Geography, Day 7 - Class Recap

Today's map quiz was on Europe. In 2013, I took a two month trip to Europe and traveled by plane, train, and bus all around. Here's a collage of photos from each stop of the trip.

Hi everyone,

We are getting close to the end of the Geography unit! Thank you for your patience and understanding that geography is really important! 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: "Trans Europe Express" by Kraftwerk. Selected for today because it was the Europe quiz in class, naturally. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/28/17:
News Brief – Darren
Europe Map Quiz
Geographic Literacy
Atlas/Map Work

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

News Brief: Darren had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: Independent.co.uk - Ukraine ammunition depot explosion: 24,000 people evacuated after Kalynivka blasts. We found Ukraine in our world map packet (helpfully in the same continent we were taking the map quiz on) and talked about this story for a bit. Chole E was drawn as the next person up.

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

I asked about the weekend and if anyone had any plans, before moving on.

Europe Map Quiz: The fourth map quiz out of the six! Remember that your top four scores will be turned in for your grade for the geography targets. We corrected the quiz in class (making sure to note the updated answers from the map quiz key) and then students passed them back to each other.

Geographic Literacy: I know that class has been a little repetitive lately, with quizzes and work time, I wanted to show again why it is important that we are learning about geography. So, I played this clip:

Yikes, to say the least! "Name a country in South America." "Uh... Africa?"

The problem is that this is not uncommon. To back up my point that we really need to know our geography as a society, I showed this article about the results of a 2006 National Geographic study:

NationalGeographic.com - Young Americans Geographically Illiterate, Survey Suggests

Some of the statistics on there (granted, almost a decade old, but I would be willing to bet the numbers have not changed that much) are really frightening, about how little Americans the age of the students in our class know about geography. Less than 20% of young Americans even OWN a world map, which is a reason why I really care that you do! With that in mind, we moved on to continuing to label and prepare for the next map quiz.

Finally, we watched this clip of John Oliver making fun of people for not knowing their geography:

Pretty funny, and it also reinforces the point about needing to know where places are!

Atlas/Map Work: The last part of class was dedicated to labeling and coloring the Africa section of the map packet, 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 mountainous central African country is located between Uganda and Burundi. 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

Have a great weekend, everyone! See you next week. :-)

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:
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 physical and human systems.

Soundtrack: "I Want it That Way" by Backstreet Boys. Selected for today because the Backstreet Boys are from the United States, which is in North America, and I wanted you do to well on your map quiz today! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/26/17:
News Brief – Ellie
North America Map Quiz
5 Themes
Map Work

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

News Brief: Ellie had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: NPR.org - China Moves To Limit Fuel, Textile Trade With North Korea. We found North Korea in the world map and talked about the ongoing tension between the Koreas, especially in regards to the latest nuclear test by North Korea, and why China is in a difficult position with the conflict. Thanks, Ellie! Darren was drawn as the next person up.

We also checked in about what people were up to in class. As part of this, I talked about the protests during the national anthem over the weekend, and talked about student rights regarding the ability to protest at school and athletic events: EdWeek.org - Students Have a Right to Protest During National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance.

As part of the News Brief section, we watched the one minute world news from the BBC,  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 four scores will be turned in for your grade for the geography targets. We corrected the quiz in class - please keep all copies of your map quizzes in your binder to select the top four at the end of the unit!

5 Themes/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 (this is also on Google Classroom for you to create a copy of):

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!

Geography, Day 5 - Class Recap

Today's map quiz was on Oceania. I told the class that I once visited Kiribati (pronounced Kire-eh-bahs) for a couple of hours in 2014. That was on purpose on a layover from Fiji from Hawaii! One of my very favorite passport stamps!

Hello everyone,

I had a lot of fun with today's class, and I hope you did, too! Thank you for all of your support this week, as it was a difficult one personally with remembering my dad, and also a really great one here at Westview. Here's what happened today:

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 physical and human systems.

Soundtrack: "Back in Black" by AC/DC. Selected for today because AC/DC is from Australia, which the map quiz was on today! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/22/17:
News Brief – Michael
Oceania Map Quiz
Island Mountains
Atlas/Map Work

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

News Brief: Michael had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - Mexico had two major earthquakes this month. Here's why. We discussed this ongoing story for a bit and found Mexico in the world map packet to note we had done a news brief on it. Thanks, Michael! Ellie was selected to be the next person up.

We also checked in about the upcoming weekend because it was Friday. Yay! :-)

Finally, we watched BBC World News for the day, before moving on.

Oceania Map Quiz: The next map quiz out of the six! Remember that your top four scores will be turned in for your grade for the geography targets. We corrected the quiz in class and I gave students back the South America quiz results.

Island Mountains: I loved doing this activity with my classes! I was taught how to do this lesson years ago when I was getting my Masters at Lewis and Clark. It was so cool to see all of the different islands that students created! The directions for this activity were:

Crumple up a white piece of paper.

Wrap a writing utensil around the middle, so there is a bump in the paper.

Lay it down on a blue piece of paper. Cut off the corners, so that the bottom is circular/curved.

Tape the sides down.

Start coloring the mountain with:
Forests (a ring of green around the middle)
Rivers (blue streams down the sides of the mountain)
Cliffs and rocks (brown or grey)
Lava (red, if you want),
Beaches (yellow/orange).
The only part to your island that could be majority white is the top (snow).

Draw some houses on the flat parts to your island, next to the rivers that would provide water. Where would ships go? Draw a harbor there.

Identify where humans and the environment (Knowledge Target 10 shout out!) would be interacting on your island. Give your island a name and write it on the blue of the ocean!

Make a key for your map – how big is each inch? A mile? Draw a compass (North, South, East, West) for your map!

Here's one resulting map, which was super awesome:

Woo hoo! I hope you enjoyed this activity (really focusing on the behavior target of self-directing learning), but also about Oceania/islands and human/environment interaction!

Atlas/Map Work: The last part of class was dedicated to labeling and coloring the North America/Caribbean section of the map packet, 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 country, the furthest east of all the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, is east of St. Lucia.. 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

We did not have a ton of time in class to work on this, due to the fun mountain making activity, So, I took a picture of the North America/Caribbean section (remember that these are two different map pages in your map packet) to help with labeling and coloring at home for the next quiz:

If you click on it, the image should get much bigger.

Have a great weekend, everyone! I appreciate all of your hard work so far in class.