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| Didax "Class Ideas" Newsletter Archive |
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Another month has passed and it's getting cold here in the Northeast. We just had a huge snowstorm which dumped more than 2 feet of fluff on us. After digging out, it's time to crack down and get some work done before the Holiday break begins.
This month, Class Ideas focuses on teaching Mapping Skills. Study the Global Community and help your students understand their place in the world. There are some great Internet links related to Maps and some downloadable, reproducible Mapping worksheets, and of course, a Class Ideas subscriber only special.
Happy Holidays!
Anna Mullen, Editor |
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| Finding A Place in the Global Community |
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 A unit on our ?global community? is a great start for geography study. We each have a place in the global community. Our homes are on a street, our street is in a city or town, our city or town is in a state, and so on, until we reach our planet, of which we are all citizens. Lessons on global community are far reaching, encompassing not only geography, but also diversity and unity.
Home
Begin this unit by having children draw a picture or construct a model of their home. This will make the following steps personal to the students as this is the place that they know as part of themselves.
Street and City
The next step is learning about their street and town. A great way to do this is to post a large map of your town or city on a bulletin board. Display finished home drawings or models nearby, labeling each with a number. Make pins with numbered paper flags. Tack these pins in the map on the bulletin board to coordinate with the models or drawings. This way, students can see that they all live in the same area and how the locations of their homes relate.
Note: If you are working with very young children, this step is a great time to have them learn their addresses and phone numbers.
State
Hand out a blank map of your state to your students. Have them mark the town or city they live in with a star. Then ask them to research the locations of other large cities and the capital of your state and mark those. You can also have them fill in surrounding towns that they visit often or towns that they have relatives in, if appropriate.
Country
Hand out a blank map of the United States. Have students find and label your state and put a star where their home is. Have them mark other states they have been to and states in which other family members live. At this point, activities are endless. Older students can learn about map legends and scale. They can calculate distances between their homes and homes of distant friends and relatives. Younger students can learn about the compass and discover if they are North, East, South, or West of people they know.
Continent
Have children label the United States on a blank map of North America. Some students will already know the other countries on our continent and can label them as well. Label your state and again, put a star to show where your home is. Help younger children research to find out what countries share our continent and label them. To extend the continent study, you could have students learn about the cultures of these nations, perhaps labeling the countries with major crops, celebrations, or traditions.
Note: At both the Country and Continent level, an exciting activity is writing letters to penpals. An Internet search will provide you with many resources for starting a penpal program.
World
Now it?s time to see where we fit in the world, as a whole. Use a blank map of the world and have students research and fill in the names of the continents. Have them mark where they live with a star.
Again, there are countless activities that you could do at this point. A quick search online for geography lessons will give you specific ideas for extension. You could choose a country on each continent to compare and contrast against ours, looking at traditions, holidays, food, clothing, etc. Or, for older students, you could relate mathematics by studying distance or time zones. Younger students can research the origins of their favorite fairy and folk tales and mark them on their maps or a globe.
After all activities are done, a sample of each activity can be set out to show the progression from individual home to world. As they watch their world grow during this unit, students will gain a sense of their place in the global community and come to understand that we all contribute to the world. |
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| Mapping Skills Internet Resources |
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 The Internet is a great resource for planning Mapping-related lessons. To get you started, we've collected some fun sites. Check out National Geographics Xpeditions for complete lesson plans or see if Terraserver has an aerial picture of your school or home. These and more are featured in this month's Class Ideas links section. |
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| Free Mapping Skills Activity Pages |
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 Are you looking for a quick and easy start to teaching Mapping Skills? Check out these reproducible pages from our popular Mapping Skills book series. Just download, photocopy and watch your students learn! |
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| January Newsletter Theme: Emergent Reading |
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 Don't miss next month's issue of Class Ideas. It will be packed with information on Emergent Reading, including resources, ideas and tips. And just to tempt you, here's a little secret...it will introduce our new ELF Readers! |
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