Eastern Hemisphere Geography Pit Stop!
I have been teaching at a Charter School this year for 2 geography classes. The first class is geared toward 6-8th Graders and it covers the Eastern Hemisphere. Because it's a class with many students, the general Geo. Pit Stop wasn't going to be engaging enough because we wouldn't have enough resources to research with. I've made some changes and I'll add them below. I will do my best to add links to each countries page as I go.
Download links are currently pointing toward drop box folders for the country. The file holds all documents, pdfs, videos, etc for the two weeks. I teach this class 1 time every week. So first week is the business stuff: Mapping, Country Comparison Chart, etc. The second week is more of a cultural lesson. For the cultural aspects, I'm trying to keep it a wide variety. So I'll do art of some sort for one country, and then something political or economical in nature the next.
I'll go into more detail when I have time to write it up. But this should get you started at least!! (I am currently teaching week 17 (though I think we are technically on week 19), so I don't have all of the weeks filled in just yet, but I will as I go along!)
Country Comparison Chart This chart is created for each student to input the information so that they can compare each country to the United States. Some of the biggest "wow" causers are poverty, water, national debt, and per Capita. The information is gathered from looking at the CIA World Fact Book You just choose your country, and then expand all of the subdivisions. For my class, I originally tried to have the students hunt down a single piece and then we put the information together. It worked, however, some were a little overwhelmed by the amount of information on each page. AND it took forever. That was the only thing we accomplished in one hour! So I changed that right away! I now jot down all the particulars on my chart and I post them up on the board as we discuss it. Works so much better! For a single student/family--my girls did this with Geo Pit Stop and it worked just fine. (Please note, some of the countries listed on the chart were/are not going to be visited (Such as Morocco). Feel free to change it, skip it or do it! ;)
There are 36 weeks worth of work, plus a personal country research project. Weeks are as follows:
Week 1 Maps/Latitude/Longitude, GPS Week 19 Cultural: Child Labor
Week 2 Map Skills, Topography/Charts Week 20 Israel Mapping/Information
Week 3 Different Hemispheres, Continents Week 21 Cultural:
Week 4 Climates/Currents/Weather Impact Week 22 Russia Mapping/Information
Week 5 Physical Changes to environment/Human impact Week 23 Cultural:
Week 6 Kenya Mapping/Information Week 24 Switzerland Mapping/Information
Week 7 Cultural: Masai Portrait/beading Week 25 Cultural:
Week 8 Nigeria Mapping/Information Week 26 United Kingdom Mapping/Information
Week 9 Cultural: Modern Day Pirates Week 27 Cultural:
Week 10 Uganda Mapping/Information Week 28 France Mapping/Information
Week 11 Cultural: House/furniture building Week 29 Cultural:
Week 12 China Mapping/Information Week 30 Germany Mapping/Information
Week 13 Cultural: Why is everything built in China? Week 31 Cultural:
Week 14 Japan Mapping/Information Week 32 Indonesia Mapping/Information
Week 15 Cultural: Art/Haiku Week 33 Cultural:
Week 16 India Mapping/Information Week 34 Australia Mapping/Information
Week 17 Cultural: Caste system Week 35 Cultural:
Week 18 Nepal Mapping/Information Week 36 Eastern Hemisphere Wrap up/tasting day
Download links are currently pointing toward drop box folders for the country. The file holds all documents, pdfs, videos, etc for the two weeks. I teach this class 1 time every week. So first week is the business stuff: Mapping, Country Comparison Chart, etc. The second week is more of a cultural lesson. For the cultural aspects, I'm trying to keep it a wide variety. So I'll do art of some sort for one country, and then something political or economical in nature the next.
I'll go into more detail when I have time to write it up. But this should get you started at least!! (I am currently teaching week 17 (though I think we are technically on week 19), so I don't have all of the weeks filled in just yet, but I will as I go along!)
Country Comparison Chart This chart is created for each student to input the information so that they can compare each country to the United States. Some of the biggest "wow" causers are poverty, water, national debt, and per Capita. The information is gathered from looking at the CIA World Fact Book You just choose your country, and then expand all of the subdivisions. For my class, I originally tried to have the students hunt down a single piece and then we put the information together. It worked, however, some were a little overwhelmed by the amount of information on each page. AND it took forever. That was the only thing we accomplished in one hour! So I changed that right away! I now jot down all the particulars on my chart and I post them up on the board as we discuss it. Works so much better! For a single student/family--my girls did this with Geo Pit Stop and it worked just fine. (Please note, some of the countries listed on the chart were/are not going to be visited (Such as Morocco). Feel free to change it, skip it or do it! ;)
There are 36 weeks worth of work, plus a personal country research project. Weeks are as follows:
Week 1 Maps/Latitude/Longitude, GPS Week 19 Cultural: Child Labor
Week 2 Map Skills, Topography/Charts Week 20 Israel Mapping/Information
Week 3 Different Hemispheres, Continents Week 21 Cultural:
Week 4 Climates/Currents/Weather Impact Week 22 Russia Mapping/Information
Week 5 Physical Changes to environment/Human impact Week 23 Cultural:
Week 6 Kenya Mapping/Information Week 24 Switzerland Mapping/Information
Week 7 Cultural: Masai Portrait/beading Week 25 Cultural:
Week 8 Nigeria Mapping/Information Week 26 United Kingdom Mapping/Information
Week 9 Cultural: Modern Day Pirates Week 27 Cultural:
Week 10 Uganda Mapping/Information Week 28 France Mapping/Information
Week 11 Cultural: House/furniture building Week 29 Cultural:
Week 12 China Mapping/Information Week 30 Germany Mapping/Information
Week 13 Cultural: Why is everything built in China? Week 31 Cultural:
Week 14 Japan Mapping/Information Week 32 Indonesia Mapping/Information
Week 15 Cultural: Art/Haiku Week 33 Cultural:
Week 16 India Mapping/Information Week 34 Australia Mapping/Information
Week 17 Cultural: Caste system Week 35 Cultural:
Week 18 Nepal Mapping/Information Week 36 Eastern Hemisphere Wrap up/tasting day
Personal Country Research Project
Each student is asked to do a country report of their choosing. I suggest that they do not do a country that we will be "visiting" but if they do, it's not the end of the world. There is always more to learn than we can reasonably learn in two days. The only other stipulation is that it must be found within the Eastern Hemisphere!
The program that I am using is the Travel Expo created by Ashley Zielewicz on Teachers Pay Teachers. As of Jan 2015 it is a free pdf download.
This project is done as homework for my class. One section at a time is how I'm assigning it. Though I must admit, most of the kids are not participating . . . . :'{
The program that I am using is the Travel Expo created by Ashley Zielewicz on Teachers Pay Teachers. As of Jan 2015 it is a free pdf download.
This project is done as homework for my class. One section at a time is how I'm assigning it. Though I must admit, most of the kids are not participating . . . . :'{
