Geography, Day 3 - Class Recap

This is a globe that was in a house that George Washington stayed at for a few weeks in Barbados. Photo taken in 2011.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to another week of Global Studies! Today, we learned about the Five Themes of Geography and did some more map work with the atlases in class. Here's what happened:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 7: I can demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of locations and regions.
Knowledge LT 10: I can demonstrate an understanding of the connection between the physical and human systems.

Soundtrack: "Maps" by Maroon 5. Get it? Because we are learning about Geography and maps? Ha, ha. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/19/16:
News Brief – Sara
Maps
Themes of Geography
Map Work

Homework: Read the blog. Bring a photo for the wall if you have not already. Study for South America map quiz next class (need completed and colored map of South America done in order to use). Next news brief: Alexander B.

As a reward for reading the blog (and doing your homework), one of the questions on the quiz is: This country shares its longest border with Argentina.

News Brief: Sara had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to bring in: Yahoo.com - Woman charged over failed jihadist Paris attack. We found France in our world map packet and noted we did a news brief story there. We also talked for a bit about this story and what happened. Thanks, Sara!

Alexander B. volunteered for the next news brief.

We took the time to check in about the weekend and what people were up to, as well.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):

BBCNews.com - One-minute World News

Maps: Next, I showed a few links that have to do with creatively thinking about geography. It's so much more than just blank maps and countries! These are real places with real people and amazing scenery!

After that, I showed this video that is a time lapse of some shots from the International Space Station, orbiting around the Earth at night. Incredible! See if you can identify the countries and places by their lights at night.

Finally, I showed this video of many different time lapses on the ground, in various different countries. This one makes me smile, because I have been to a few of these places! :-)

I showed these in class to hopefully help inspire you to learn about where these places are and maybe one day to travel there! We are going to keep looking at geography throughout the year.

Themes of Geography: Basically, this was a PowerPoint presentation in combination with a handout for notes on each of the themes and an activity using the atlases that I will pass out next class. We began this section by watching the Five Themes of Geography rap:

The Five Themes of Geography are:

Movement
Regions
Human Environment interactions
Location
Place

Or: MR. HELP!

For those that were not in class or wanted to see the presentation again for additional review, here it is:

Google Drive - Five Themes of Geography PowerPoint

Google Drive - Five Themes of Geography Worksheet Handout

(this will be passed out next class)

This is one way in which you will be able to demonstrate proficiency with LT 10 in class. Thanks for your focus and participation in taking notes! I appreciate it!

Map Work: To finish class, I passed out a huge map packet (not regular sized paper) for students to fill out. Specifically, work on identifying the countries in South America on the first page, to begin. You need to have the country name written in and the country colored (so not two touching countries are the same color) in order to be able to use them on the map quiz (it is virtually impossible to pass the map quiz without your completed map). Just in case you want to see the files again (printing them on smaller paper is not advised), here it is:

Google Drive: Fill in World Maps

Map Packet Expectations:
1 = Maps lack detail, color, and/or labels. Maps are sloppy or messy.
2 = Maps are labeled and colored but there may be inaccuracies. Maps could be neater.
3 = Maps are labeled and colored completely, accurately, and neatly.
4 = Maps are labeled and colored completely, accurately, and neatly, and include other information, such as capitals, land forms, water features, or resources.

That was it for today! Bring your maps for next class, because we will continue working on them. They are not homework for now! We will use them during the news brief, too.

Again, a heads up that you need your completed South American map, with the countries labeled and colored to use next class on the quiz. Please use a website like Google Maps, or ask questions if you need help!

Sound good? See you next class!