Where Will Summer Find You? Find Anywhere with Maps101

Dear Educator,

With the school year winding down—or ending, in some places—you and your students may be planning for this summer. At Maps101, we continue to bring you relevant, engaging content, including maps, articles, and interactive lessons. This week, we are looking at places where people visit or spend their vacation for the summer. While some people are unable to travel for a variety of reasons, the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions are easing in many states and countries. After about two years of limited or no travel, many people are excited to be on the move. Where will summer find you? 

Since their inception in 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the act that created the National Park Service, citizens and visitors have been enjoying our numerous national parks. The National Park Service manages more than 84 million acres. Much of this land is made up of parks, but national monuments and historic areas are also included in the National Park Service. This Field Trip explores many of the parks throughout the United States that are frequently visited—especially during the summer. The most visited park is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, with 14.1 million visitors in 2021. The Blue Ridge Parkway has even more visitors, although it is a significant roadway, not a park. It had 15.9 million visitors during 2021.

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The Grand Canyon is one of the most famous national parks in the United States. It was established in 1919. Visitors from all over the world come to marvel at the massive canyon the Colorado River carved into the rock layers. One of visitors’ favorite sites is to see the sun’s shifting light revealing the beautiful colors of these layers—especially at sunset.

While we look at national parks, we should stop and consider why conservation and preservation is important. This GeoInquiry lesson from Esri includes a lesson plan and layered map that addresses the creation of the National Park Service in order to preserve our natural environment. 

Since we mentioned national monuments as also being part of the National Park Service, we should take a look at the Field Trip that features them. Students will discover more about Devils Tower, Fort Sumter, Muir Woods, Ocmulgee, Little Bighorn Battlefield, and more. With numerous national monuments to visit, maybe you or your students will explore one this summer.

While we are focused on summer vacation, we should take a look at WHY schools typically take summer off. It is a common belief that the practice is based on the agricultural schedule. But is this true? Take a look with this exclusive GNN article.

This is a small sample of the kind of content available to you with your Maps101 subscription. Every week, the editors at Maps101 will provide you with highlights from our extensive collection in this GeoJournal newsletter. We suggest you make a folder to store them for future reference. Expand your students’ world with Maps101!

Don’t forget to click on the Summer of Where to find more resources that engage your students—any time of year.