Make a map central to your back-to-school bulletin board by creating a summer vacation picture collage board with the help of your students. Before school, hang a map of the United States on your bulletin board. On the first day, assign students the homework task of gathering and bringing in pictures they snapped while on their summer travels. As students bring the pictures to class, allow them to attach the pictures to the board around the perimeter of the map. Have the students use string to connect their picture collections to the city or cities in which they were taken.
When teaching your students about natural geography, use a map to help students discover where they can see some of these stunning sites. Hang a world map on the bulletin board to serve as the backdrop. Select several places that have particularly interesting natural geography to feature in your display, such as a large desert or an impressive mountain range. Gather photos of each of the sites you selected and cluster them over the spot the site is located on the map. Label the pictures with a heading that indicates the name of the site. As you teach about geographic features, make mention of the bulletin board, bring it to students’ attention.
Help your students understand how the culture practices of those in other parts of the globe differ from those they are accustom to. Divide your bulletin board in half, placing a world map on one side. Fill the other half with photos of cultural celebrations from an area that you are about to study. Attach a piece of string connecting those pictures to the location on the map they are depicting.
Draw students’ attention to some of the sites they will hear about in history class, providing visual images of each location. Prior to your unit of study, select a map that shows the areas about which you will speak and place it on your bulletin board. For example, if you are preparing to teach the students about the Civil War, this map could include the states that made up the union at that time. Gather images of the sites you will discuss, seeking both hand-drawn pictures from history as well as modern photos. Place these photos around your map, labeling each so students can reference them as they learn.