NGS Daily jigsaw puzzles
Monday, December 29, 2008
Discover the world with Matt Lauer?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Holidays around the World
by Ms. Hos-McGrane's Grade 5 Students:
Friday, December 19, 2008
Great Geography Quote
us friends. Economics has made us partners, and
necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder."
John F. Kennedy
Geography of Snow
Secret Language of Snow(1984)
by Terry Tempest Williams and Ted Major,
with illustrations byJennifer Dewey
http://www.coyoteclan.com/books/snow.html
One of my favorite books for children...explains how other people of the world...especially those from Arctic regions...have developed whole unique vocabularies to describe different kinds of snow.
lesson plan using Secret Language of Snow & Snowflake Bentley:
http://www.nort/hstar.k12.ak.us/schools/joy/creamers/Kits/lesson.html
national snow and ice data center:
http://nsidc.org/snow/
http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/
NSDL (National Science Digital Library) website with MANY geography/polar/climate-related student literature, lessons, and activities:
http://onramp.nsdl.org/list.php?cat=quick_filter&search_keys%5B0%5D=teachers+students+elementary+children%E2%80%99s+literature+trade+books+polar+regions+geography+seasons+climate+glaciers+icebergs+snow+animals+penguins+polar+bears+people+poetry+arctic%0A++++Antarctica+activities+arts+crafts+games
make snow crystals online:
http://www.popularfront.com/snowdays/
Another great children's book about
snow: Snowflake Bentley
by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Illustrated by Mary Azarian
Wilson Bentley became world-known for his snowflake photography.
http://snowflakebentley.com/snowflakes.htm
(see his snowflake photos--public domain..free use of photos!)
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/1090/snowflak.html
(information about Snowflake Bentley)
http://snowflakebentley.com/vid.htmBentley
(a video about Snowflake Bentley)
NASA cryosphere video:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/cryosphere.html
World Conflicts
http://www.proquestk12.com/productinfo/cg_world_conflicts.shtml
The site is a pay for use site, but has a free trial signup. This
site is the most comprehensive with information about world conflicts! It includes teacher video training, conflict background materials, lesson plans, data sheets,
newsletters, student/parent notes/and much more.
http://www.didyouknow.cd/story/conflicts.htm
Information about countries, maps, flags, current status of conflicts
http://mapsofwar.com/
Terrific site with interactive maps and slideshows...FREE for Download!!
Example download: Imperial History of the Middle East
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ongoing_conflicts
Wikipedia has an ongoing list of conflicts with maps, country information, etc.
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/promises/resources.html
P.O.V./Promisses from PBS.org offers a good collection of websites and resources about world conflicts and conflict resolution materials
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/index.html
Global Security.org is a website listing current conflicts as well as terrorism threats, WMD's, National Security, travel alerts, etc.
SkyWatch Friday
During a wet and stormy drive from St. George, Utah to Lehi, Utah, I took this pictures of a mountain ridge trying to peak out through the morning storm clouds.
Monday, December 15, 2008
YouTube geography videos
If you are looking for some fun geography songs/videos to help your students learn geography...check out YouTube.
Go to http://www.youtube.com, type in "geography songs" in the search bar.....a few examples listed below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUDDaEOvuY
(Animaniac's 50 US states and capitols)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2Ml-tJuQ3o
(Animaniac's Nations of the world..needs a few country name updates/changes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkqnJhEOLdQ
(name the continents and oceans..quiz)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Why does the Sun Shine?
One of my favorite music groups, They might be Giants, writes the craziest songs and lyrics for all age groups. I like this one:
"Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)"
For all of those science teachers out there trying to teach space/solar science...this music video will grab your students' attentions!!!!
SkyWatch Friday..Big Moon Tonight!!
There's a full moon tonight, and it's going to be a big one !
By Sheena Mcfarland
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated: 12/12/2008 06:28:27 AM MST
"Those looking up tonight will see the biggest full moon the Earth has seen since 1993.
To best view the effect, look at the moon while it's on the horizon line, when "illusion will mix with reality to produce a truly stunning view," according to Tony Phillips, Science@NASA's production editor.
"For reasons not fully understood by astronomers or psychologists, low-hanging moons look unnaturally large when they beam through trees, buildings and other foreground objects. The swollen orb rising in the east at sunset may seem so nearby, you can almost reach out and touch it," he writes on the Science@NASA Web site. The moon's proximity to Earth also will affect tides, pulling the tide higher than normal by between about
an inch and 6 inches. Every month, the oblong lunar orbit brings the moon closer to Earth, but this month the moon is full just four hours after hitting perigee. That means it will be 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than any other full moon this year. The full moon at perigee won't occur again until 2016."
smcfarland@sltrib.com
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Geography student literature list ..teacher resource Treasure!!
I've uploaded all 22 pages of GEOReader II (lists of books andactivities about cultures and physical geography). These are excellent suggestions for reading & picture books for teaching geography using literature. Some of the teaching suggestions are a bit out of date..due to NCLB...but great information including the 5 themes of geography background.
(double click on each page to enlarge)
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Dec 1: Rosa Park;s Day. Anniversary commemorating when Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
Dec 2: Barney Clark receives world's first artificial heart transplant,
SLC Utah.
Dec 7: Thomas Edison exhibited phonograph, Menlo Park, New Jersey.
Dec. 7: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, attacked by Japanese drawing U.S. into WWII
Dec 8: John Lennon killed in NYCity, New York
Dec 10: Wyoming, (US territory) allowed women to vote and hold office 1869
Dec 15: "Gone with the Wind" 1939 premierd in Atlanta GA
Dec 16: Boston Tea Party, 1773 Boston Harbor, Massachusetts
Dec 16: Battle of the Bulge 1944 A major German offensive launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium, France and Luxembourg on the Western Front.
Dec 17: Wright Brothers' Day celebrates the first successful airplane flight @ Kitty Hawk, NC
Dec 21: Winter Solstice: Shortest day and longest night of the year. Sun appears at the lowest point in the sky.
Dec 21:Pilgrims first set foot on American soil at Plymouth, Mass 1620
Dec 21: Hannukkah is celebrated from Dec 12-29 to show praise and honor to God for providing 8 days of oil (from a single day's worth) in the Temple of Jerusalem.
Dec 23: Aircraft, Voyager, completed first round-the-world flight without stopping or refueling in 1986.
Dec 25: Christmas is the Christian celebration of Jesus' birth. Millions of believers (& non-believers) commemorate the day with feasts and gifts.
Dec 25: William the Conquerer is crowned King of England 1066
Dec 26: Kwanzaa African American celebration (12-26-1/1) to reconnect with Adrican traditions and principals such as unity, self-determination, creativity, and faith.
Dec 27: Edwin Hubble announces the existence of other galactic systems
1924
Friday, December 5, 2008
SkyWatch Friday
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Reposting: National Geographic Bee registration information
TIME SENSTITIVE INFORMATION: 2009 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC BEE SCHOOL REGISTRATION
All schools wishing to participate in the National Geographic Bee must register yearly. Registration materials have been sent out to schools, so please "keep an eye out" for the materials in your school's mail. If your school does not receive registration information in the mail, (brochure/flier) please go the following link for registration details and deadline information: www.nationalgeographic.com/geographicbee.
Also see the above link for general Geographic Bee information and helpful study hints:
Get your school registered today for the 2009 National Geographic Bee! Good Luck with your School's Geographic Bee!!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
InternetResources for Maps & Map Making
Internet Resources for Maps & Mapping—Examples November 2007 with July 2008 & December 2008 updates - - carol.gersmehl@gmail.com
U.S.
The U.S. Census provides ready-made maps about counties of the U.S. :
http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/atlas.html
This is a great introduction to census maps.
Topics: population, diversity, race, and Hispanic origin (by counties)
Use census.gov to create thematic maps using Census data from year 2000:
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ThematicMapFramesetServlet?_bm=y&-_lang=en
“American Factfinder” provides data about the U.S.. It steps you through creating a map. If you want to look at all of the U.S., then you would map data for “counties.” If you want to look at a smaller portion of the U.S., you might map data for “tracts” or “block groups":
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_lang=en
Overview of American Factfinder:
http://factfinder.census.gov/jsp/saff/SAFFInfo.jsp?_pageId=gn7_maps
Thematic & reference maps:
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/maps/CP_MapProducts.htm
Use historical U.S. census data to create maps:
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/
Historical Census Browser. This site provides data for states and for counties—for every decade all the way back to 1790.
Find aerial photos and topographic maps for local areas in the U.S.
Terraserver and Topozone:
http://www.terraserver.microsoft.com/ --for aerial photos and topographic maps. Generally, choose a small area (part of a city or part of a county) and zoom in.
Use the National Atlas to find printable maps or to select layers for your own map (technical).
“Printable Maps” http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable.html
mainly thematic maps
http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/reference.html
reference maps (with or without labels)
“Map Maker” Section http://nationalatlas.gov/natlas/natlasstart.asp Choose one state or a group of several states. Note “Redraw Map.” http://www.nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp.html http://www.nationalatlas.gov/atlasftp-na.html for download
Find maps and data about agriculture in the U.S. (Census of Agriculture, NASS)
http://www.nass.usda.gov/research/atlas02/ has nice already-made maps (e.g., about milk cows)
http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/
http://www.nass.usda.gov/QuickStats/ for data
http://www.nass.usda.gov/census/census02/censuscd/index.htm for data download for experienced GIS
Digital atlases provide ready-made maps. (William A. Bowen California Geographical Survey) We can talk about the use of circles and the choice of colors on these maps. Notice that there are separate maps for total number of persons vs. percentages of persons.
http://130.166.124.2/NYpage1.html maps about census data for New York City
http://130.166.124.2/dcpg1.html maps about census data for Washington, DC
http://130.166.124.2/US_1.html maps about census data (ancestry) for U.S. counties
Find data and maps about religion in U.S.
http://www.thearda.com/ http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/maps.asp Choose maps and reports about religious groups.
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/society/rellinks.htm provides general overview and links
Other U.S. government websites (mortality, environmental quality, watersheds)
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/other/atlas/atlas.htm has already-made maps about diseases and types of injury from the Centers for Disease Control - Atlas of United States Mortality
EPA Enviromapper http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/em includes NYC air sampling data after 9/11
EPA Surf Your Watershed http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm includes “locate your watershed”
Find maps in the Library of Congress Map Collection. There are 1000’s of maps.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/gmdhtml/gmdhome.html Search by keyword or choose a section.
This has many current and historic maps for the U.S. and also for other parts of the world.
WORLD (Also look into Google Maps and Google Earth!)
Worldmapper: http://www.worldmapper.org/ http://www.worldmapper.org/textindex/text_index.html
- has unusual type of map (cartogram); topics include present-day and also some historical:
Population in Year 1 http://www.worldmapper.org/ and
Wealth in Year 1 http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=159
World Resources Institute has maps and also data lists: for example http://earthtrends.wri.org/maps_spatial/index.php?theme=4
Columbia University, CIESIN, has maps: http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw/global.jsp
CIA Factbook is a basic source for reference maps and comparative data.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html
Choose a country (e.g., Afghanistran) and you will see a map followed by much data and description. OR – Do not choose a country and then click on “Reference Maps” to see maps of world regions.
Globalis has many map layers about countries and world regions. http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/index.cfm Start in upper left--choose a theme under Thematic Maps.
You will see maps about the entire world, or at top left, choose “Zoom to” to select an area.
Choose map topics under either “Statistics” or “Thematic maps.” Be sure to “Update map.”
Le Monde Diplomatique has already-made maps about issue-oriented and controversial topics.
http://mondediplo.com/maps/
Geography Network is an ESRI interactive mapping site where you can “Search” for maps.
http://www.geographynetwork.com/maps/arcexplorerweb.html You can launch ArcExplorerweb from here.
Using this can be more complicated, but is worth learning about.
Ready-made maps from National Geographic: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/matrix3.html has “starter” lesson ideas
GOOD: Human footprint http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/map/atlas/africa-human-footprint.html
Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection has many current and historic ready-made maps.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ Choose from a list of continents or from current interest topics.
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/ provides historical maps
UNESCO World Heritage has locator map, photos, and descriptions of important historic places.
http://whc.unesco.org/ Zoom in and move around on the map to see locations of important places.
http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31 Important historical places are listed within countries.
USGS Earthshots: Satellite Images of Environmental Change (satellite images)
http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/earthshots/slow/tableofcontents has image and article about each yellow dot
Various historic maps for U.S. and world
http://www.davidrumsey.com/ David Rumsey map collection provides 1000’s of historic maps, BUT
technology and sometimes GIS experience may be necessary.
Geography.about.com is a searchable site designed for teachers.
http://www.geography.about.com/ has dozens of links on the left side
World Atlas of Panoramic Aerial Images shows landforms and land cover. http://130.166.124.2/world_atlas/index.html COOL! Choose a region within the world or the U.S.
http://130.166.124.2/library.html shows contents of “The Electronic Map Library” by Wm. Bowen
GEsource is recommended by librarians for geography-related maps, data, and articles. http://www.gesource.ac.uk/worldguide/ summarizes CIA Factbook for countries
At top, for “Country,” please select country/region.” Then press “Go.”
http://www.gesource.ac.uk/geography_timeline.html Choose topic and date range.
http://www.gesource.ac.uk/worldguide/countrycompare.html Compare 4 countries at a time.
http://www.gesource.ac.uk/worldguide/cities.html has city maps (satellite images)
http://www.gesource.ac.uk/home.html Use “keyword search” to find maps and articles.
THANKS CAROL! Teachers: Great resources to use with your smart boards!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
U.S. National Parks
The National Park Service http://www.nps.gov/
has a very user friendly website packed with information about each and every National Park--including lesson plans for teachers, free materials, videos for download, maps, history & culture information, trip planning guides, science information, and an interactive Kids' Zone.
Have your students prepare presentations for a "National Park Day"....and invite the whole school to visit (i.e. similar to a science fair)....Make it a competition to see who can produce the most exciting, INFORMATIVE, National Park presentation (let the visiting students vote for their favorite presentation)! And most importantly, make sure all of the students' presentations have a geography component using The Five Themes of Geography as a focus for their research.
The Five Themes of Geography?
Location, Place, Movement, Human/Environmental interactions, Regions
http://geography.mrdonn.org/5themes-definitions.html
This is one of many videos available on the http://www.nps.gov/ for download.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Maps and Geography for the little ones
To start introducing your younglings to maps and geography (ages 5-6)...
Visit:
http://pbskids.org/bigbigworld/parentsteachers/activities_14.html
The PBSKids.org website It's a Big Big world offers some simple ideas and family activities to start your kids and students thinking geographically by introducing them to the use of maps..
Multicultural December Celebrations
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson246.shtml