Our class is planning a research project on the western United States, and our teacher asked us to sketch out a pretend field trip. On my map, I colored in Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, and Hawaii. For California, I wrote that the capital city we would visit in the middle of the trip is Los Angeles. When I moved over to the Rocky Mountains, I labeled the capital of Colorado as Colorado Springs. On my Washington slide, I said the largest city in the state is Spokane. When we looked at photos of tall volcanoes in Washington and Oregon, I wrote that they are part of the Appalachian Mountains. Along the border between Arizona and California, I drew a wide blue line and labeled it the Rio Grande. For the Grand Canyon, I wrote that it is a famous landmark in New Mexico. On my ocean notes, I said that the Pacific Ocean touches every western state. On another slide, I placed Alaska in the middle of the United States, next to Kansas. I also wrote that Hawaii is made of one big island only. In my summary, I explained that the western states are all hot desert with no snow anywhere. When I finished, my teacher nodded and said, “Great start—now let’s make this map match real-world geography.”