http://interactive2.usgs.gov/learningweb
Click on “Lesson Plans and Activities” to access “Map Adventures” (grades K–3) and “What Do Maps Show?” (5–8). Both are terrific lesson plans for teaching kids need-to-know map basics, including legends, grids, scale, and more. The free reproducibles may be low-tech, but they, too, are purposeful and engaging.

www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions
Be sure to take advantage of the interactive activities at this site, including a “Create Your Own Adventure” game with a Lewis and Clark theme. But don't miss the practical and useful collection of more than 1,000 outline maps, which you can print out and use to test your young geographers.

www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld
This site's interactive map provides information about some of the most delicate eco-regions on the planet, such as the Northern Prairie in the U.S. and the Patagonian Steppe in South America. Bonus: Have children enter your school ZIP code to find out more about conservation problems in your area. The site was created to accompany the Wild World map sent free to every school in the U.S. by National Geographic.

http://teacher.scholas tic.com/tools
The Class Set-Up Tool on the Scholastic site is intended to help teachers arrange their rooms, but it's also a great online version of a popular introduction to maps: mapping the classroom. Before tackling more complex world or topographical maps, challenge students to recreate the floor plan of your room as accurately as they can.

www.cssd.ab.ca/tech/social/latitude
 This tutorial, aimed at grades 4–6, explains latitude and longitude in a fun, interactive way. While the language can be sophisticated at times, high-ability readers can test their comprehension of this important mapping basic by answering questions about the coordinate grid. Helpful hints point would-be navigators in the right direction.

www.indo.com/distance
If only you had this tool on field trips to answer cries of “Are we there yet?” Here students can enter two locations and click to find the distance between them “as the crow flies.” It's useful for students at all grade levels because locations can be entered by name or by coordinate degrees. Note: The site is operated by a travel business and so it often features small advertisements.

www.nationalgeographic.com/geobee
Can you name the only Asian country the equator passes through? How about the most populous country in the Arab world? Those are just two of hundreds of geography facts tested in the annual National Geographic Geography Bee. Whether or not your students participate in a bee, they'll still love sleuthing out the answers to the five questions posted each day on this site. (The answers to the above stumpers are Indonesia and Egypt.)

http://nationalatlas.gov
At the National Atlas site, kids can make maps showing U.S. distribution of just about anything that peaks their interest, from soybean production to motor vehicle theft. Invite students to click on the “Make Maps” button and use the categories on the right-hand side of the page to create their own high-interest maps.

www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz
If you're testing your intermediate students on their geography smarts, you'll want to provide them with the link to this site, which features interactive map quizzes for each of the continents. You may even find the fun scoring system to be addictive yourself-leading to hours of self-testing for both students and teacher.

http://terraserver-usa.com
This site has several useful classroom applications as it can display a topographical map and aerial photos of almost anywhere on earth. Start from a map of the world and zero in on a photo of your school building — or of a school halfway around the world.

 
Hannah Trierweiler is the assistant editor of Instructor. This article was originally published in the April 2005 issue.