5 Themes of Geography - Final Assignment

Part of our social studies curriculum is to study the 5 Themes of Geography.

The five themes are a framework setup for students to help them develop a geographic perspective of the world. The five themes are; location (absolute & relative), place, region, movement, and human/environment interaction.

1. After reading page 187-188 in our social studies book on the 5 Themes of Geography students should have the following basic understanding (show pictures below to help students get a better understanding of the 5 themes):

Location: Where are we?
• Absolute Location: is a latitude and longitude (global location) or an exact address (street location)
• Relative Location: is described by landmarks, time, direction, or distance from one place to another. It may associate a particular place with another (next to, nearby).






Absolute Location






Relative Location









Place: What kind of place is it?
Places have both human and physical characteristics, as well as images. Everything in a place is taken into account. The image people have of a place is based on their experiences. It reveals their values, attitudes, and perceptions.




Place



Place










Place









Region: What kind of region is it?
A region is the basic unit of study in geography. It’s an area that displays a coherent unity in terms of the government, language or landforms.





Region





Region








Movement: How do goods and people move from place to place?
The movement of people, the import and export of goods, and mass communication are all important in shaping our world. Movement is the idea that we live in a global society.




Movement of Goods






Movement of Goods











Human/Environment Interaction: How do humans and the environment affect each other?
This interaction focuses on how humans adapt, modify, and depend on the environment. We change the environment and sometimes Mother Nature changes it back.





Human/Environment Interaction









2. Using newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, flyers, etc. have students (in groups of 2-3) cut out examples of each of the 5 Themes of Geography. Each team of students must have…
• 2 examples of location (absolute & relative)
• 1 example of place, region, movement, & human/environment interaction

3. Each team will tape or glue their article/picture to a piece of white paper. They should NOT list what type of Geography Theme it is on the front; it should be listed on the back.

4. Post the pages around the room on display.

5. Give students 5-7 sticky notes. Each student must then go around the room, read the article/look at the picture, and determine what type of Geography Theme it is and why. They will post their answer on each sticky note and leave it on the article. It is ok to also leave a comment (i.e. cool picture, nice example of movement, etc.).

6. Have each group collect back their original articles and read the answers/comments left by other students.

7. Debrief a few articles as a whole class.

Blog City - Assignment #6

http://huzzah.edublogs.org/ I liked that this class blog was stated as being “a work in progress” instead of a polished piece. I think the idea behind educational or classroom blogs is that they are a continual progression of student work and projects, and do not have to be finished products. I also really liked that each student had their own blog page you could access. I had already thought about wanting each of my future students to have the ability to create their own page.

http://borges.edublogs.org/ I really liked this class blog by an 8^th grade math teacher in Toronto. The teacher calls the class, “The Geeks from Down the Street” and has includes many neat features to his blog. One feature is homework assignments that he lists on the blog. Some assignments are to read an article he left up on the page while others are reminders about due dates and upcoming projects. Another feature I like is the link for Parents & Educators about important news happening with the district. I could even have a newsletter link here. The only thing I do not like about his blog is that the layout has to stay the same every time you click on a link. I would like to see some variety in the layouts.

http://2rshiningstars.blogspot.com/ This blog stuck out to me because it is from a 2^nd grade classroom in Australia! There class is called the 2 R Shining Stars and they have lots of neat stuff on their blog. The first thing I saw that I liked was the gadget called “Shelfari” where you can add books to an online ‘shelf’! This website is designed as a social network for people who love books. You can add books you’ve read, are currently reading, or want to read. I loved it so much I signed up and added the widget to my blog!

http://mrmillersblog.com/ Loved this teacher’s blog spot! There are so many fun ways to get kids engaged online through blogging. I can’t wait to test it out this fall with my class. This teacher, Mr. Miller, calls his blog their home on the internet – very catchy! Mr. Miller’s blog was interesting to me because of the connection he made around the world with other schools. Once you are on his blog you can instantly connect to other schools all over the world! It looks like his 6^th graders even interacted a bit with other schools. There is a lot of text on his page so the only change I would make is to add some pictures to break up all the words.

http://baileyrdteam17.blogspot.com/ This blog instantly appealed to me because they used Wall Wisher on their blog. I am familiar with Wall Wisher but didn’t know I could imbed it into a blog spot! Wall Wisher allows students to leave sticky notes with their thoughts about a certain topic. This blogspot was also appealing because of all the photos and videos the teacher posted. Interestingly enough the class was from New Zeeland and instead of using the phrase, “we learned” they used the phrase, “we learnt”. It’d be neat to have this discussion with my students about the different grammar uses around the world.

My Interests - Assignment 5

Volleyball has been part of my life since I can remember. I have played all levels of the game from club & AAU teams, to middle & high school volleyball, to the collegiate level and even now as a coach. I love to both watch and play the game. As an adult I play on an indoor woman’s league and during the summer on a beach league. Beach volleyball is so fun because you get to be outdoors enjoying the Michigan summers while playing.

~AVP Beach Volleyball Site: http://www.avp.com/ This site offers all the current standings on the professional beach volleyball leagues around the country. I am from the westside of Michigan where Grand Haven often will host an AVP tournament during the summer months.

~USA Volleyball Site: http://usavolleyball.org/news This site has all the current standings of indoor volleyball around the world. It details everything from the Olympic teams to youth teams. The site provides photos, videos, news, events, shopping, and even a league of sitting volleyball!

Baseball has recently become a large part of my life due to my husband. When we were married 4 years ago I knew he liked baseball, but I had no idea the amount of passion he has for the game and for the Detroit Tigers. Since he loves it so much I find myself naturally getting involved with the sport. When we travel we like to visit different ballparks around the country.

~MLB Official Site: http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp This is the official MLB website. You have the opportunity to learn just about everything on any team in both the American & National league.

~Detroit Tigers Site: http://detroit.tigers.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=det This site is pretty much bookmarked on our home computer for my husband. He likes the site to keep up-to-date on all the latest news with the Detroit Tigers.

~Best Stadium Foods: http://sports.espn.go.com/travel/news/story?id=2532700 This article published by ESPN features the best stadiums around the country to go to for eating everything from hot dogs, to BBQ sandwiches, French Fries, and even the best ballpark steak!

A third hobby I have is scrapbooking. I got into scrapbooking in high school and used to make lots of albums documenting my life in pictures. I continued this hobby through college, but since then haven’t found the time to continue.

~Creative Memories Site: http://www.creativememories.com/ This site has thousands of resources to use as you scrapbook. Shop new products, borrow page layout ideas, organize your collection, and even learn how to digital scrapbook!

~Printable Scrapbook Pages & Layouts: http://www.scrapbooksetc.com/ This one-stop site has everything from photography tips to scrapbook store locations. You can print scrapbook page layouts, die-cuts, and even collage templates!

Field Trips

The activity I chose to post pictures of is from our 6^th Grade Toronto Trip 2010. This annual trip to Toronto, Canada, takes place in the spring every school year after we study Canada in our social studies curriculum. Each team of teachers takes their students (around 60) and chaperones (around 15) over the border and through Canada for a 2-day non-stop adventure packed trip! The first picture shows the girls having too much fun on the bus.

This year we visited four destinations in Niagara; Niagara Falls, Niagara Glen Park, Ft. George, and Clifton Hill. Students had a ton of fun getting soaked on Niagara Falls as you can tell from the pictures. Niagara Falls is one of my favorite destinations in Canada. I love the natural beauty they offer. Prior to our trip we spend a lot of time talking about how the falls were created and how they have moved over time.

On the second day we ventured into Toronto to visit the CN Tower, ROM, Casa Loma, and the Eaton Centre. Everyone always loves traveling up the CN Tower - the 2^nd largest tower in the world - and then overlooking the city. Casa Loma is a 100 year old castle built by Sir Henry Pellatt at the beginning of the 19^th Century. Pellatt was one of the leading entrepreneurs in Canada during his time. His fame & fortune helped him build this historic site. It’s always fun to explore the secret passages, hidden tunnels, and climb to the top of the tower.

My Blogging Experience Thus Far...

This blogging experience so far has been great! I love having the ability to create such an easy blog! Style and presentation are a must for me so it’s great that this site allows you to have numerous options for changing the layout, font, color, and background images.

I have had some prior experience with creating posts in the past. I tried a website once called Wall Wisher where students could post sticky notes on a page responding to a prompt I would give them. While students liked posting, there was no way for them (or myself) to change the layouts or fonts. When the page would refresh all the sticky notes would overlap and you had to spend several minutes sorting them. There was also no way to control the kinds of posts kids were putting up. I could set it to email me and approve each post, but I didn’t want to have to do that each time. I’m hoping this blog site has more options available.

I love to play around with gadgets and add them to my page. Our gmail account also has a program called ‘sites’ that allows me to have my own webpage. One of the features of the webpage is to be able to add gadgets. I love the countdown feature which shows kids a daily countdown until an event.