Clara’s Map for Visitors

Clara’s class is holding a small exhibition in the school library. Visitors will walk from the hall door to the display tables. Clara offers to make a map. She knows the route well, so she draws the rooms quickly from memory.

Her friend Max looks at the map beside the hall door. “Which way do I hold it?” he asks. Clara has drawn the garden at the top, but the garden is behind them. Max turns the card around and looks unsure.

Miss White asks Clara to walk the route again with a blank sheet. They begin at the hall door, facing the way a visitor will face. Clara draws the first turn before adding the next. She keeps the map’s direction the same as their walk.

She adds a large picture of the hall door to mark the start and a picture of the exhibition table at the end. A broad blue route joins them. She removes little decorations that had looked like extra paths on her first map.

Max tries the new map without Clara pointing the way. At the first corner, he chooses the correct direction. Near the library, however, two similar doors confuse him. He stops and explains exactly where the map stops helping.

Clara adds the large plant pot that stands beside the library door. They check it is a real feature visitors will see, not a temporary box. Miss White asks another child to try the route so they can see whether the clue helps someone new.

The new visitor finds the plant pot and reaches the exhibition. Clara asks which pictures were useful. The visitor points to the starting door and the plant. “I knew where I was,” she says. Clara keeps those clear clues on the final map.

On exhibition day, the map waits beside the hall door with an adult nearby to help. Clara checks that the route is still clear. “Knowing the place was not enough,” she tells Max. “We needed to find out what a new visitor could understand.”