Helping Your Child Learn Geography Free or Inexpensive Materials

Helping Your Child Learn Geography - October 1996

Free or Inexpensive Materials

Maps

Below are suggestions on where to go for free maps. If you need help finding a telephone number or address, check at the reference section of your local public library.

• Many states have maps and information kits available free through their departments of tourism, which often have toll-free numbers.

• A number of foreign countries have tourist agencies (also at toll-free numbers) that will furnish free maps and other materials upon request.

• Look in the front of your telephone directory for local maps.

• Local transit authorities usually provide free maps of public transportation routes (e.g. by bus or subway). Often, public libraries distribute such maps as a community service.

  The federal government has hundreds of maps available. The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) handles the printing and sale of items produced by federal agencies. For a listing of maps for sale by GPO, contact the GPO bookstore in your area or the Superintendent of Documents, GPO, Washington DC 20402 (phone: 202-512-1800). In addition, some agencies may furnish maps directly upon request.

• Maps from the U.S. Geological Survey, the federal government's civilian mapmaking agency, cover a wide range of areas around the world. Included are free teacher packets: Map Adventures (K-3) and What Do Maps Show? (upper elementary and middle school). For more information, call 1-800-USA-MAPS.

• Maps of more than 300 parks, scenic trails, battlefields, and historic sites under the care of the National Park Service. Contact the particular site or, if you want a single map, write to the U.S. Department of the Interior, PO Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127.

• A map of the United States showing the U.S. Wildlife Refuges. Write to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Refuges, 18th & C Streets NW, Washington, DC 20240. Or call 1-800-344-WILD.

• Maps of water recreation areas from the Army Corps of Engineers. Write to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Depot, 2803 52nd Avenue, Hyattsville, MD 20781-1102 (phone: 301-394-0081).

• A wide selection of material is available from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Write to NASA, Code FEO-2, Washington, DC 20546-0001, to request Understanding Our Changing Planet: NASA's Mission to Planet Earth and Catalog of Education Programs and Resources.

Magazines for Children

Look for these magazines in your school or library or if you can go on-line:

• Discover, produced by Family Media, Incorporated;

• Faces, published by Cobblestone Publishing, Inc.

• Ranger Rick and Your Big Backyard, published by the National Wildlife Federation; and

• World, published by the National Geographic Society.

Pen Pal Organizations

National Geographic Society
Dept. GeoMail Pen
Pal Network
20 Academy Street
Norwalk, CT 06852-7100

Worldwide Friendship International
3749 Brice Run Road,
Suite A Randallstown, MD 21133
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[Internet Resources]

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