Naturally Educational » Geography
Me on the Map Round-Up
Studying the human body with your kids? Or maybe you are practicing cartography and navigation with your junior adventurers? Here are some of the best lesson plans, activities, crafts, and picture book lists, about the Human Body, ourselves (“me”), maps and geography. These are highlights from the “Me on the Map” Linky from the Smart Summer Challenge!* All About Me Personalized Guess Who? Game at Counting Coconuts Portrait Tiles, from Creating and Educating All About Me Timelines from Early Bird … Read entire article »
Filed under: All Ages, Educational Blogs, Featured, Geography, History and Culture, Science
#SmartSummer Week 2 Government Linky
Show us how you’re having a Smart Summer! I had highlighted posts from the previous week’s linky to but for clarity’s sake, I’ve moved the round-ups to their own posts: Me on the Map Round-Up Government, Patriotism, and Currency Round-Up I’ve been sharing my family’s Smart Summer activities this week for our Government theme: exercising our democratic right to vote for our favorite ice cream flavor, skip counting coins, We’re also planning on making statue of liberty headbands, finding out … Read entire article »
Filed under: All Ages, Featured, Geography, History and Culture, Smart Summer Challenge, Visual-Spacial
Me on the Map #SmartSummer
Although we finished up the Me on the Map theme last week, we had one more activity we wanted to do. This is a nice transition into our theme for this week: government. The concept behind this activity is to show the child expanding zones. We begin with the child and the family and then move to the community, the world, and beyond, giving the child a sense of her role in society and her place … Read entire article »
Filed under: 5-6 (Kindergarten), 6-8 (Early Elementary), 9-11 (Elementary), Featured, Geography, History and Culture, Smart Summer Challenge, Visual-Spacial
Mapping a Nature Hike #SmartSummer
Knowledge is supposed to enrich our lives, not just reside in dusty books (or hypnotic bits and bytes). So, we took our map skills on the road and used them to explore a “new to us” nature trail. Check out this map! Ain’t she a beaut? Most of the trail maps we encounter are faded, sad affairs. Not this one. This one has a lovely compass rose for finding directions, words for … Read entire article »
Filed under: All Ages, Bodily-kinesthetic, Ecology, Featured, Geography, Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, Mathematics, Smart Summer Challenge, Visual-Spacial
Smart Summer Challenge Linky – Week #1 #SmartSummer
Show us how you’re having a Smart Summer! I’ve been sharing my family’s Smart Summer activities this week: painting life-sized portraits, reading picture books about cartography, mapping our neighborhood, listening to world beats, and using maps to navigate nature walks. [Update: I've highlighted some posts from this week at a Me on the Map Linky Round-Up] We’d love for you to share your ideas–you can add a link to a post on your blog or even a photo … Read entire article »
Filed under: All Ages, Geography, Smart Summer Challenge
Moving and Grooving to Music Around the World #SmartSummer
Music is a big part of our lives. My grandfather was a professional musician and my daughter loves to play piano. And music is a fun way to gain insight into other societies. As part of my study of history, I delved into how music reflects culture. So, as part of our Me on the Map week, we enjoyed traditional music from around the globe! Since this (history and culture through the lens of art) is my … Read entire article »
Filed under: All Ages, Bodily-kinesthetic, Featured, Geography, History and Culture, Music, Musical, Performing Arts and Theater, Smart Summer Challenge, Sound
Mapping Your Neighborhood for #SmartSummer
Now that we’ve learned a little bit about maps, we are using maps to find our favorite places in our neighborhood. In advance, I printed out maps of our immediate area on Google Maps. Today, I asked both of my children what their favorite place in the neighborhood is. My son (who will be three at the end of August) responded with the name of the local homemade ice cream store. Then, he started scribbling … Read entire article »
Filed under: 5-6 (Kindergarten), 6-8 (Early Elementary), 9-11 (Elementary), Featured, Geography, Logical-Mathematical, Smart Summer Challenge, Visual-Spacial
Picture Books About Maps
We usually turn to books for research and to reinforce themes. Since the children are already familiar with maps from our travels and nature hikes, we are ready to delve deeper into cartography and study up on maps. Here are a few picture books we’ve found that work well with our study of maps. What are your favorites? As the Crow Flies: A First Book of Maps: This is a clever introduction to the concept … Read entire article »
Filed under: 3-5 (Preschool), 5-6 (Kindergartners), 6-8 (Early Elementary), Featured, Geography, Smart Summer Challenge, Visual-Spacial
Me on the Map – Smart Summer Challenge Week 1 #SmartSummer
The first Smart Summer Challenge theme is “Me on the Map”! What is the Smart Summer Challenge? Amy of teachmama.com, MaryLea of Pink and Green Mama, and I are challenging our community to beat the “summer slide” (the learning loss that can happen over the summer). Starting MONDAY, June 27, we’ll be posting our activities daily, loosely following this calendar of educational summer ideas, and hosting a weekly linky (with PRIZES) for other bloggers to share their … Read entire article »
Filed under: All Ages, Geography, History and Culture, Smart Summer Challenge
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About the Author
Candace Lindemann is a published children’s writer and educational consultant. She holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Working with school districts around the country and some of the most well-known companies in the education industry, Candace creates custom strategies, textbooks, and lesson plans. Her articles have appeared in print and online.
While Candace’s degrees prepared her for a career in education, she’s found that the best preparation for parenting is on the job training.
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