So Where Is Green County?

Find colorful place names around the world! Draw vivid maps, plan trips, and write travel logs about imaginary journeys to colorful destinations.

• 1.

  Use a variety of resources to find place names that include a color name, such as Green County, Cap-Rouge, Blue Mountains. Some may be colors in other languages. Share your list with classmates. Choose one color, and search for places across your home country with names containing that color. Record your findings with Crayola® Colored Pencils on a copy of a map.

• 2.

  Now design a large map of your country with colored pencils on poster board. Add three-dimensional, pop-out, color-coded labels for the colorful place names you found. To make labels, cut small strips of paper with Crayola Scissors. Write the place name in the appropriate color. Accordion fold the strip and attach to the map with Crayola School Glue.

• 3.

  Imagine a journey between your color place names. Glue yarn to the map to show your travel path. Find out how many miles your must travel from place to place and add the information to your map. Determine how long it will take to drive from one place to the next.

• 4.

  Use Crayola Fine Tip Markers to create a colorful, imaginary travel log detailing your journey. Include information about each region, such as geographic characteristics, landmarks, historical background, and cultural identities.

Benefits

• Students use a variety of electronic and library resources to research colorful place names in their area, state or province, or elsewhere in the world.
• Students compare and contrast regions as they write fictional travel logs of trips visiting same-name towns and cities.
• Children create maps of the area being studied, demonstrating an understanding of places and regions.

Adaptations

• Younger children work together to create one large real or imaginary map with big labels. Display pictures on the map, connecting to their locations with colorful yarn.
• Children set a budget for their imaginary trips and determine expenditures for gas, food, and lodging. Use the Internet to research differences in cost for expenditures in each region.
• For students who are learning another language, focus on places where the language is spoken. Find local maps in the language so children can identify color words. Label maps with authentic place names.