RARE BLUE MOON TONIGHT

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977970564

Gallery | New Year's around the world | accessatlanta.com

Gallery | New Year's around the world | accessatlanta.com

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SkyWatch Friday

For more interesting sky views see:
http://skyley.blogspot.com/




Two interesting photos.

I took the first photo this Fall from my front porch looking westward toward "West Mt." (part of the Oquirrh Mountain range that divides Tooele County N/S from Salt
Lake and Utah Counties). This "fan" cloud filled most of my view to the west....I think this is called a "gravity wave" type of cloud?




See information about the Oquirrh Mts. here: http://desertisland.org/utahmaps.htm



This photo was taken Christmas Day. We were traveling north to Utah County on I-15. It was a COLD, windy, but clear day, and these clouds were being blown into the
mountains along the Wasatch Front Range mountains....example of orographic lifting. You can see the cloud stream bring driven up and backward by the mountain face.

Happy New Year!!.....Keep your eyes skyward to 2010!!!

Make a globe: pattern

This cut-out and assemble globe pattern really helps kids see why putting a map on a round surface causes distortions, and also helps teach continents, oceans, and hemispheres. Have the kids color (color pencils work best) the water and continents, cut out and assemble. Glue sticks work better than reg. glue when assembling. Also before final assembly, place crumpled/wadded paper inside to help hold the shape of the globe. It will probably help to have the students work in pairs when putting the hemispheres together...these can be hung from the ceiling, etc if you glue string on the inside and thread the string up through the "north pole"before final glue-up as well.

Thank you Janet Allen, Ellis Elementary, Logan Utah for this pattern!

(double-cick on the images to enlarge and print)

MATH & GEOGAPHY

I have used this GREAT, simplified, geography, math, & art activity for many years to show students rules of coloring maps. These pages were from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, NCTM Student Math Notes, 11/90.

Their website is filled with many other geography/math links, but I did not find this one that I've posted. However, page 4 gives permission to reproduce the activity for classroom use!

(double click on each image to enlarge and print)

More information on the 4-color theorem for coloring maps:
http://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Map_coloring

additional examples (worksheets): http://www.ctl.ua.edu/math103/mapcolor/mapws.htm

"SPICE" up your holidays (world spices) RE-POST

WORLD SPICES: For those teachers looking for a fun geography activity to start the new year--"spice" up your curriculum by studying spices from around the world!

I found many really great websites with terrific lesson plans, mapping activities, art activities, research sites, books/texts, games, teacher and student information sites, and webquests all about world spice locations. I also found many websites about how spices effected history, the spice trades, and Christopher Columbus connections.

Assign your students a spice, and fill up your room with "scent-sational" geography reports about where spices come from around the world....

Some of the better sites are listed below with brief descriptions:

http://42explore.com/spices.htm

(website loaded with links about spice facts, history, geography, suggestions for activities, information for teachers and students!)

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1707/spices-of-the-world

(board game involves collecting and trading spices from around the world)

http://www.spicesinworldhistory.com/index.html

(website for “Spices--a global history” by Fred Czarra.

http://www.oldandsold.com/articles07/foods-28.shtml

(spice history essay)

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/16/gk2/spices.html

(Xpeditions/National Geographic, K-3 lesson plan, “Spices of the world”)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/16/g35/favfoods.html

(Xpeditions/National Geographic, gr 3-5 lesson plan, “Spices in your favorite food”)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/activities/16/spiceworld.html

Xpeditions/National Geographic, lesson plan, “Spice world”)

http://www.emints.org/ethemes/resources/S00001970.shtml

(many spice websites, lesson plans, and teacher/student resources)
http://www.a1spiceworld.com/sitemap.html

(spice encyclopedia)
http://www.bsu.edu/web/tjrobinson/spiceworldassignment.htm

(spice world lesson and assignment)
http://www.livescience.com/history/080512-hs-spicetrade.html

(essay, how spices effected world history)

http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/GAW97/pepper.html

(GREAT lesson plan about pepper)
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=494

(lengthy, but wonderful lesson plans and activities involving the travels and trading of Marco Polo)

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/tildenms/departments/FACS/cuisinelp.html

(class activity/webquest to research foods and spices of countries)
http://www.baltimorecp.org/lessons/5/5OGeo.htm

(multiple lessons with literature connections concerning the spice trade routes)
http://orias.berkeley.edu/spice/textobjects/overview.htm

(webquest/lesson plans for spice and silk routes)
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/bookshow/stories/2009/2452545.htm

Title: Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination
Author: Paul Freedman
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780 3001 1199 6

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/egypt/dailylife/foods_spices.htm (ancient Egyptian spices)

http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/GAW97/trade.html

(GREAT lesson plans for beginning of European spice trade routes) http://www.mccormick.com/Spices101/SpiceFieldReports.aspx

(spice reports from spice company)
http://inapinchspices.com/mapofworldspices/spicemapworld.html

(world map/locations of spices)
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/spice_geo.html

(spice information per continent)

TRACK SANTA AS HE TRAVELS THE WORLD

http://www.northpole.com/

Visit Santa at his North Pole site and track his wanderings from the NORAD Tracks Santa link starting Dec. 24th!!!

This Must be Utah! - UEN

This Must be Utah! - UEN

This is a FREE Teacher's guide of WONDERFUL lesson plans written by the Utah League of Cities and Towns for 4th and 7th graders to show how Utah Municipalities develop over time. "These lesson will provide an understanding of the way in which geography, history, culture and tradition have made Utah such a unique & fascinating place in which to live."

These lesson plans have been adopted for use as example lesson plans for use with the Utah State Core Curriculum and are available online through the UEN (Utah Education Network) link above:

Snow Storm Buries the U.S. East Coast

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=41979&src=eorss-nh
From NASA Earth Observatory website:

The Mid-Atlantic states were completely white on Sunday, December 20, 2009, in the wake of a record-breaking snow storm. The storm deposited between 12 and 30 inches of snow in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. on December 19, according to the National Weather Service. For many locations, the snowfall totals broke records for the most snow to fall in a single December day.



The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this view of the Chesapeake Bay region as the clouds were clearing on December 20. The snow highlights the courses of the Potomac and Susquehanna Rivers from the Appalachian Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay. The ridges and valleys of the Appalachian Mountains are similarly highlighted. The forested peaks are darker than the snow-covered valleys.
The massive snow storm was a Nor’easter, a powerful storm characterized by a strong low-pressure center that forms in the Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean and moves northward up the Eastern seaboard. In the Northern Hemisphere, winds flow in toward the center of a low-pressure area in a counter-clockwise spiral, which means that as the storm heads north, the leading winds come in off the ocean from the northeast.
References
CNN. (2009, December 20). East Coast storm heads north, leaving snowfall records in its wake. Accessed December 21, 2009.
National Weather Service Forecast Office. Preliminary totals ending December 19, 2009. Accessed December 21, 2009.
NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
Instrument: Aqua - MODIS Image Location

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? using music to teach geography

A YouTube video "enhancing" the original game/tv/cartoon series....great way to use a theme song such as 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?' for a geography lesson!

(background information about the TV series)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_in_the_World_Is_Carmen_Sandiego%3F_(game_show)



Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?..lyrics:

Well she sneaks around the world from Kiev to Carolina,
She's a sticky-fingered filcher from Berlin down to Belize,
She'll take you for a ride on a slow boat to China,
Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Steal their Seoul in South Korea, make Antarctica cry Uncle,
From the Red Sea to Greenland they'll be singing the blues,
Well they never Arkansas her steal the Mekong from the jungle,
Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

She go from Nashville to Norway, Bonaire to Zimbabwe,
Chicago to Czechoslovakia and back!

Well she'll ransack Pakistan and run a scam in Scandinavia,
Then she'll stick 'em up Down Under and go pick-pocket Perth,
She put the Miss in misdemeanor when she stole the beans from Lima,
Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
Oh tell me where in the world is... Oh tell me where can she be?

Ooh, Botswana to Thailand, Milan via Amsterdam,
Mali to Bali, Ohio, Oahu...!

Well she glides around the globe and she'll flimflam every nation,
She's a double-dealing diva with a taste for thievery,
Her itinerary's loaded up with moving violations,
Tell me where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Check out this great MSN Video: Mayon volcano turns up the heat

Check out this great MSN Video: Mayon volcano turns up the heat

SkyWatch Friday

See other interesting sky views at:
http://skyley.blogspot.com/

These photos maybe a bit of a stretch for SkyWatch, but hope you enjoy the humor here anyway. I was recently traveling on "old" highway 91 from Santa Clara, Utah (south west corner of Utah) connecting to I-15 southbound in Nevada. Highway 91 goes through some really desolate, dry, mountainous desert terrain. The vegetation of area is mostly, pinion pine, dry grasses and juniper trees, and an area near the Shivwits Paiute Indian Reservation...was pretty much burned to the ground from a "forest" fire. However, as we came around one hill, there was an area that had escaped the fires and trees were preserved....Someone had decorated with Christmas ornaments...in the middle of almost nowhere... a pinion pine-- spared from fire--on the hill. I had to stop and take a picture...it was priceless!! Happy Holidays Everyone!!!!!!!!

New Under water oceanic volcano discovered

South East of Samoa, a new spectacular underwater oceanic volcano is currently errupting and showing scientists real "fireworks" under the sea!

SkyWatch Friday

See other interesting sky views:

http://skyley.blogspot.com

I have a large flowering pear tree that is frequently visited by woodpeckers during the winter months...This noisy guy was chasing all the other birds out of "his tree".

(Lehi, Utah County, No./central Utah, USA)

Check out this great MSN Video: Giant iceberg aims for Australia

Check out this great MSN Video: Giant iceberg aims for Australia

Check out this great MSN Video: Thai Moon Festival

Check out this great MSN Video: Thai Moon Festival

For more information about Thailands Full Moon Festival:
http://www.fullmoonparty-thailand.com

California as an island, utopia in the shape of a skull, and other strange maps. - By Frank Jacobs - Slate Magazine

I saw a great article and slide show from Slate Magazine today reviewing some really strange..but cool maps:

California as an island, utopia in the shape of a skull, and other strange maps. - By Frank Jacobs - Slate Magazine

http://www.slate.com/id/2236256/pagenum/all/


The maps for the article are from the most interesting, crazy, map lovers blogsite: STRANGE MAPS http://www.strangemaps.wordpress.com/

The maps from above blogsite are now in an atlas: "Strange Maps: An Atlas of Cartographic Curiosities" by Frank Jacobs

Geography podcasts

http://earthsky.org

Listen to FREE, ONLINE ,daily, EarthSky.org podcasts...fascinating science, space and geography subjects! You may download the podcasts or embed their podcasts into a blog, etc.

I used them every morning with my 6th grades classes as a "listening" (comprehension) class starter. The kids listened to the podcast, jotted down a few notes about what they heard and we discussed the topic for a few minutes. The kids turned in their "Earth&Sky" notes every Friday...I was able to give them a comprehension and class participation grade from their work.

(turn off the music gadget in the sidebar if you wish to listen to the podcasts now...)

Up Pompeii, courtesy of Google Streetview

Studying about the Ancient Roman Civilization? Take your students on a tour of Ancient Pompeii...NEW & now available courtesy of Google Streetview!


Up Pompeii, courtesy of Google Streetview

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Google Earth/Sketchup Competition

PLACE, one of the important 5 themes of teaching geography, is sometimes a daunting subject. What characteristics make a town, city, community, state, country or region unique or different from any other similar location on earth? City architecture and building designs often distinguish a location....and Google Earth/Sketchup has a competition that may inspire your students to create 3D portraits of places in their communities that make them unique.
Information about the GOOGLE Model Your Town Competition follows (from the Google Sketchup site):

GOOGLE MODEL YOUR TOWN COMPETITION
http://sketchup.google.com/intl/en/competitions/modelyourtown/index.html

"Get Started Entries accepted until March 1, 2010

Google Model Your Town Competition

What makes your town an incredible place to live?
Show your civic pride (and maybe win a prize) by creating a 3D portrait of your community and sharing it with the world. You have the power to get your town on the map – and there's no bigger map than Google Earth.

See what other towns have done (Google Earth file)
The Google Model Your Town Competition is open to people from all over the world.
All you have to do is build 3D models of the buildings in your community. Model whichever structures you think are necessary to show the planet what's special about your town. Be recognized by your community for doing something great. Having a 3D model of your town in Google Earth helps residents and visitors understand it in a way that flat maps and photographs can't. You can be a local hero by making a contribution to your town's future.

Getting started is easy.
You can enter on your own or recruit up to five of your fellow citizens to help you form a team, and the software tools you need are free.

Get started today
Details, details . You can model as many structures as you like – which types of buildings you choose to include is entirely up to you. The important thing is that your choices say something about the character and history of your town. Modeling teams may include up to six members.
Buildings can be modeled with SketchUp, a free and relatively easy-to-use 3D modeling program from Google. You use SketchUp in combination with Google Earth to give models a precise geographic location. Buildings can also be modeled with Google Building Maker if your town is located in an area where Building Maker data is available. These models can also be edited and improved with Google SketchUp. Each completed building model should be uploaded to a dedicated town collection on the Google 3D Warehouse"

SkyWatch Friday

See other exciting sky views at:
www.skyley.blogspot.com


I was returning home the other night, and saw these lovely, dusky, sun rays peaking over the Oquirrh Mts...west of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Geography of Aids

December 1, 1009:
World AIDS day


SEE>>>>>>>
PBS:FRONTLINE program



THE AGE OF AIDS...excellent informative website from PBS:Frontline.

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/

This 2006 website is loaded with lots of information about the worldwide AIDS epidemic: Country and global maps/statistics, online video segments of the entire program discussing AIDS information, AIDS timeline, interviews, discussion groups, & a Reality Check Quiz. (above map not from PBS site)

LESSSON PLANS FROM NGS XPEDITIONS WEBSITE:
AIDS in Africa I: ThevScope of the problem (for grades 9-12)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/01/g912/africaaidsI.html
AIDS in Africa II: More than Sympathy (for grades 9-12)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/01/g912/africaaidsII.html
A Geographic Prospective of Africa (for grades 9-12)
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/18/g912/gpafrica4.html

The National Tree, Hallmark Channel movie--geography ideas

Hallmark Channel movie: THE NATIONAL TREE premiered Dec 4, 2009 & is filled with geography!!

Cute family movie about a man and his son travelling with a tree destined to be the US capital 's Christmas Tree. Lots of geography in this movie...shows their route on 1-80 across the country.

Got me thinking.....Your students could decide on a tree that represents their state...How
would they transport it to D.C?....Map the routes they would take to D.C. Like the movie, find pictures or postcard of cities they would pass through enroute to D.C.

See information about the movie at: http://www.hallmarkchannel.com

The National Tree movie trailer:

Wild Turkey Geography?

This map is from the National Wild Turkey Federation website:

www.nwtf.org/for_hunters/all_about_turkeys.html All kinds of information for kids and teachers about Wild Turkeys in the USA & Mexico.

Click OUTREACH tab > Education > Jakes for Educators:

www.nwtf.org/jakes/educators/educators.html

to see teacher materials, scholarships, newsletters, workshops, (National Wild Turkey Federation teaching kits available for purchase), etc.

Gobble, Gobble, to all...Have a Great Thanksgiving holiday!!

Worldonabike: Harry's Bikeblog, from Alaska - Ushuaia

Read and follow the adventures of two people biking the Americas...have your students map their adventures so far...


Worldonabike: Harry's Bikeblog, from Alaska - Ushuaia

COOL GLOBES

I previously posted these COOL GLOBES photos, but wanted to highlight this great U.S. Botanic Gardens http://www.usbg.gov/ exhibit again for all those geography fanatics out there:

http://www.usbg.gov/upload/one_planetalbum-3.html

http://www.usbg.gov/upload/imagegallery3-9.html

These globes are all around the outside of the Botanic Gardens in Washington, D.C. (map showing globe locations at the Gardens): http://www.usbg.gov/education/events/exhibitors_map.cfm

For details about the globe art project see: http://www.usbg.gov/education/events/One-Planet-Ours.cfm

SkyWatch Friday

SEE OTHER EXCITING SKY VIEWS @
htt://skyley.blogspot.com

This morning I looked out my back door and luckily captured this amazing, but simple, neon pink contrail illuminated above Mt.Timpanogos (Utah county, Utah, Wasatch Mts.) Pretty!!!

FREE Mapping Europe curriculum lesson plans

As part of Geography Awareness Week and GeoAction! "Mapping Europe" themes, National Geographic has developed a NEW, seconday level, Mapping Europe Curriculum Unit of (10 very wonderful, detailed lesson plans) available for FREE download from their premier geography curriculum site: Xpeditions.

The lesson plans (links below) are collectively titled:
Beyond Borders:Using Maps to Understand European Physical and Cultural Landscapes
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/EuropeMaterialsPart1.pdf
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/EuropeMaterialsPart2.pdf
Also Download the FREE BIG MAP of Europe to use with these materials:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geography-action/index.html

Info from the "Beyond Borders" materials:
"The overall theme of this unit is using maps to understand borders and their impacts in Europe. The materials will guide you and your students to use maps to think about how borders intersect physical and human geographical features, and how those intersections can lead to cooperation and/or conflict. During the unit, several case studies will be studied in depth, so students can develop skills in map analysis and applying that analysis to specific situations. Other parts of the materials will invite you and your students to explore similar cases in Europe and in your own community, which could be taken from the materials that you currently use or from a set of possibilities included in the curriculum. The unit is not intended to cover an entire course in European physical and human geography. Instead, the goal is to help students see maps as tools for understanding our world, using European examples and case studies."

Monday Blog-a-thon Wrap Up

I submitted a geo-related article for MyWonderfulWorld.org Geography Awareness Week blog-a-thon. My article was selected as a guest blogger
for their Monday blog site. I was thrilled to be selected for their blog-a-thon...another way to participate in Geography Awareness Week activities.
I encourage you to look at my GAW blog post.- Look for the "Sheila Keller-Powell: Farmers' Market Geography Lessons" 11/16/09 Monday blog posts.


Sheila Keller Powell- Farmers' Market Geography Lessons
Follow all the Geography Awareness Week blog-a-thon posts:
http://blog.mywonderfulworld.org/

Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Geography Awareness Week - My Wonderful World Blog

Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Geography Awareness Week - My Wonderful World Blog: "Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Geography Awareness Week
By Sarah on November 6, 2009 8:52 AM | 3 Comments | No TrackBacks

Here it is: Our quasi-definitive list of the 'Top 10 Ways to Celebrate Geography Awareness Week.'

1. I am here: Update your social network status with your latitude and longitude on TUESDAY, November 17th. Tell your friends to do the same!

2. I ♥ maps: Blab about maps in the official Geography Awareness Week Blog-a-thon.
3. Extra, extra: Read all about it with geography-themed newspaper games. Check 'em out here and here!
4. Bird's eye view: Try to identify Earth's landmarks from space with a daily Mystery Location Quiz.
5. Round 2: Play National Geographic's Expedition 2 game: You'll need a map.6. Join the cause: Sign up for the My Wonderful World geography education campaign and tell a friend.
7. Go virtual: Navigate the globe from home with Google Earth geo-tours.
8. Post it: Create a bulletin board for displaying news articles from around the world.
9. Find a GeoMentor:
Teachers: Sign up to work with a geographer through the GeoMentor program.
Professionals: Sign up to become a GeoMentor and lend your skills to students.

Parents: Invite a GeoMentor to work with your child's after-school activity group.

Kids: Ask your parents and teachers to help you connect with a GeoMentor.
10. Paris, Je T'Aime: Rent a foreign film and cook theme cuisine with your"

Celebrate Geography Awareness Week, Nov 15-22,2009

http://www.mywonderfulworld.org/gaw.html


Join the celebration! Register at the above site..FREE materials, resources, links and activities for celebrating Geography Awareness Week! This website is loaded with ideas to use at home, classrooms, schools/districts, organizations, churches, activities for anyone interested in improving geographic literacy.

Get lost in Mapping: Find your way in Europe!!
http://www.ngsednet.org/uga
(click on "GeoAction/GAW Resources")

With help from the Utah & Hawaii Geographic Alliances, I have created a document with live links that is a one-stop guide to all types of activities and support for Geography Awareness Week.

The Utah Geographic Alliance website is hosting the document at the above site....The Hawaii Geographic Alliance has graciously let me use the format and some of their links for this document as well. The activities and suggested links are mainly geared to Utah teachers/core curriculum, but all are welcome to use the ideas collected here. Ideas for Geography Awareness Week:

• Join/sign up for Geography Alliance, MyWonderfulWorld, GeoAction! memberships and newsletters.
• See Geography Awareness Week /Utah geography core curriculum connections
• Links to free downloadable, Big Map and lesson plans
• Register for National Geographic Bee competition
• Children's literature connections for Geography Awareness Week
• Attend Utah regional GeoFests/teacher development activities
• Download FREE geography of Europe lesson plans!!
• Ideas for Geography Awareness Week activities
  

Make a BIG MAP, share ideas, watch videos, listen to music, read books all about Europe.....Enjoy and help celebrate Geography Awareness Week!!

CHEERS!!!!!!!!!

NGChannel's EXPEDITION WEEK

To Celebrate Geography Awareness Week, check out The National Geographic Channel's Expedition Week starting November 15, 9 pm. EP time. You may view on TV or online:
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/expedition-week-main
Here's a list of the progams/games etc that will show during Expedition Week:

• America Before Columbus
• Bizarre Dinosaurs
• Deep Secrets: The Ballard Gallipoli Expedition
• Devil's Bible
• Drain the Ocean
• Easter Island Underworld
• Egyptian Secrets of the Afterlife
• Expedition Great White
• Ghost Ships of the Black Sea
• Giant Crystal Cave
• Hitler's Hidden City

• Hubble's Amazing Universe
• Hunt for the Samurai Subs
• Mars: Making the New Earth
• Monster Fish of the Amazon
• Monster Fish of the Mekong
• Search for the Amazon Headshrinkers
• Secrets of the Druids
• The First Jesus?
• Titanic: The Final Secret
• Waking the Baby Mammoth
• When Crocs Ate Dinosaurs
• The Real George Washington

This website is packed with hundred of videos on all types of subjects available for viewing on TV, HD and on-demand as well as video clips for sharing:

My Wonderful World - Geography Awareness Week

Sharing information from an interesting interactive "Geo-Tours" website linked from MyWonderfulWorld.org website:

My Wonderful World - Geography Awareness Week:
"Get Lost in Mapping: Find Your Place in the World
Google Earth is one of the new technologies that are changing the way people see the world. You may have used Google Earth to get a bird's-eye view of your house, now see what else you can do! This Geography Awareness Week, take geo-tours that will introduce you to fascinating people and places. Read stories from young folks living abroad. Journey to global hot spots where nature and society collide. See how professionals around the planet use geography in their jobs, and discover how you can use Google Earth in your own life!"

http://mywonderfulworld.org/gaw-tours.html
"Geo-Tours" is an interactive website using Google Earth , video & map locations , to show interesting information about Asia and other places around the world: topics "mapped' on this site;
1) geography on the job
2) global hotspots / global tours
3) Asia animals
4)Asia food
5)Asia Art
6)Asia Festivals
7) Asia natural wonders

SkyWatch Friday: Full "rolling" Moon?

See other interesting sky views @
http://skyley.blogspot.com/

I took this picture a few days ago. The moon had just risen over the Wasatch Mountain near Centerville, Utah. I thought I had taken a picture of a full "harvest" moon...but this looks like the moon is "rolling" down and across the mountain ridge as well...Funny!

The Current Events, the Exciting Newspaper for Kids@ Kid News Articles and More!

http://thecurrentevents.com/overview.php:

"The Current Events, a newspaper for kids, keeps students informed while preparing them for academic achievement and real-world success. Designed for many levels of ability, The Current Events' articles for kids enhances the education of students in grades 2 through 8. Each issue of the national newspaper for kids boosts literacy and fosters the development of critical thinking skills while encouraging students to become engaged citizens and lifelong readers.
The Current Events is more than a newspaper for kids; it is a teaching tool produced by a team of educational professionals. Its research-based feature articles and activities foster higher-order thinking skills and prepares students for standardized tests.
Our diverse and experienced team of educational professionals, journalists, writers, designers, and award-winning illustrators ensures that students receive a maximum newspaper experience.
The Current Events serves students, teachers and parents, in private, public, home, and parochial schools. Our articles for kids empower students with a framework to understand world events - what is happening, why it is happening and how it matters to them - so that they can become involved and participate as responsible citizens in our democracy."


The Teacher's Guide that comes with paid subscriptions, provides learning objectives for the content as well as pre-reading/during reading/after reading guides to help guide students through non-fiction reading skills. Also provided: geography & science connections, writing skill adaptations, al as well as review questions for each weekly edition!!

"The World in a Candy Bar" lesson plan

REPOSTING>>>>>>>>>>>>> turn your students' Halloween chocolate treats into a world geography lesson...............

"The World in a Candy Bar" lesson plan!

This is another great lesson plan, used to show how "Geography Rules!"..even when determining the ingredients of a chocolate candy bar. This would be a great lesson during Geography Awareness Week: Mapping the Americas, because so many of the ingredients that make "good ole U.S.A. candy bars" come from so many other countries -- particularly from the Americas. (click on lesson plans to enlarge).

Another great "geography of chocolate" lesson plan from the Hawaii Geography Alliance:

http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/ASGI99/joy.html

For 09 Geography Awareness Week "Mapping Europe", explore the European chocolate connections:

http://www.cocoatree.org

http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/articles/chocolate_museums.htm

http://aphrodite-chocolates.co.uk/history_chocolate.htm#CHOCOLATE

Geography of Hallowween

Geography of Halloween...map spooky origins from Europe and places beyond from "witch" Halloween customs migrated to America....


Haunted History of Halloween

Video:
In this History of the Holidays segment, discover the history of Halloween and how the Celts played a part in this popular holiday.

http://www.history.com/video.do?name=halloween&bcpid=1811456971&bclid=1842765416&bctid=1554375513


See this video at History.com!!

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Crayola geography lesson plan

"What's along the coast?"
"How does geography influence people and places? Discover how natural features such as coastlines shape architecture, jobs, and communities."

Crayola.com (educator section) consistantly offers creative geography art projects..sign up for their newsletters to receive great updates. I found one of many wonderful lesson plans and activities using modeling clay!!! The lesson plans for this activity are extensive with additional resources, links, & adaptations. Lesson written for grades 4-12

This information is from their lesson plan website gallery: http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/detail/what%E2%80%99s-along-the-coast?-lesson-plan/

BRAVO CRAYOLA.COM FOR CREATING GEOGRAPHICALLY!!!!!!!!!!!

SkyWatch Friday

SEE OTHER INTERESTING SKYVIEWS AT:
http://skyley.blogspot.com/

This is an interesting photo. Last weekend after
attending the first Uintah Basin GeoFest for the Utah Geographic Alliance, I took different route home. Rather than travelling HWY 40 back to Salt Lake City, I took a crazy, mountainous, switchback-filled, Scenic ByWay route through the Uinta Mountains north into Wyoming and returned to Salt Lake via I-80 west. Many miles up into the Uinta Mts. North from Vernal (hwy 189), on the edge of Ashley National Forest, was a huge open mining operation: Simplot Phosphate mining. Vast areas have been removed in the mining process, but most of the mined areas have also been replanted and apparently huge herds of elk winter here. It was an odd site...in the middle of a semi forested, steep, rocky, rough mountain area to see this "smooth, flattened" replanted mining zone. ...and then this strange rock with a US flag..all by itself way off in the distance right in the middle of this huge mining district added to the strangeness of this whole site. On the google map below, the mining area can be seen (white-ish patch) north west a bit from the Red Fleet State Park reservoir (near hwy 189 sign).







View Larger Map

International Education Week 2009

International Education Week 2009 will be celebrated the same week as Geography Awareness Week (Nov 16-22). The IEW website looks simple, but is packed with lots of resources for teachers and kids. http://iew.state.gov/

The site has a few videos, a newsletter, global IQ quiz, promotional logos, and other links....under "Links"...lots of resources for students and teachers to learn about other countries.

SkyWatch Friday

See additional fascinating sky views at:

A big, booming, afternoon thunderstorm passed through my area the other day...followed by a brief break in the clouds...just enough to let in some bright sunshine. The results, of course, was one of the biggest, brightest, most colorful rainbows I've ever seen. These photos don't really show how brilliant the colors were, but I'm glad I snapped a few quick photos before it disappeared.
Cheers to all rainbows: a view "inside" light.

Google for Educators

WHAT AN AMAZING SITE:
http://www.google.com/educators/geo.html

This site has been around for awhile, but I'm posting this link because of newer applications like Google Mars and Google Ocean. Powerful, FREE, suite of geography tools for teachers and students: Google Earth, Google Maps, Google Sky, Google Sketchup. All of these applications, include GETTING STARTED GUIDES,CLASSROOM IDEAS ,ACTIVITIES,& POSTERS. Also each site has TEACHER COMMUNITY & ACADEMY.