What Are Map Features?

From an early age, students will no doubt be exposed to a map of some sort. Whether it be a map in a book of puzzles, a map of the world on a classroom wall, or even a map of a route from one place to another on an adult’s phone, there’s no denying that map skills are essential in today’s society!

This colorful classroom poster has been designed to remind your students of the common features that can be found on most maps. The acronym used to help remember these map features is B.O.L.T.S.S. These letters stand for:

• Border: Where the edges of the map are.
• Orientation: Shows which direction is North.
• Legend: Shows what the symbols mean.
• Title: Describes the map.
• Scale: How big is the actual distance compared to the map?
• Source: Describes where the map came from.

How to Make the Most of These Features of Maps Posters

These posters have been created to support you in your teaching of map skills. You may wish to use them in the following ways:

1. Print the posters on tabloid paper and display them in your classroom as a reminder of the most common features of maps.
2. As you teach map skills, provide students with a smaller version of the posters to paste into their workbooks.
3. Add the posters to a bulletin board, then have your students create and add their own maps to the board for a vibrant classroom display!

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