GA! Mapping the Americas 2008

The Hawaii Geographic Alliance and the National Geographic Society invite you to join us in celebrating Geography Awareness Week.

GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS:

Hawaii's geography standard is: Standards 7: Geography: World in Spatial Terms -Use geographic representations to organize, analyze, and present information on people, places, and environments and understand the nature and interaction of geographic regions and societies around the world.

To see the grade level benchmarks for geography and the other strands in the Hawaii Content and Performance Standards for Social Studies Grades K-12, please go to the Hawaii DOE website: http://standardstoolkit.k12.hi.us/index.html

In order to access links to resources on the National Geographic Society’s website, you will need to become a member, which is FREE. The website is listed as Hawaii Geographic. Register at: http://www.ngsednet.org/hawaii

Join My Wonderful World (free). There are resources (including interactive games) for students, parents, and teachers.
Go to: http://www.mywonderfulworld.org

I. INTRODUCE THE THEME (Monday) “Mapping the Americas”

a. Learn and sing songs written and composed by Benny Uyetake, teacher at Kalama Middle School.

b. Map and study the physical and cultural aspects of the Americas using a variety of resources.

• Learn the countries that make up North and South America. http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/country_SoAmCA_G0_Click.html

• Map the countries, physical features (i.e., rivers, lakes, mountains), and cultural features (i.e., population, agriculture, language, major cities).

• Discuss the different terms (North America, Middle America, Central America, South America, Latin America).

c. Refer to the “Mapping the Americas” Toolkit. It is a booklet with fun activities and plans for celebrating geography in schools.
(It is downloadable from NGS)

d. Mapping the Extreme Americas – Before introducing the GAW poster to the students, have them guess the answers to the different “Extreme” facts. For example: the longest river, the largest lake, the largest Spanish-speaking population, and longest-lived animal. See sample worksheet.

e. All Kinds of Maps(zip file) – Learn about the different kinds of maps (political vs. physical; reference maps vs. thematic maps). Postcard format(zip file)

f. Use of Postcards – Use postcards to mental map the United States.
-You can also use the postcards to discuss the physical and human characteristics of the Americas. Sample postcard (zip file)

g. Choropleth Mapping(zip file) – Find out which states have more people per area of land. Also, find out which countries of South America have more people per land area.

h. Food Crops(zip file) – What do farmers grow in the U.S.? Where do crops come from (North and South America)?

i. Trivia – Use the postcards or Extreme Americas Poster to answer trivia questions(zip file).

j. Background information can also be found on the following websites.

· North America Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America

· South America Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_America

· Central America Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_America

· Map Projections – http://www.nationalgeographic.com/2000/projections

· http://www.colorado.edu/geography/gcraft/notes/mapproj/mapproj_f.html

· Map Projections Posters - http://erg.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/MapProjections/projections.html

· World Mapper - http://www.worldmapper.org/

· The Library of Congress Geography and Maps - http://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/

· Human Footprint - http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/human-footprint/

· Social, Economic, and Environmental Earth Trends - http://earthtrends.wri.org/

· Population Reference Bureau - http://www.prb.org/datafinder.aspx

· NGS Website - http://nationalgeographic.com/geographyaction/

· North America http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/continents/continent_northamerica.html

· South America http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/regions/region_southamerica_reg.html

· South America Video Clips http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/regions-places/south-america/

· Central America http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/regions/region_centralamerica.html

· Central America Video Clips http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/regions-places/central-america/

For more information, go to:
http://ngsednet.org/ga Online Community will give educators a vast collection or resources to enhance students' understanding and appreciation of the Americas.

II. READ AND WRITE ABOUT THE AMERICAS (Tuesday)

a. Observations Through the Use of Photographs, Drawings, and Other Media

Observations are one of the geographer’s tools. Use your observation skills in this activity

Observe through use of photographs, drawings, music, and text (books, articles, short stories) (in small groups)
Speculate on location of the Americas (if not told)
Use worksheet to note observations in photographs, elements of the physical landscape, and elements of the cultural landscape. What clues help you to identify the location of the photographs?
Make inferences about the location, place and people
Write a generalization about your observations. Be ready to share.

b. Read and write about the Americas (i.e. news article, narrative and informational books, current events, issues, etc.)
(CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: See the HGA website for a list of books that can be used with students.
http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/GAW2008/theamericasbooks.htm)

c. Suggested Ideas:

Compare and contrast current events to Hawaii.
Read informational text about the different cultures of the Americas. Compare and contrast cultures, or write a reflection of what was read.
Read what’s happening in the Americas. Research to find possible answers to your questions Write about the Americas (poetry, essay, photo essay, etc.) You may use “The Important Book” as a model for writing a poem about the country. Or, share various ABC books (example: A to Z of Brazil). Students can use their research information to create their own ABC book. (See sample)

III. FINE ARTS DAY (Wednesday)

a. Create art products (replicas) from the Americas (i.e., pottery, jewelry, tapestries, masks, musical instruments, and baskets) and/or share artifacts from the Americas.
Art-Craft Link

b. Compare and contrast different architectural designs in cities from different countries in the Americas (For example, compare and contrast the monuments in Washington, D.C. with the ancient cities in South America: Machu Picchu (of the Inca Empire, located in the central Andes Mountains) and Chichén Itzá (of the Maya, located in the Yucatán Peninsula); For a lesson on the two ancient cities, go to: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/04/g912/twocitiesinca.html

c. Listen to music from different parts of the Americas. What generalizations can you make about the music? Discuss, compare and contrast the type of instruments used. If needed, you might want to begin with this list. For an online website, go to:

http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/home

IV. POSTCARD CONTEST (Thursday)
a. GAW Postcard Contest - Participate in HGA Annual GAW Postcard Contest. Postcards must be postmarked by December 6, 2008.
b. Postcard Contest Rules for information. To see postcards from the past years, go to: http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/GAW.html and choose postcard winners.

V. CELEBRATE THE AMERICAS (Friday)
a. Encourage your students to wear a T-shirt that relates to the theme of Mapping the Americas. Have the students explain why they selected that particular T-shirt and how it relates to the GAW theme. For a lesson, go to http://www.hawaii.edu/hga/GAW97/tshirt.html
b. Share something that has to do with the Americas (i.e., games, food, artifacts, clothing, sports) c. Share products from Fine Arts Day (Wednesday).

VI. OTHER

a. GAW SONGS - Includes GAW songs from 1996.

b. MegaMaps (Large maps) link

c. GAW REPORT - We would love to hear from you and your students. Use the attached Report Form or online Report Form to let us know about your classroom activities and celebrations. If you have created a GAW site on your school's website that HGA can link to, please contact HGA. Deadline for sending in the reports: December 14, 2008.

The Hawaii Geographic Alliance
UH Manoa, Dept. of Geography,
2424 Maile Way, Saunders 408,
Honolulu, HI 96822.

All questions should be sent to: uhgeohga@hawaii.edu