Learning Geography

Assalm alykom:

I have been really busy with life to commit time to my blog. This is my latest craft that we did with my first grader. As you know, I use the Oak Meadow curriculum. They teach the beginnings of geography in a different way that I am not used to when comparing the ways to my older kids. My older kids you would start with a flat map or a globe and teach them North, South, East and West. They would always look a little lost because that cannot conceptualize it to their scale. With Oak Meadow, they teach the child from his/her small surroundings. They have them make a map or a model of their room. With this, they can relate to where something is because they are familiar with it. Then, you teach them the directions from their room. The next step, the place gets a little bigger. The child needs to make a map of their house. Also, they need to know the directions here. Again, the child learns a little bigger area. They need to make a map or model of their neighborhood. I like this method very much. At this age, they really can conceptualize each step of making the area bigger. We made this little model of her room that she shares with her two other sisters. We made the all of the furniture from boxes and then painted them. The bed is a bunk bed that we made from Popsicle sticks and small boxes. We made the floor, which in their room is wooden, from Popsicle sticks that we varnished. We made the windows from magazine picture of the outside and the put fabric curtains. She loves it and does not want anyone to touch for fear it will break. I encourage you to try this concept in teaching. I really loved it!