Step by step:
1. Finish writing names of countries, capitals, rivers, etc. using their paper maps for South Africa and my example map (attached below).
Don't forget to include Victoria Falls, Lake Kariba, Zambezi River, Kalahari Desert, Namib Desert, Cape of Good Hope, Drakensberg Mountains, Thabana Ntlenyana mountain, Mozambique Channel, Cabinda (Angola) and that South Africa has three capitals (Cape Town, Bloemfontein, and Pretoria.
2. Finish coloring their map using my example and their map legend. We've used Crayola coloring pencils for this project and would ideally prefer the students to use that brand to finish. They've worked super hard on this map and changing colors (even if they're close) will look odd when it's finished.
3. Using their own online resource or an atlas, add the following islands to the map and label them: Comoros (island chain), Seychelles (island chain), Mauritius, Sao Tome & Principe.
4. Decide whether they want to color the European Continent and Southeast Asia grey, black or keep it white.
5. Neatly color all of the surrounding ocean blue (crayon will work well here for faster coverage).
6. Fill in the scale portion of their legend using metric measurements. See my map for an example, or students can research and find an example they prefer.
Method: Using my ruler, I measured the widest distance from west to east was about 54 cm. Several resources online estimate that Africa is approximately 7,400 km from west to east. To find the length of one centimeter, I divided 7,400 by 54, which equaled approximately 137 km. I then used MapTools.com's scale calculator to find the map scale.
Please have students draw their scale in pencil before going over it in marker.
1 cm ~ 137 km (this is an approximation) 1:13,700,000
7. Make sure any loose "pages" on the map are securely glued using a glue stick, so the map doesn't wrinkle.
8. Carefully and evenly trim off the bottom excess poster board off the bottom of the board leaving the same width of border as the rest of the map. Alternatively, trim off all excess poster board so only the pages are left (a good option if the pages are skewed on the poster board).
Optional: If leaving a border around the map, using duct tape of their choice, carefully apply the tape to all four edges of the poster board, making a border that frames their map. The map will be too large to laminate, so decide whether you'd like to laminate before choosing this option!
Optional: Laminate the entire map after trimming for long-term preservation. KSS will laminate items with max width of 25 in for $.80 a running foot, which is very reasonable. My map is too large with the border, but Sophie's trimmed map is about 24 in wide and would fit in the laminator machine.
9. When finished, send a picture to me so that I can see the end result of all of their hard work!!
