1) Naming the Continents:
My primary class has been working on mapping
skills since coming back from Chritmas break.
After reading
Follow that Map by Scot Ritchie, we looked at
the world map and went through the continents.
To help us learn their names, we watched "The Continents Song"
on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apIzM6rywf0&safe=active (Thanks to Kathy at My Spare Moments for the
idea.)
2) Tear Paper World:
Next, I provided each student with a sheet of 11 x 17 paper. We folded it in half and tore along the fold
line. We put one half aside and folded
and tore the second one in half. We kept
folding and tearing one of the halves until we had 7 pieces of paper, the
smallest 2 being the same size.
We again looked at the world map and compared and ordered
the continents according to sizes. As well, we took note if the shapes of the continents were tall or wide. We
labeled the pieces of papers starting with Asia as the largest one, down to
Europe, one of the smallest ones, being careful to turn the papers either to portrait (tall) or landscape (wide). E.g. Asia is a wide continent, so we turned the paper to landscape.
Next, we discussed where the continents are situated in
relation to the equator.
I provided each
student with a metre long piece of yarn, to represent the equator.
Using the world map as a model, they laid out
their yarn on there tables and placed their "continents" above, below or on the
string as they appear on the map.
We
used the direction words throughout the the activity, as well as
the continent names.
For several days, at the
beginning of each social studies class, my students repeated the above
activity, becoming more and more familiar with the layout of the
"world", which was necessary for the next lesson.
3) Paper Mâché Globes
I mixed 2 parts water white glue with 1 part water and
cut newspaper into 1-2" strips. My
students dipped the strips into the watery glue and covered the balloon with
several layers of strips, criss-crossing as much as possible. It took us 2 classes to get it hard enough
with students working in pairs.
4) Painting and Labeling:
The following day, the students again to took out
their
"continents", drew the
shapes of the continents on them and cut them out to use as patterns.
We traced them on with markers as pencil was
difficult to see on the newspaper.
They
painted the continents green and oceans blue.
During the next class, they glued labels of the
continents, oceans and the equator in the appropriate places. Finally, we invited one of the taller
teachers to come and hang our creations from our fluorescent light. My students proudly admire their work each
time they enter the classroom and eagerly tell all visitors the process of the
project.
Not only do we have the best of
both worlds in my classroom now, we actually have the best of THREE worlds, as that is how many
paper mâché globes we created!
