This week's Picture of the Week features seventh grade students at Royal Valley Middle School, Royal Valley USD 337.

Just before summer break, the students completed their unit on Kansas counties with a quiz to see how many of their classmates could be the first to know exactly where all 105 counties in Kansas are located.

As part of the unit, each student selected a county and researched what year their county was established, the current population and compared that to the population 10 years ago. They also determined if the county's population was increasing or decreasing and why.

The students also researched major tourist sites, whether their county is rural, urban, or mixed, whether the county has industry, agriculture, business or all three. They also identified their county's major university or postsecondary school, what town the county seat is located in, how the county got its name, and what is notable about their county.  

The students created their own Kansas county map and included all of their research information in a picture on this map. They were challenged to learn all of the exact locations of the 105 counties in Kansas using the Kansas Counties Game website.

Send pictures of students, staff or other district personnel to be recognized for their accomplishments to ksdeweekly@ksde.gov, with a description of the photo, and it may be featured in KSDEweekly!