NASA Earth Observatory

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

is one of my favorite websites.

It is loaded with current visual images of storms, volcanic eruptions, earthquake damage, etc. Beautiful satellite imagery, in public domain format and accessible to teachers. There are links to show comparative physical geography, email/newletter updates, and many other useful items useful for teaching geography!

Earth Day links

A terrific website for kids with lots of online geography (Earth Day) activities:


http://funschool.kaboose.com/globe-rider/earth-day/

Earth Day links

From the Utah Geographic Alliance website:

40th Anniversary of Earth Day (April 22) Below are a few websites with resources that may be useful as you engage your students in the celebration of Earth Day.

http://earthday.net/greenschools http://earthday.wilderness.org/teachers/ http://earth911.com/for-students/ http://www.planetpals.com/earthday.html http://www.edhelper.com/EarthDay.htm http://www.epa.gov/kids/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/environment.html http://www.earthday.org/climaterally http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/18/g35/earthday.html http://www.ngslis.org/earth_current/20080229.html

Geography of U.S.National Parks

CHECK THIS SITE OUT!
RACE TO THE MOMENT is a reality series were two families use their physical and geography skills to negotiate their way through Joshua Tree National Park. Watch the race, or design and map your own race in other U.S. National Parks!

1=25070#/show">http://racetothemoment.msn.com/?section=challenge&dataId=201&source=msn>1=25070#/show

National Clearinghouse for United States-Japan Studies

Need educational materials about Japan? See the SPICE program link to National Clearinghouse for U.S. - Japan Studies
http://spice.stanford.edu/docs/clearinghouse/

INTERNET TEACHER GUIDES:
http://spice.stanford.edu/docs/147

Partners Video Magazine

Partners is an award-winning video magazine produced by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES). It highlights the programs and accomplishments of the partnership between CSREES and the Land Grant University System in the areas of research, education, and extension.

Great Resources for teachers and students. Videos available for FREE download..many subjects. See the following link for more information about the Partners Video Magazine from CSREES:

Partners Video Magazine

Footsteps of Alexander the Great: History/Geography

Many years ago, PBS created a fabulous TV series titled: "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great."

The series was about Michael Wood's multi-year project of retracing on land the travels of Alexander the Great...following ancient writings, modern folk lore and rumors the trip became an award winning documentary.

This series used to be supported on the PBS website with TONS of educational materials, but it is no longer available. Only the series is available in DVD or book..both of these are available from Amazon.com

Social Studies/history teachers that teach about Ancient Greece...This series is an excellent documentary not just for the history component, but for teaching geography as well .

This series is well worth watching &/or adding to your personal teaching materials. I showed many portions of the video and had the students map his journey on their own maps of Asia.

You may be able to check this out at a public library or check your district or school's media center ...maybe available at these places?

The DVD set & paperback book are available from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Footsteps-Alexander-Great-Region/dp/B0002CH90K/ref=pd_sim_b_3

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)

"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)

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:

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...)

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"

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."

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!!!!!!!!!

Student Designed Cartograms

Teaching students how to construct cartogram maps will help them compare countries' populations, land areas, GNP, etc. It's a visual and mathematical activity that always gets the kids involved with comparing demographics and statistics of countries. I used this activity for many years with students for various geography projects, but originally found the idea from this award-winning lesson plan: (click on image to enlarge)

I found several other links and websites using online tools to build cartograms as well:

WorldMapper...Amazing pre-made World (MANY TOPICS!!) Cartograms

http://www.worldmapper.org/index.html

HOTCHALK: Exploring the USA and and the World with Cartograms:

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSCIExploringUSAAndWorldWithCartogramsFromSHOW912.htm

RETANET: Cartograms to learn about Latin America

http://web.archive.org/web/20070421035427/http://retanet.unm.edu/article.pl?sid=03/05/18/1912011

Maps tell many stories (they reveal history)

Occasionally I post older BUT STILL VERY USEABLE AND APPLICABLE geography resources. I hate to see great lessons just disappear into the teaching netherworld, when so many (especially new teachers) are scrambling to find good teaching materials all the time. This post/link/lesson plan is from from National Geography Week 1991 materials Geography: New Worlds to Explore.

In this lesson, students use three historic maps to examine how early European maps reflected the explorations of their day (primarily North American explorations).

LESSON 1 EXPLORING YESTERDAY --Maps Tell More than One Story (They Reveal History). I have scanned the lesson from the original copy that I have to share with you. I give all credit to National Geographic Geography Awareness Week 1991 for the following lesson plan:

(click on the pages to enlarge)

Quick online geography quizzes

If you need a quick, pre-made, FREE online geography quiz for your students, try:

http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/

Quizzes available for many subjects, mostly

about political and physical maps of the world, some

countries or regions.

OR create your own online geography quiz @:

http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/

1. Create a quiz (with their online templates & tools)

2. Share your quiz online, email, or blogsite.

3. View quiz results for discussions and assignments.

PRI's The World -- Geo Quiz

"PRI's The World - Geo Quiz Podcast [PRI]
The World's Geo Quiz tests your knowledge of world geography, and introduces you to fascinating people and places around the globe. The World is a US-based international news and analysis program co-produced by the BBC World Service, WGBH public radio in Boston, and Public Radio International. Visit this podcast's Web site
Updates: Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m., Fridays at 5:15 p.m. EST Duration: approx 12 minutes "


http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510009

MSN's BING: Geography based

Wow I've been away for awhile, but need to share a cool, albeit indirect geography site!!

MSN Live Search engine--now renamed and redesigned as BING search engine-- has an incredible geography based website!! Each day the BING website background picture changes. The photos are of beatiful locations/cultures/people/cities all over the world. The great thing is that as you scroll over the background picture, little bits of info about the site pop up with additional links that tell about the city, place, culture, etc!!


http://www.bing.com/?scope=web&mkt=en-US&FORM=WLMLQB


This could be used everyday as a geography "class starter" activity to get the kids settled down and focused on your geography subject...You could even use the pop up bit of information as a kind of quiz or subject starter.....ENJOY!!!!!!

Importance of being bilingual

I found this commercial a while ago....
learn another language...
learn about another culture...
The importance of being bilingual in our complicated
and interconnected world today.
This is not a current ad...but a great commercial nonetheless.