Learning Centers

A post on The Well Trained Mind forums prompted me to take a couple of pictures of some of the learning centers that we have set up.

Geography Center 

 Maps, LeapFrog Explorer Smart Globe, a basket full of maps, and geography books, puzzle maps

Math Center

 

Right next to the geography center are our drawers full of math manipulatives and activities, 

math games, living math books, math puzzles, calendar, and meter stick.

Science Center

Science encyclopedias, books, planet model, human body poster, a basket full of field guides and parrot feathers, the top of the cabinet holds experiment kits, the top of the filing cabinet holds a rock kit and human body puzzle and shells, a plant to the left of the filing cabinet for them to observe and care for.  

The Martian Matter isn't supposed to be there on top of the animal encyclopedia! lol

Geography Lessons

Links to all of the blog posts on lessons that we're using with our first grader.

Lesson # 1 ~ Better Than Breadcrumbs : Maps and Symbols (maps)
Lesson # 2 ~ National Geographic Xpeditions: Getting Lost  (cardinal directions)
Lesson # 3 ~ Houghton Mifflin: Using Grids (maps)
Lesson # 4 ~ Create a map including your home and a familiar destination.  Include a key and an index.  Write directions from your home to the destination.
Lesson # 5 ~ National Geographic Xpeditions: Introduction to Latitude and Longitude (plus p.88 of The Earth: Geography of our World)
Lesson # 6 ~ hemispheres, poles, & the equator
Lesson # 7 ~ prime meridian and international date line/time zones
Lesson # 8 ~ continents and oceans overview
Lesson #  ~ Asia
Lesson #  ~ Africa
Lesson #  ~ North America
Lesson #  ~ South America
Lesson #  ~ Antarctica
Lesson #  ~  Europe
Lesson #  ~ Australia

Geography Lesson #1

Today's geography lesson was adapted from the Better Than Breadcrumbs : Maps and Symbols lesson plan found at eduref.org.

Materials Needed:
your favorite re-telling of Hansel and Gretel
breadcrumbs, or a group of items to represent breadcrumbs
a map of the room for each student
How to Draw Maps and Charts by Pam Beasant and Alastair Smith (or another book about maps)
a physical map, a political map, and a road map

1 ~ Read your favorite re-telling of Hansel and Gretel to your student(s).  

2~ Have the student(s) act out the story using bread crumbs, then discuss why Hansel and Gretel used flint stones and breadcrumbs in the story.

3 ~ Have the student(s) navigate from one location in the room to another.  Have them use different colored markers/crayons on their room map to show each path taken.  Examples:

     From the couch to the school desk. (orange)
     From the bookcase to the doorway. (blue)
     From the white board to the easel. (green)

4 ~ Discuss how a map can be used to let people know how to find their way from one location to another.

5 ~ Read the portions of How to Draw Maps and Charts that apply. ( pages 2, 4-11, 26 in the 1993 version we own)

Geography Revisited

We've done some re-thinking when it comes to geography lately.  Daddy wants to help teach the boys, and geography is one subject he would like to take over.  So far we've mainly done geography as it applies to our ancient history studies.

So now I have to come up with plans for geography as a separate subject.  I'm thinking lots of living books!  I'm also thinking we should start with some lessons in map and globe skills, directional compasses, and we definitely need to start geo-caching or letterboxing!  We need to cover the continents and oceans, land formations.  Hmm, what else?

I'm going to post each lesson that we complete.  You can find the list of links to all lessons in this post.

Geography Books List

* indicates a book that we have already read 

A Life Like Mine by DK Publishing
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (world)
B is For Brazil (World Alphabets) by Maria de Fatimo Campos (Brazil, South America)
The Brendan Voyage by Tim Severin (Atlantic ocean)
Brendan the Navigator by Jean Fritz (Atlantic ocean)
The Cay by Theodore Taylor (islands)
Far Beyond the Garden Gate: Alexandra David-Neel's Journey to Lhasa by Don Brown (Asia, Tibet)
Homesick by Jean Fritz (China)
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman (world)
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (islands)
Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling (rivers)
* Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling (rivers)
The Penguin Family Book by Lauritz Somme (Antarctica)
Secret Water by Arthur Ransome (islands)
Somewhere in the World Right Now by Stacey Schuett (timezones)
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack (Asia)
* The Story of Anansi (Africa)
A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf by John Muir (the American south)
Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling (the American west)
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (oceans)
Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa by Don Brown (Africa)
West From Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco, 1915 by Laura Ingalls Wilder (the American west)
Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker (Australia)

Other Links of Interest
Wee Sing Around the World
Geology Coloring Book
kidsgeo.com
National Geographic Kids
Sparklebox: Geography

Geography Links

Time For Kids: Around the World
Growing Up Around the World: Books as Passports to Global Understanding for Children in the United States
World Atlas "The List"
World Atlas Outline Maps
National Geographic Maps: Tools for Adventure
National Geographic: Geography Action!
Houghton Mifflin Education Place: Outline Maps
Library of Congress: Cities and Towns Maps
Holling C. Holling: A Literature Approach to Geography
World Landmark Cards Created by Susanne von Saalfeld
Kids Konnect World Geography
Ideas on How to Study the Middle East from TWTM message board
National Geographic Earth Pulse
Visual Geography Series
Geography Matters

China

PASS World History Part 1 - Unit 4: Ancient Civilizations in India and China  Part A  Part B
KidsGeo Asia Map Match Game
Draw Dragon Dot Eyes: An Old Chinese Fable from StarFall
EDSITEMent: The Great Wall of China
Time For Kids: China

Japan

Kids Geo Asia Map Match Game
Japan tourism video on YouTube
Samurai on YouTube
Sumo on YouTube
Origami
Your Name in Japanese
Kokeshi Dolls
Japan Seen Through American Eyes (for 6 to 10 year old children)
Time for Kids: Japan
Zen Gardens

Nik's Zen Garden

Geography

I have geography on the brain today.  I've found some really great resources in the last few weeks and I have to share them.

The first resource is a set of pdf files titled Growing Up Around the World.  Each file has a list of books depicting life in various countries around the world.  Every continent is covered with the exception of Antarctica (for obvious reasons...LOL.)  The US isn't covered, either, as the list is intended to give American children an accurate picture of what life is like for children in other countries around the world.

The second resource is National Geographic Maps.  Lots of neat things there.

Third is one that is a big favorite with my son.....the Kidsgeo.com Map Match online game. 

Oops, I have to run!  I'll be back to add more later.

Sparkle Box - Free Printables

Ok, I have had a very successful hour of internet searching today!  First I came upon Sparkle Box, an awesome free printables site from the UK.  One of the printables was for story masks for the Hindu story of Rama and Sita.  We're studying Asia in geography right now, so these will be perfect!  That led me to search for the story online, which I finally found at another awesome site, Balagokulam, a Hindu website with activities and resources for children and teachers.  I copied and pasted the story into a MSWord document and uploaded it to my Sony Reader.  I'll add in the other stories I already checked out from the library and some map work and we're all set for our geography lesson for next week!