This would be for 4th - 5th grades. It was a project we did after completing our beginning of the year map unit. Feel free to use. Instructions for Mapping a New Island Nation 1. Paint the inside of a carton top blue (for ocean) and the sides another color. Put your initials on one side. This will be your base. 2. Create a salt dough island with the elevations you want. Include mountains, hills, plains. 3. Paint the island with different colors for lower and higher elevations. You should see stripes of colors when looking sideways at the island. 4. Paint the rivers and lakes. 5. Place your island in the center of the base. 6. Label the following: Oceans or seas Compass rose Lines of latitude and longitude 6. Use one index card to create a key. The key should show: Colors to indicate different elevations A scale of miles 7. Glue the index cards to the front side of the base. 8. Write the name of your island on the front side of the base. Instructions for Creating Maps of Your Island Nation 1. Make an outline map of your island nation on white paper. Do not color the island. Color the ocean blue and add the following: Lines of latitude and longitude Oceans and seas Island’s name Lakes and rivers Scale of miles Compass rose 2. Choose one type of map from the list and follow the directions to create it: A. Precipitation map B. Temperature map C. Resource map Instructions for Writing a Report About Your Island Write a report about the history of your island nation. Tell who discovered the island, how it got its name, when the discovery was made, what kind of government it has, the name of the capital, the population, where it is located on the globe, the neighboring countries. Include any other interesting ‘facts’ about your fictional island which you would like to include. The report must be hand-written neatly in paragraph form. It will be graded as follows: *Contains all required elements 5 *Has correct spelling, grammar, punctuation 5 *Is in good paragraph form with ideas well organized, topic sentences, detail sentences 5 *Neatness 5 *Shows effort 5 Total possible points 25 TYPES OF MAPS Precipitation Map Look up precipitation maps in the world atlas. Label your outline map, “Yearly Precipitation”. Create a key that shows different colors which represent different levels of precipitation. Color in areas on the map to show their annual precipitation. Include a compass rose and map scale. Temperature Map Look up temperature maps in the world atlas. Label your outline map, “Average Temperature”. Create a key that shows different colors which represent different levels of temperature. Color in areas on the map to show their average temperatures. Include a compass rose and map scale. Resource Map Look up resource maps in the world atlas. Create a key that shows the different resources that are produced on your island. Choose symbols for each type of resource. Put the symbols on your map to show where the resources are produced. Include a compass rose and map scale. Resources Needed for Island Nation Cardboard box top at least 12” x 12” Salt dough ingredients Paint and brushes Index cards
We spend time on the geography of the US. I've assigned each child a state and had them make a physical representation of the state with salt dough. I had them glue strips of paper on toothpicks to label cities and rivers.
