June 8, 2007 Kay Gandy

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson071.shtml
Design a country. Challenge students to dream up their own countries and to create maps of those countries. The maps should show natural (rivers, mountains) and human-made (highways, major cities) features. Students should name their countries, decide which products will provide the economic basis of their countries, etc.
My students love activities where they get to be the creators of a universe. This would be an excellent introduction into geography.
Get the dirt! Invite students to write to friends or relatives in other parts of the country (or the world). Students should ask each person to send to them a small sample of the soil that is common in their area. Students can compare the soil samples from around the country and the globe. What can they tell about a place from its soil?
Since I teach in an agriculturally rich area, finding different soil samples would be a great learning experience. We could extend this by making a map of the world from soil samples. This could also be tied into writing skills because there’s no way that we could get samples from all over from just the people we know. One problem with this could be the potential introduction of invasive species (my soap-box). We might have to do pictures.

The Lorax. Read aloud the book The Lorax (by Dr. Seuss), a wonderful example of human-environment interaction for all ages. Talk about the different characters in the book. How do students feel about each of them? Who does each character symbolize? How is each character affected by the Once-ler? Who is the Somebody?
I’m normally against fear mongering among students about environmental issues; however, this book would be fantastic for teaching about environmental issues in a somewhat non-threatening way.
The products we use. Where do the products we use originate? Invite students to collect labels from foods, clothing, toys, and other products they use. Where do those products come from? What percentage of those products are made in your state? your country? other continents? Are we dependent on products from all around the world? Talk about how products made outside your community might get there.
I did this one for my transparency activity and I loved it. I think that my students would be amazed to find out how connected they are to the world around them. We could also tie this into human rights issues so they can be informed consumers.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/hall/

Places and Regions is my favorite part of the site because it requires the reader to observe the map in order to make decisions on the question; however, the Human Systems part also has some fun stuff. You know, since it is around lunch time, the Environment and Society page with the sushi is a good thing. Plus, that ties into the activity where we try to figure out where stuff comes from. Then again, since I’ve gone to the AiG museum, I’m all over the part where we get to dig up ancient “cousins”. Any thing that helps teach evolution is a good thing in my mind.