Making the Wall Map. Where should I place my wall map?

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1 Making the Wall Map Once again, welcome aboard the project! The first step in the project is to create a wall sized class map of the Iditarod trail for use with your students. On this wall map, your class will place an image of your musher which you can move along the trail as your students follow the progress of your adopted sled dog team on the Web. This document is intended to offer guidelines in the process of creating your own original map. Where should I place my wall map? You can place a wall map anywhere you have the wall space. In the past participating classes have used an empty classroom wall, an empty wall just outside the classroom in the hallway, an available empty bulletin board in the classroom..one class even used the rug on their floor! The placement of the map will also depend on your classroom management style. The map becomes a focal point of attention wherever it is displayed. If you prefer to have students visit the map under your auspices, a wall within the classroom is best. If you do not want the map to be a distraction from other displays in the classroom, outside your room in the hallway is recommended. Keep in mind that if the map is outside your classroom door, you will want to be comfortable having students leave the classroom to go out in the hall to move your musher along the map trail. Posting your map in the school hallway exposes it to wear and tear from wandering passers by, but also shares the excitement of the project with other classes in your building. Ms. Lykowski s Class Map 2003

2 What size should my wall map be? The size of the wall space you select largely dictates the size of your wall map. As a general rule of thumb, the larger the map the better! If you have an entire wall to work with, making use of that wall top to bottom is a powerful way for students to appreciate the differences in map scale. In the past maps have been small enough to fit on a 3 X 2 bulletin board and large enough to cover a wall area 30 X 10 tall! Ms. Law s Class Map 2002 What materials should I use? Traditionally teachers use large sheets of bulletin board paper or butcher paper for the background of their map. Overlapping one sheet over another and gluing along the seam is a quick and easy way to increase the surface space of your map. Trimming the glued sheets of paper to fit the exact size of your available wall space is another shortcut to having the background of your map ready for students. Markers, construction paper, yarn, glue and scissors are all good to have on hand for creating a wall map of the trail. If you choose to create a floor map, the rug or tile itself can become the background. On such a map, masking tape can be used to define the borders of Alaska and the trail itself. Marker can be used to indicate each trail stop along the tape. Ms. Perkins Class Map 2001

3 What is the process for making a class map? Each class adapts the basic process to meet their own mapping emphases as dictated by their curriculum and student needs. For primary classes, the teacher may construct the map without student assistance. For upper elementary and middle school classes, the process can take three to five 40 minute lessons over the span of a week, if you truly want to focus on mapping skills. It involves math and social studies skills as students learn to map according to scale. The suggested process is: 1. Study the geography of Alaska with particular attention to Anchorage, the Denali Mountains and Mount McKinley, the Klondike, the Norton Sound and Nome. 2. Find a physical map image of Alaska that is suitable for your students to use. You can find an example of such a map at 3. With the class watching, draw a graph grid over the map image you have selected. You may choose to do this on a print out or photocopy of the map on an overhead projector, by tracing the map on a sheet of paper on a wall using an opaque projector, or by projecting the map found at onto a wall using an LCD projector connected to your computer. Make sure your grid is large enough that each square in the grid can show some detail of Alaska. Ideally the grid should contain at least 8 rows and 8 columns. 4. Provide students with graph paper. Stress the idea of standardized distance between each line on your grid, and refer to the students sheets of graph paper to have them consider the standardized spacing they see. Instruct them to copy the map from your example onto their sheet of graph paper so that each square on their graph paper map matches the detail seen in each corresponding square of your example map. 5. Create an identical grid on the background paper for your wall map. For example, if your student graph paper maps have 10 rows and 10 columns, your wall map background should be the same on a scale that covers the full size of your background paper. At this point in the process the map can be used on the floor so that students do not have to climb to reach higher points on the wall. 6. Have students work to fill in the wall map in pencil, so that each square on the wall map matches the detail in the corresponding square of the graph paper maps. Include the physical features and the Iditarod trail. It is best to take your time in allowing students to take turns filling in empty squares on the wall map. Over several days it is eventually filled in. 7. Once the wall map is sketched in pencil, review it with the class to agree that the map has been copied from a smaller scale to a larger scale accurately, square by square. Once you have reached agreement that the job is done, allow students to use marker to

4 trace over the pencil lines and darken them in. 8. With the map outline complete, you can now discuss map scale in terms of actual distance. For example, if your map grid is 10 rows by 10 columns, you may determine that each square covers approximately 150 square miles of actual Alaskan territory. Place Anchorage and Nome on the map in marker and have students determine mathematically how far it is to travel on the trail between these two cities (approximately 1,000 miles). 9. Have students label all physical features and checkpoints on the trail. (Hint: be sure the trail reflects the northern or southern route. In even numbered years e.g the trail heads north after the Ophir checkpoint; in odd numbered years e.g the trail heads south.) 10. Discuss and create a legend and compass rose for your map with students. Agree on the standard symbols to be used for different map features in the legend. This is a good time to bring in construction paper and glue. Teachers of younger students may want to consider creating cardboard templates students can trace for legend symbols to that they remain a consistent size and proportion wherever they appear on your wall map. Once you have completed the process you will be ready to hang your wall map on the designated wall space! Be careful: the weight of the map will be heavier once you have finished decorating the map with symbols and details. It is a good idea to ask a custodian to help you in securing the map on the wall. S/he will know what strategies work best for raising the map to its place of honor. Ms. Miller s Class Working on a map already hung 2003

5 What materials work best for hanging a map securely? Because of the weight of your map, you will want to make sure it is strongly in place on your wall. Be sure you consult your building principal as to what adhesives and materials are acceptable to use on school walls before proceeding. If you are using a bulletin board, staples will do the trick. This also holds true if you have a cork strip along the wall for displaying student work. If you are placing the map on a wall which can not be stapled, extra strong pieces of masking tape, strapping tape or duct tape can do the trick. Be sure to use tape liberally, especially across the top third of the map. Cinder block, brick or cement walls can be especially tricky for adhesives. Consider trying one of these tricks offered by veteran teachers if it is permissible: use the best quality sticky tack liberally along the back of the map use rubber cement by brushing rubber cement vertically on the wall where the map will hang and then horizontally on the corresponding contact points on the back of the map use a hot glue gun to affix the back of the map to the wall With your wall map in place, your class can continue its study of Alaska geography and wildlife, as well as the history and traditions of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race. For lots of Web based resources to use for this purpose, see the Iditarod edition of the Innovative Teaching Newsletter at Looking for more advice, ideas and tips about wall map making? Post a question to the project s private teacher mailing list to ask for input from your colleagues! To do so just address an to eiditarod@yahoogroups.com (Note: you must be subscribed in order to successfully send and receive from the private list.) In the next phase of the project you will study the mushers entered for this year s race and select one team for your class to follow! Please refer to the project timeline at and announcements made on the private teacher mailing list to pace yourself for this next step. ********************************************* Walter McKenzie Sponsor, eiditarod 2010 walter@surfaquarium.com