National Treasure Map

Here's a little update on the progress of our really big map of the USA.  Lots of trouble shooting going on the first hour today.  Nate was my go-to guy and he solved some major roadblocks.  We realized that the power cord for our projector was not long enough.  After searching the entire school building, we found a power strip in a closet and a HUGE extension cord in the basement.  We decided to try the power strip.

After plugging the projector into the power strip, we had zero power.  Trial and error showed us that the power strip wasn't working, so it was back to the basement for the giant extension cord.  Nate drug it upstairs and that problem was solved.

We had other problems; picture was projecting upside down, wood trim was making it hard to trace, Texas was blocked by the shadow of some books, fabric marker was "dead".  More trouble shooting,  taking apart a large box to make a smooth surface behind our sheet, using a pencil, moving some books and we were finally tracing states.

In the next hour, Caleb and Hunter fixed a couple of new technical difficulties with the computer/projector and were able to finish the pencil tracing, take the fabric down and begin to go over the pencil markings with a marker.

Abraham and Chris joined me next.  They finished the marker tracing.  As they were admiring the map one of them said, "Wait, where is the rest of New England?"  Alas, a few states had not been traced in pencil.  So, we hung the sheet back up, turned the computer and projector back on, realigned everything and put New England on the map.

Labeling the states was the next step.   Abraham and Chris found some maps on the iPads that helped them with abbreviations for each state. 

When Kassidy and Kaler came at the end of the day, they designed a compass rose to add.  They also labeled the Great Lakes and the oceans.

Wow!  We made a lot of progress today.  The kids were great trouble shooters and problem solvers. 


Linda