Giant Traveling Map -- Asia

The National Geographic Giant Traveling Map of Asia was with us last week. Sixth grade students spent a class period walking around on the map finding a variety of landmarks and places, measuring distances, and drawing conclusions about the things that the map had to show them. One student was found "barefoot surfing" in the Indian Ocean, others seemed intent on a bit of very literal "island hopping," and another student rejoiced in the chance to stand atop the summit of Mt. Everest -- the world's highest peak. Here are some pictures of the students on the map --

Island Nations

Indian Ocean -- Comoros Maldives Madagascar Mauritius Seychelles Sri Lanka Mediterranean -- Malta Cyprus Pacific Ocean -- Figi Kirbati Marshall Islands Naura Palau Vanuatu Tuvalu Papua New Guinea Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Solomon Islands Tonga Carribean -- Antigua and Barbuda Barbados Dominca Grenada Saint Kitts - Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Atlantic Ocean -- Cape Verde Trinidad and Tobago

Giant Map of Africa

We've had the National Geographic Giant Traveling Map of Africa in the old gym this week. According to the National Geographic website about these maps, Giant Traveling Maps invite children to explore geography in a very hands-on —or rather feet-on—way. The maps’ brightly-colored, smooth vinyl surfaces accurately illustrate and label the countries, bodies of water, mountains and cities. Students take part in activities including safaris, scavenger hunts, and competitive games. Along the way they gain knowledge of country locations, capital cities, population centers, and physical features, as well as learn important historical, wildlife and cultural characteristics. Accompanying each map is a set of ready-to-use activities as well as atlases, books, music, videos, and game materials. Recommended grades: K-8What teachers are saying about National Geographic Giant Traveling Maps... One teacher who used the map, Bo Garrett, said: “I loved it! It was big enough for the whole class to sit in the Sahara Desert. I feel like I had a connection to Africa...” Students in the sixth grade spent two class periods on the map, studying the various regions, and then planning an imaginary trip around the continent. They gained familiarity with the African continent and had an opportunity to apply their measurement and math skills.

New Atlases

We have brand new, wonderful, National Geographic World Atlases -- designed specifically for use by students. They are really fun and will be a great resource. Along with the atlases, themselves, there is also access to this National Geographic website. It has lots of great information and fun things to do. Check it out.

Map Test Studies

The South America map test was given on October 21. Getting ready for map tests is a process that takes time in class as well as at home. Students prepare map study guides as well as a variety of study aids including flash cards and "flippers" to help them memorize items like capital cities. In the classroom, we lean toward the use of write-on/wipe-off maps and atlases to do the basic preparation work. Here's a great link that I found to help with studying for map tests using on-line flash cards: http://www.flashcardexchange.com/ I'll add this link to the geography links here on the webpage.

Island Nations Flags

Students are making flash cards as part of their preparation for the Island Nations Map test. Flash cards are to be illustrated with a picture of the national flag for each of the 29 Island Nations. Here are the flags for each of the nations:

Antigua and Barbuda

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Barbados

St. Kitts-Nevis

Dominica

Grenada

St. Lucia

Comoros

Maldives

Maritius

Madagascar

Seychelles

Sri Lanka

Tuvalu

Federated States of Micronesia

Papua New Guinea

Tonga

Vanuatu

Fiji

Kirbati

Nauru

Samoa

Solomon Islands

Marshall Islands

Palau

Trinidad and Tobago

Cape Verde

Cyprus

Malta