Three Stories, Three Continents and a Whole Lot of Fun

We've completed three out of seven stories from our series "Around the World in 7 Stories". We conceived the theme purely out of our lack of interest in Geography. We realized that if we were to create a story series around Geography, it would mean that we read through the subject force ourselves to think of how it can be put forth in an interesting manner to children. Today, three stories later, we are quite happy with our work, and so are the children.

We've completed three continents so far - North America, Asia and Africa. We began our preparations by creating a plan for all seven continents. In the plan we decided what aspect of Geography we should cover. We decided to stick to providing basic facts about each continent - number of countries, landmarks, languages and unique facts.

The next step was to find interesting stories. We spent many week reading as many as stories as we could. And then the stories were remixed and tailored into our version so that they could revolve around a continent. It wasn't easy in the beginning, but slowly we got the hang of it.

We decided to use the laptop (technology) as a supporting tool during our storytelling sessions. The laptop is used to show pictures of continent and countries, and is not used to display a slide show of the images from the story, because we want to leave the "imagination" part to the children.

Children who have attended the three stories know the location of all seven continents. They know names of animals that are unique to North America, they followed a trail in Asia and learnt about volcanoes of Japan, inventions from China and facts about Sri Lanka and Israel, and finally they know about the unique creatures living in the Madagascar Island of Africa and the number of languages people speak in Africa. And all this they learnt through a story!

It has been a fun experience so far, and we our now busy working on the stories for the remaining four continents.

So if you'd like your kids to learn some unique facts about continents, or if you'd like to revise your Geography knowledge, then come attend our storytelling sessions. We'd love to travel the world with you!

Check our our storytelling schedule @ http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.301978406550596.71051.238449639570140&type=3

If I Had a World Map...

Have you ever thought of beginning the school term with a world map? Yes, the world map, which would serve as the mind map for the entire year.

As we start a term, for each lesson we learn, we can put flags on the world map. For example, the first chapter in English, Class 8 is set in Birdport, England; so as the class reads the chapter, the teacher can write the name of the lesson on a little red flag, and then she/he can place the flag on Birdport, England. Teachers can have different colour flags for their subject. 

Some subjects like science and math may not be location specific, so in such cases, students can be encouraged to find the history about the scientist or mathematician associated with the topic. And, then they can put a flag on the place where the scientist or mathematician belongs.

Imagine how colourful the map would look at the end of the year. Yes, it may look cluttered, but it will be filled with colourful flags, and the students will be amazed to realize all the places they visited in their school term! It'll also bring a different excitement to their study - they may be able to better remember concepts or facts because they can associate them with places on the map.
A world map can also be put up at home. The kids can use it for the school term flag idea mentioned above. Or, together, the family can use it for other activities.
We can put flags to indicate: 

• Places we visited during holidays 
• Places we would like to visit
• Places famous for our favorite delicacies
• Places where our family and friends are settled
• Locations of the story or novel we read or our favorite movie

The map would be like a chart that tells you the story about the people who live in the house, don't you think?
If you had a world map, what would you put on it?

Around the World in 8 1/2 days with Judy Moody

This is in continuation to our earlier post about making Geography interesting for kids.

Around the World in 8 1/2 days is a book by Megan McDonald. The book is about Judy Moody, a grade three student who makes a new friend in school - Amy Namey. At first Judy doesn't like Amy, but a thought from her little brother Stink, makes Judy change her mind. Judy and Amy soon become best friends and members of the "My-name-is-a-poem" club.

As their friendship progresses, Judy, Amy and the other grade three students, take the reader through a journey around the world, which is their school project. Besides finding fun facts about different places in the world, the readers also learn about the importance of friendship.

Things like Bubblegum Alley, ABC (already been chewed gum), make your own gum kit and the pizza table tower keep the reader entertained and giggling, and make this book a fantastico (as Judy would say it) read for 5-7 year old children.

Putting FUN into Learning

As a child, Social Studies was not one of my favourite subjects. And that's probably because our textbooks stated facts in a plain manner and no one really explained the importance/relevance of learning about places and cultures.

My kids are still small, but I already have ideas on how to make Geography interesting for them (without letting them know). Sharing my ideas with you...

1. The world map - Each year we travel to some place (India or aborad) during summer vaccations - it'll be a good idea to have kids do some research about the destination they will be visiting, and create their own tour guide.
   
   As an after activity, they can create a photo album about their visit to the place and also write about their holiday.
2. Stories - Stories are a wonderful resource to learn about people and culture. As children read books, have them write a short report about the location (non-fictional) where the story was set - the report can include list of interesting places mentioned in the story, lifestyle, culture and any other features.
3. Music - They say music knows no boundaries - today thanks to satellite radio and television, we have access to channels that play different world music. Have children select a music theme/type/genre and find out its origin and how culture of a place impacts the music
4. Food - This is my favourite category. Each time you take your kids out to a speciality restaurant, ask them to read the items on the menu. They can select 2-3 items and do some research to find out the origin of the food - right from where the crop is produced to which country the dish belongs to.

I hope you find these useful, and if you like them, do write back and let me know, so I am encouraged to write more. And yes, if you can think of any other ideas, please share them too.