Geography, Day 6 - Class Recap

Today, we took the North America quiz and worked on identifying the states. This is a picture I took at the California Poppy Reserve in 2008.

Dear class,

Today was another quiz and work day, as we progress through the maps of the world and being able to identify where countries are. We also had a solid amount of work time at the end of class to be studying and completing the Five Themes of Geography packet. Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets:
Behavior LT 2: I can self-direct my learning.
Knowledge LT 6: I can demonstrate an understanding of the characteristics of locations and regions.
Knowledge LT 7: I can demonstrate the ability to use geographic tools.

Soundtrack: "Shadow" by Austin Mahone. Selected for today because Naki recommended it to me via email, and because Austin Mahone is from North America (Texas). Also, the music video shows him walking around London, England - one of my favorite cities in the world! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/29/15:
News Brief – Lucy
North America Map Quiz
States
Atlas/Map Work

Homework: Read the blog. Finish Europe map (colored and labeled) for the quiz next class. Next news brief: Jagrit.

News Brief: Lucy had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: BBCNews.com - Central African Republic prisoners escape in Bangui. We found the Central African Republic on the world map, and I mentioned that it is pretty rare that we would have a story from there, so I'm glad we did today! I also mentioned, that as presidential elections come up in C.A.R., lots of leaders around Africa and the world have maintained their power for quite some time. It appears that the Central African Republic is going through a period of transition, and their current president is a woman - very cool! Thanks, Lucy! Jagrit was drawn as the next person up.

As part of the News Brief section, we are going to watch the one minute world news from the BBC, until VICE News continues with their news capsule service (which hasn't updated in two weeks, so maybe they stopped). Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day:

BBCNews.com - One-minute World News

I think being aware of what is going on around the world is an important habit to develop! :-)

North America Map Quiz: The third map quiz out of the six! Remember that your top three scores will be turned in for your grade for the geography targets. We corrected the quiz in class and then I entered the scores in the gradebook. You will get them back to keep in your binder next class.

States: Since we were testing on North America today in class, and I think it is important that we know our own country as a part of Global Studies, I passed out a blank US states map to label and study (you will not be able to use it on the eventual quiz). Some more ways to study for this quiz (which will be after all of the continents) are: 1) Printing this map and labeling it from memory (remember that spelling counts). 2) Playing the US States Sporcle game and typing in the names of the states.

Atlas/Map Work: The last part of class was dedicated to labeling and coloring the Europe section of the map packet (there are a lot of countries in Europe and it is pretty detailed, so I understand if you are using arrows to label), in order to be able to use it on the upcoming quiz next class. For checking the blog, here's a question from the quiz: This small country is a principality located between Switzerland and Austria. If you are missing your map packet and know you need to have it done, please print out another and have it ready to go for next class:

Google Drive - World Maps Packet

Also, here's the Five Themes of Geography Atlas activity to continue working on (which mostly has to be in class with the atlases here):

Google Drive - Five Themes of Geography Atlas Packet

Thanks, everyone! You did a great job of focusing and being able to self-direct your learning in class today!