Materials

• A large wall or floor map of the world
• Reference materials, including those with many pictures (e.g., atlas, globe, encyclopedias, nonfiction books, Web sites, videos)
• Map handout of Mali (Attachment A; 1 per student)
• Mali fact sheet (Attachment B: My Journal Fact Sheet; I per student)
  
• Crayons, colored pencils
  
• 9" x 12" pieces of colored construction paper (1 per student)
  
• Chalkboard or overhead projector

Instructional Activities

1. Introduce the following geographical and physical characteristics of Mali:
   • Was located in the western region of the continent of Africa
   • Had rivers nearby
   • Had desert-like conditions
   • Had gold mines
   • Laid across the trade routes between the Sahara Desert and the West African region
   • Contained the important city of Timbuktu
   
   
2. As review, have students locate places on the world map they have studied. Make sure to do a brief review of map terms and hemispheres, as well as a review of ancient Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome.
   
   
3. Introduce the country of Mali using a large wall or floor map of the world. Have students locate the continent of Africa and the country of Mali. Discuss characteristics of its location, climate, land, and locations of bodies of water. Have students brainstorm problems the people of Mali long ago may have experienced because of the country’s location and environment (e.g., deserts: hot and dry climate, lack of water: difficulties in farming crops) Compare Mali’s water sources to those of ancient Greece and Rome.
   
   
4. Initiate a Think, Pair, and Share activity.
   • Provide students with resource materials.
   • Have pairs of students research a question on Mali. Give the same question out more than once so that you will get a variety of answers.
   • Possible questions:
   –    What were the land and the environment like?
   –    What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in this environment?
   –    What natural resources did they have? What could they do with them?
   –    How did the people adapt to living in their environment?
   –    What jobs did the people have?
   –    Did they farm any crops? If so, how?
   –    Did they trade like ancient Greece and Rome? If so, how?
   • You may want to have students finish this activity for homework and share the results with the class the next day.
   
   
5. Give students the map of Mali (Attachment A). Have students color in the land (brown) and water (blue). Have the students add a map legend.
   
   
6. Have students begin making a fact booklet (Attachment B) about Mali. Have them add a sheet or two each day.
   • Have students make a cover out of construction paper.
   • Have students use the map as page one.
   • For page 2, have students record facts about Mali’s geography and physical characteristics. They may refer to the fact sheet. Since this is the first entry, you may want to model this on the chalkboard or overhead projector. Have students write four facts about the topic Geography/Physical Characteristics and draw an illustration in the middle area.
   • Have students use the booklet for their test study guide.