ELEMENTARY GEOGRAPHY A funny box, four lines and four dots This is all you need to make a map of Tennessee. We're going to make a map of Tennessee, with the boundaries, the major cities and the big rivers. All you need to do is draw a funny box, four lines and four dots. Get out a sheet of paper and three crayons: one black, one blue, and the third whatever color you want. We'll use red as our third color. The first thing we want you to draw is a funny sideways box -- longer from side to side than it is from top to bottom (like the one pictured here). Next we want you to draw FOUR BLUE LINES, like the ones you see here. The first blue line runs along the far left side of the funny box. The second blue line goes from top to bottom and is about a third of the way from the left to the right side of the box. The third line forms a "U" shape on the top of the box, in the middle. And the fourth line is on the right side of the box, from the lower right hand corner to about half way up. By the way, one thing you might want to do is first draw where the blue lines are going to go in PENCIL, so you can erase and figure out exactly where they belong before you start using the crayon. Now for the DOTS. The first one is in the lower left corner. The second one is about half way along the "U" blue line on the top part. The third one where the blue line ends on the right side. The fourth one where the blue line meets the black line in the lower right corner. Congratulations on having drawn your first map of Tennessee. Write the word "Tennessee" somewhere on it. (Again: First do it in pencil. Tennessee is a big word, and when you start writing it, it is hard to predict how much room it will take.) What it all means Now that you've become an expert mapmaker, let's label what you just drew. The funny box, as you have guessed by now, is the boundaries of Tennessee. Like most maps, this one has the north at the top and the west on the left. The blue lines represent rivers. The blue line along the left side of the box is the Mississippi River. Rivers, as you know, flow from one direction to another, as they leave high ground and move toward low ground. The Mississippi River, as it moves along Tennessee's western boundary, flows north to south. The blue line that forms a "U" in north central Tennessee is the Cumberland River. It flows east to west through Tennessee. Now for the really tricky one. The other two lines are THE SAME RIVER -- the Tennessee River. On the east side of Tennessee (right side of the map) the Tennessee River flows north to south. Then the river moves into Alabama, and then turns north back into Tennessee. So on the west side of Tennessee, the Tennessee River flows south to north. If you think this is confusing to you, just imagine how much it baffled the early explorers! Go ahead and label the Mississippi, Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. Now for the dots. As you can see from the drawing, they represent the cities of Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga. Go ahead and label your four dots. Anyone else notice that the dots are all located on blue lines? There's a reason for this. When cities were being formed, roads weren't very good, and railroads didn't exist yet. Rivers were the main ways of getting around, so cities formed along them. We've worked pretty hard on this map, so feel free to add some finishing touches. You might add a star, or flowers, or a picture of a raccoon, who knows? QUIZ 1. What river flows along Tennessee's western border? 2. What large river flows north to south in one part of the state and south to north in a completely different part of the state? 3. What large river flows through Nashville? 4. The Tennessee River is formed near what city? Click here for quiz answers. If you can learn everything you just drew, you'll know a lot about Tennessee's geography. See if you can memorize the basic shape of the state, the names and locations of the three big rivers, and the names and locations of the four big cities. Now we're going to mix things up a bit and talk about the Three Grand Divisions of Tennessee.