The Angel of the East, lesson plan

Years ago I picked up this lesson plan during a geography conference ... fabulous VISUAL, hands-on ...to help kids remember the countries of the Middle East.

A couple of pages are missing from the original lesson plan now though., and so I have tried to locate this lesson plan on the internet to no avail. I'm reconstructing a couple of the items so as to provide a complete lesson plan here. (double click on images to enlarge and print).

Give students a blank, black-line outline map of the Middle East. Tell them an "Angel of the East" will appear when they hear the following poem..and the poem will help them learn the countries of the Middle East Region. Have them listen for clues in the poem as you read outloud (or show on smart board/chalkboard/overhead transparency). Outline the "Angel" on the map with a marker as countries/clues are given in the poem:

The Angel of the East (teaching poem)
byRebecca Scott
If you could look east
across the United States,
over the Atlantic Ocean and
the Mediterranean Sea
to a place between
Asia, Africa, and Europe,
you might see an angel--
and angel of the east--
setting on a sea of blue.
Her head hangs heavily, (Turkey)
bowed towards her chest ( Lebanon, Syria,)
as she holds her hands
together in prayer
facing west. (Egypt)
A tear has fallen
from her cheek. (Cyprus)
Her heart aches; (Israel)
the heart of three religions.
She would like to be
the angel for all people,
but it seems remote
on this southwest peninsula.
She is battle-worn
and war-torn,
this angel of the east--
praying someday for
a new world order and peace.

Other angel parts to identify:
wings (Iran, Afghanistan)
shoulder/arms (Iraq, Jordan)
body/dress (Saudi Arabia)
dress hem (Yemen, Oman, UAE)
Buttons on dress (Kuwait, Quatar, Bahrain)

CHILDREN'S GEOGRAPHY LITERATURE

CHILDREN'S GEOGRAPHY LITERATURE:

"PEOPLE" by Peter Spier
("People" explores diversity of the world's population. Looks at various cultures, homes, food, games, clothing, faces and religions.)

I found many lesson plans for this book, mostly for K-3 usage like this link:
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/3254
I found this lesson plan for 4+grades usuage:
http://alex.state.al.us/lesson_view.php?id=3042

Amazon.com link:
http://www.amazon.com/People-Peter-Spier/dp/038524469X#noop

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:

EARTH 2 U / GEOGRAPHY: CULTURAL COLLAGE

EARTH 2U: EXPLORING GEOGRAPHY

WHAT A FUN AND INTERACTIVE WAY TO INVOLVE STUDENTS IN GEOGRAPHY!!
EARTH 2U Project Details:
"The Smithsonian Institution and the National Geographic Society contacted ETG to help them create the "Earth 2U: Exploring Geography" CD-ROM. Olympic gold medalist Dan Jansen and a comic cartoon character named Seymour D. Earth are the hosts of this digital, interactive translation of the widely acclaimed "Earth 2U" national touring exhibition.
Packed with interactivity, things to explore and games to play, "Earth 2U: Exploring Geography" teaches kids fun facts, history and stories about the world. Kids make connections between people, places and the environment and see why these links are so important in our global society. Hands-on fun includes movies, maps and interactive games, even 3D aerial views of different landscapes. "
http://stg.missouri.edu/Interactives/earth2ut/
http://stg.missouri.edu/Web/earth2u/
Smithsonian archived site for Earth 2U: Exploring Geography materials:
http://www.sites.si.edu/exhibitions/exhibits/archived_exhibitions/earth2u.htm

The following pages were teacher/student materials from a poster produced for
Earth 2U: Exploring Geography. Copy and make overhead transparencies of each page...place each transparency on top of the other...to create the "layers" of geography involved with when studying a world culture --the land,the people, language, technology, institutions and beliefs.
(double click on each page to enlarge... print using landscape mode)
("copyright: 1995 Smithsonian Institution. Photocopying for Educational purposes encouraged.")

Celebrate Earth Day art projects

Crayola.com has several easy and fun art lesson plans dedicated to the celebration of Earth Day:

Send an Earth Day Awareness e-card:

http://www.crayola.com/cardcreator/ecard_form.cfm?card=43&style=3

Make a Thank Earth card:

http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/detail/thank-you,-earth-lesson-plan/

Where are you going: "Save the Earth’s limited resources by planning. Combine trips to go places. This early mapping experience helps pave the way to a greener lifestyle"

http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/detail/where-are-you-going?-lesson-plan/

Don't Endanger our World:"Identify and label endangered and protected species on a large 3-D paper maché globe of the earth".

http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/detail/don't-endanger-our-world-lesson-plan/

Where to recycle reminder:"Where can your family recycle cans, bottles, and newspapers? Create a colorful 3-D reminder to reduce landfill space!"

http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/detail/where-to-recycle-reminder-lesson-plan/

Thinkfinity--One of the Best Teacher/Student resource sites!

http://www.thinkfinity.org/

This is ONE OF THE BEST Educator Resource websites for FREE standards-based lesson plans created by leading organizations and teachers for many subject areas!! Find many remarkable Geography standards based lesson plans in different subject areas (history, social studies, math, science, etc)

Hundreds of teachers use Thinkfinity. Here's why:
-Free, exciting, top-quality materials
-Quick, accessible and easy to use
-Content created by trusted experts and leading educators
-Thousands of standards-based lesson plans
-Valuable professional development opportunities

The above introductory video is from the http://www.thinkfinity.org website.

How to dig a hole to the center of the earth

http://browseinside.harpercollins.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780064432184

Speaking of clay...I've had students build a cross-section model of the earth's inner layers in conjuction with the story: How To Dig A Hole To The Other Side Of The World, by Faith McNulty.
As you read this story to your students (assign students into teams of two) each team will model the different layers of the earth using clay as described in the story: core (small marble- sized ball) in a red clay, inner/outer mantle (surround the core with a different-colored layer of clay about 2" or more thick), and the crust (thin layer of blue-colored clay about 1/4" thick covering all of the mantle layer). When the story/models are completed, students (with a piece of string or a plastic knife) then cut the earth model in half. Each person then gets a "hemisphere" ....and students make little labels for each of the earth's layers (attach label to a toothpick or straight pin) and insert into the clay to identify the earth's inner layers. Great 3-dimensional geography/art projects for displays and take home.

I found a few more lesson plans (with lots of extensions) that relate to teaching about the inner layers of the earth. These lessons also use: "How To Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World."

http://www.usmint.gov/kids/teachers/lessonPlans/50sq/2005/0406-3.rtf
http://www.thesolutionsite.com/lesson/1206/watsonelB1.html

http://www.nku.edu/~enved/services.htm

Realistically, we could not dig to the other side of the earth....but if we could? The following fun websites below will show you where you would exit (antipode locations) ...if you could dig to the other side of the world!!!!!
http://www.freemaptools.com/tunnel-to-other-side-of-the-earth.htmhttp://www.antipodemap.com/

CountryReports.org

http://www.countryreports.org/
Do you need a single-stop website for students to find information about countries for reports?
CountryReports.org is a wonderful site filled with all types of information: country geography/maps, country histories, cultural information, ethinic recipes, photo gallery, current events etc needed for student country report research. There are plenty of teacher resources as well!!!
This is as pay for use site, but the prices are very reasonable. Licenses are available for a single computers, your school computer labs, your school library, or entire school use.

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year! The above video is about the history of the Chinese New Year traditions. I've listed several teachers sites below with all kinds of lesson plans & activities related the Chinese New Year!

Start with a China Geography lesson plan from Asia Society: http://www.asiasociety.org/

http://askasia.org/teachers/lessons/plan.php?no=33&era=&grade=&geo=

Chinese New Year activities and customs:

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/chinese-new-year/#aboutchinesenewyear

http://www.kiddyhouse.com/CNY

http://holidays.pppst.com/chinesenewyear.html (online powerpoint presentations about Chinese New Year subjects)

http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/festivals/chinese.htm (lots of ideas here and lesson plans)

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/new-years/teacher-resources/6649.html (New Years celebrations and traditions of many different cultures!!)

IB geography level website

WOW what a site for IB school geography instructors & students!

"The aim of geographyalltheway.com (& its updated site http://www.geographyalltheway.com/geogalot/)is to provide online geography resources, student projects, talking head instructors, weekly geography contest, professional development, newsletters, and lessons for geography teachers and students at Key Stage 3, MYP, GCSE, IGCSE, AS, A2 and IB Geography level "
(see following link for more site info)http://www.geographyalltheway.com/support/about_this_site.htm

Arctic Geography

NOVA/PBS has many excellent geography & space related TV programs. Register on the PBS teachers website to receive upcoming programs @

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/mailing/

I received this notice from NOVA today about the Arctic Passage. NOVA/PBS programs have websites that provide all kinds of resources for teachers. See the teacher resource website for this program @ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/arctic/. This website provides information about the program including: watching the program online, related books & links, teacher guides & lesson plans, transcripts, slide shows and interactive activities.

I also found another great teacher website about snow:

http://nsidc.org/snow/

National Snow & Ice data Center

Are you a teacher trying to find a fabulous, one-stop-has-it-all, online educational resource about Asia? Then visit: Asia Society online @ http://www.asiasociety.org/education/ !!!

Asia Society has quality lesson plans, maps, publications, current events, newsletters, travel/teacher exchange/conference opportunities, interactive student/parent information, Asian language introduction, Asian holiday information, careet information, geography lessons, and links to many other related Asian topics. This site is loaded with numerous resources (too many to list them all here)...a terrific site for teacher background information as well as a resource for students' homework &/or reports.

Holidays around the World

It's very busy this time of the year....lots of different holiday customs celebrated by other cultures and countries. Teach geography as your students discover the different customs and celebrations of world holidays!

Some helpful "World Holidays" resources:

Education World: December celebrations around the world:

http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson213.shtml

Internet School Library Media Center (fantastic collection of links for K-12...Holidays around World) http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/holidays.htm

Yahoo Kids! very extensive list of websites, information, & activities:http://kids.yahoo.com/directory/Around-the-World/Holidays

Holidays & FestivalsAround the World
by Ms. Hos-McGrane's Grade 5 Students:

http://www.internet-at-work.com/hos_mcgrane/holidays/festivals_menu.html

World Book has a great informative site for the different holidays:

http://www.worldbook.com/wb/Students?content_spotlight/holidays/holidays

Crayola has a bunch of art activities to celebrate:

*Chinese New Year

http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/search.cfm?keyword=chinese+new+year

*Three Kings Day

http://www.crayola.com/search/results.cfm?keywords=three+kings+day&x=12&y=12Winter

Holiday celebrations: lesson plans for 1st grade students:

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/SSChristmasAroundtheWorldK1.htm

Scholastic: Seasonal celebrations interactive site & lesson plans:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/holidays/

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=2880

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/unitplan.jsp?id=96

U.S. National Parks

A fun way for your children and students to learn geography, is to have them plan a vacation to a U.S. National Park.
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.

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

December is a month full of many types of celebrations around the world.

I found a great website at EducationWorld.com with lots of ideas and lesson plans for helping your students celebrate the gegographical & multicultural aspects of the December season:
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/lesson/lesson246.shtml

Crayola.com also has wonderful multicultural art projects AND lesson plans: http://www.crayola.com/lesson-plans/

(Search for a specific activity by subject, month, or grade...)

"Earth: The Apple Of Our Eye" lesson plan

This amazing lesson plan is perfect for showing how little of our planet actually produces all the food for the world's population....and how important it is to protect these limited agricultural/ocean food producing resources. I've seen several versions of this lesson, but this one gives information about food products from the ocean as well. This Lesson plan comes from
Population Connection:

www.populationconnection.org/education

Double-click on the images to enlarge.......