Rhode Island Map Activity
A printable Rhode Island map worksheet: color the state, label Providence and its major cities, and draw in the rivers and higher ground.
5 questions · Map activity · Application
Rhode Island is one of the fifty states, and its capital is Providence. This sheet prints the outline of the state large enough to work on, with a star already marking the capital, and a small map of the whole country in the corner so a student can see where Rhode Island sits. The five tasks move from coloring the state in to placing its cities, rivers — the same order an atlas builds a map up in.
Rhode Island
Capital: Providence
Rhode Island Map Activity
This is a map of Rhode Island. Use the facts in the box and the star on the map to finish all five tasks.
Remember
- The capital of Rhode Island is Providence.
- Three of its largest cities are Warwick, Cranston and Newport.
- Rivers in Rhode Island include Blackstone River and Pawtuxet River.
- Rhode Island has no mountain range — the land is low and mostly flat.
Your tasks
Work down the list in order. Everything is done on the big map below.
- 1.
Color the whole state of Rhode Island lightly in one color, staying inside the outline.
- 2.
Find the star on the map. Write the name of the state capital on the line beside it.
- 3.
Mark and label these cities with a dot: Warwick, Cranston and Newport.
- 4.
Draw and label these rivers: Blackstone River and Pawtuxet River.
- 5.
Rhode Island has no mountain range. Write "no mountains" in a corner of the map and say what the land is like instead.
★ marks Providence, the state capital. Write its name on the line.
Answer key
Your tasks
- 1.The whole outline is colored in, and the coloring stays inside the border.
- 2.Providence - the capital of Rhode Island. The star is printed where the city is.
- 3.Warwick, Cranston and Newport - each marked with a dot and labeled. Warwick is the largest of them.
- 4.Blackstone River and Pawtuxet River - drawn as a wiggly line and labeled.
- 5.No mountain range. Rhode Island is low and flat, so the answer describes plains, coast or lowland.
What this sheet teaches
- Find Rhode Island on a map of the United States.
- Name and locate Providence, the state capital.
- Locate Warwick, Cranston and Newport within the state.
- Draw the main rivers of Rhode Island and say roughly where they run.
Notes for the adult
- Colored pencils are enough — nothing on the Rhode Island sheet needs paint, and the outline is large enough that a fine tip is not required either.
- Task 2 is the one to check first: the star is printed exactly where Providence is, so a child who writes another city has read the map rather than the fact box.
- Warwick and the Blackstone River are placed by eye. Mark them on whether they are in the right part of Rhode Island relative to Providence, not on whether they land within a mile of the truth.
What is on the page
Rhode Island Map Activity is in one part and comes to five exercises in total. Map work throughout — one kind of exercise, done five times, rather than a page that changes its demand halfway down.
Under "Your tasks" there are five tasks, all of them carried out on the printed outline of Rhode Island rather than answered in writing.
Rhode Island on this sheet
The star is printed on Providence, close to the middle of the state, at roughly 41.8°N, 71.4°W. Of the 50 state capitals this site has a map sheet for, that makes it the 16th furthest north and the 48th furthest west. The nearest other state capital is Boston, about 40 miles away in Massachusetts — a useful thing to say out loud to a student who assumes every state is the size of their own.
The cities to mark are Warwick, Cranston and Newport. Two rivers go on next — Blackstone River and Pawtuxet River — drawn in by hand rather than traced. There is no relief to shade on this one — Rhode Island has no range named in the sheet's fact box, so the map finishes at the rivers and the page stays a little quicker than most.
The outline of Rhode Island is about 1.2 times as tall as it is wide, which leaves narrow margins either side for city names. It is drawn from the same vector data as the map on this page, so what prints on paper is what is on the screen, and a photocopy of it holds up. Positions are estimated by eye: mark Warwick on whether it is in the right part of Rhode Island, not on whether it lands within a mile of the truth.
What it asks of the student
Rhode Island Map Activity puts about 133 words of reading in front of the student — the fact box, the directions, every question, and every printed option. That is the number worth checking against a class before it goes out, because a sheet that is pitched right on the history and wrong on the reading fails for the same child either way. The longest single prompt on it runs to 23 words.
Nothing on Rhode Island Map Activity is answered on ruled lines — every response goes onto the map itself, or on the short rule beside a task — so the whole of it fits on one side of paper and the full answer key runs to 76 words.
Where this one sits
Rhode Island Map Activity is one of 61 US States & Capitals sheets on this site and one of 59 written for grade 4. 53 of them share its topic, the fifty states, which is worth knowing before printing two that overlap.
The closest things to it are Maine Map Activity (grade 4) and Maryland Map Activity (grade 4). If Rhode Island Map Activity lands well, those are the ones to reach for next; if it lands badly, the application sheets a grade either side are usually the adjustment rather than a different topic altogether.
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The Fifty States at other grades
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- Recognizing the Fifty US States Worksheet — Grade 3 · 12 questions, matching, fill in the blank, multiple choice · application work
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