Work out what a town does for a living before you reach the exit.
How to start
- 1
Gather what you need: notebook and pen. Nothing else required.
- 2
Head indoors and see how many you can find: a town name that describes the land, a sign for an industry or crop, a water tower with writing on it, an exit that serves only one business.
- 3
Talk about what you are seeing. Start with "What did the signs tell you about this place before you could see it?"
- 4
Print the worksheet to check things off as you find them, and keep it afterwards.
Map A Town From Its Signs
Pick one exit you did not take. Using only the signs you saw, write what you think is there, then say which sign convinced you.
In many states, exit numbers are the mile marker, so exit 90 sits ninety miles from where the highway entered the state. Other states number exits in order instead, starting at one.
If you want to push it further
- Guess what a town does for work, then check when you pass through
- Track whether exit numbers follow mileage or count upward
Print it and go
The worksheet has the checklist, the prompts, and a space to draw in. One page, ready for a bag or a glovebox.