Summer Vacation Maps

• Give your students a chance to share their summer adventures with their peers while practicing their map skills with a summer-vacation maps activity. To begin this activity, ask students to select a vacation destination that they visited during the summer. Allow students who did not take a trip this summer to join with a peer who did, or ask them to select a place they would like to have visited if the choice had been up to them. Take students to the computer lab, and ask them to look up a map of their selected location. If the location is within the United States, ask the student to print off a map of the state and mark the capital of the state along with the city she visited. If the destination laid outside the US borders, ask him to print out a map of the country and again mark the capital city and the city or cities that he visited. Post the maps on a classroom wall.
  
  

"My Trip to School" Maps

• One of the many new routines with which children must become acclimated as they head back to school is getting to school each day. Ask your fifth graders to use their map skills to show how they get to school by creating "My Trip to School" maps. To prepare for this activity, obtain a copy of a street map of your local community. Make one copy of this map for each student. Hand these maps out to students and ask them to pay particular attention to their next trip to school and, using a pen or a marker, mark how they get to school. Start class the next day by allowing children to share their maps, showing their classmates how their trip to and from school goes each day.
  
  

School-Building Maps

• Get your students familiar with the school building by engaging them in school-building map creation. Begin this activity by dividing students into small groups and giving each group a sheet of paper, a pencil and a ruler. Divide your school building and grounds into wings, assigning each group a wing to feature in their map. Allow students to venture to their assigned building areas and explore, gathering the information they require to craft a map of the building space. Give students time to work together to create their maps, then allow each group to present their map to the class before combining them and hanging them up to make a comprehensive school map.
  
  

Continents "Welcome Back" Bulletin Board

• Study the continents with your students as you ask them to join you in preparing a welcome back bulletin board. To begin this activity, divide students into seven groups. Assign each group a continent. Ask the groups to procure maps of their assigned continents and, using the Internet or a print resource, look up how to say "welcome" in one or more of the languages spoken on their assigned continent. Allow groups to place their maps and "welcome" translations on a classroom bulletin board.