Message from jreynolds

[Anonymous]

Even better than elevation maps, I like relief maps. Students can feel the texture change with their hands. Unfortunately, the schools are often too cheap to provide enough of them.

However, there are two things you can do. One thing, is to try ordering one large one and using it in a group project that required kids to think about what they feel and see. Another one, is to create your own. For my students, only in 6th grade, it is the IDEA that they need to understand. It does not need to be perfect. I have done this in two ways. The first way, is that I made a model of Egypt with Sculpey Clay. Then I painted it with the Niver River and all. I was trying to help them understand why Upper Egypt was in southern Egypt. It did help. We passed it around during lecture, though a bigger one would have been even better. The second thing I did, was for Greece. We used card stock I had, and I bought some yellow craft sand, and I used cheap foam shapes, but you could also use pebbles, dry macaroni, or shells. We drew the shape on the blue cardstock. Then glued sant to the outline, representing the coastal plains, and then stacked the shapes where there were mountains. The students remember it well, and loved the activity. I also had them do some reflections after. Both of these examples can be done for Asian places, particularly China.

Hope it was helpful! Enjoy!