Year 5 Creating a Whole New World
Student Map Making Project
Our Year 5 students have been immersed in an exciting geography project where they are creating their own unique planets, similar to Earth. Throughout this hands-on learning experience, they are developing a range of valuable map-making skills.
The students have been studying different types of maps, the continents of our world, the oceans, and the concepts of latitude and longitude. They are now putting this knowledge into practice by constructing their own planets from the ground up.
In art class, the students used paper mâché techniques to build the base for their planets. They are then meticulously crafting continents and including various geographic elements to make their planets one-of-a-kind. These elements include mountain ranges, rivers, climate zones, and more.
In the process, the students are honing important cartographic skills such as:
- Scale: Ensuring the proportions of their planet’s features are accurate
- Symbols: Developing a legend to represent different landforms and bodies of water
- Cardinal directions: Orienting their maps correctly
- Spatial awareness: Visualizing the layout of their planet’s features
This project not only fosters creativity, but also deepens the students’ understanding of geography and map-making. I’m excited to showcase the final results at our Primary Open House at the end of October that will celebrate the hard work and geographic knowledge our students have developed.
