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Regions

10 minute research reports
Put an encyclopedia or other reference book in front of each student. They have 2 minutes to look over the book to get the lay of the land. They have 5 minutes to read an article of choice. They have 3 minutes to write a quick summary in their own words of what they learned.

Atlas Study
Divide the class into groups. Each group has an atlas. They have to work together to answer a sheet of questions about atlases in general and theirs specifically. Then the groups shared their atlas. Some of the questions could be: have index?, table of contents?, how is the atlas organized, copyright date, what was the atlas about, find 3 pictures/maps they wanted to share about their atlas.
As an alternative, give students the name of a place that they've probably never heard of, or one that doesn't exist. Their job is to find out if it does, by using the atlas index. They work in groups of 2-each group is a team. Each team gets a different place to look up. After they have all looked up the place and found out if there really is such a place, they ask the other teams if they think it exists. Each correct team gets a point, nothing for the teams that are wrong. However, the incorrect teams can get a "rebound" point if they can look it up and find out what continent it's on. They have to use the index and go to the actual map to see where it is.


Gastronomic Geography
Give students a set of questions for places to find, and the answers all have to do with food. Worksheets, decorated with graphics that help with the answers, are used and these worksheets are laminated. The kids use overhead pens to write the answers, and the sheets can then be cleaned and reused. The trick is, you have to make sure your atlases have the locations in them, and that they are fairly easily found.


Geography of your region
Choose a physical, climate, or cultural geographic feature of your region. Research local history to discover how the physical or climate feature affected the development of your area or how the cultural feature came to develop in your area.

Hemisphere: Hemi means “half” and so hemisphere means “half a sphere”. Name other prefixes that mean half. Look up hemidemisemiquaver and explain its name.

Information Scavenger hunt
The room is set up in centers and the students have a two page handout to fill in. Each student is to figure out which center has the material that is needed to fill in the blanks. Information resources are: telephone books, Atlas, encyclopedia, social studies book, and dictionaries.


Investigate the meaning of your first name. Tell what it means and the language it may have come from.

Latitude and Longitude
Draw a portion of a global grid by tens, from the equator to 40 degrees N and 40 degrees S and from the prime meridian to 40 degrees E and 40 degrees W. Label the degree mark of each line and also label the equator and prime meridian.
As an alternative, choose a continent shown in an Atlas. Prepare a table to name the continent, identify the lines of latitude and longitude that enclose the continent, and identify the latitude and longitude of the major cities.
As an alternative, make a least of ten cities or countries to visit. Locate each place by latitude and longitude

Languages of India
India has at least 16 languages including Hindi and English spoken in the country. Find the areas of the country in which these languages are spoken. India’s state boundaries are drawn largely along linguistic lines. Draw a map of India and show in what areas the major languages are spoken.

MapQuest: 
https://www.mapquest.com/

Maps

*Make a map of a floor in the school and then, in an inset, make a large-scale map showing an individual room in more detail.
*Choose a state or a country that you have always wanted to visit and do some research on it. Draw a small-scale outline map of it, drawing in and labeling major cities, rivers, lakes, and mountains. As insets, draw large-scale maps of at least two places you want to visit.

Parks
Think about different parks thay you have been to. What are some of the activities people can do there? What special facilities do the parks provide? A park’s recreation area may be anything from a basketball court, to a playground, to a swimming pool, to quiet gardens where people can talk and rest. Design your own park by including the different areas the parks would include and then make a map.

Pumpkin World
Each student is given a pumpkin to make their own globe. Students use bold arker pens to outline and label the Equator, Tropic of Cancer Capricorn, hemispheres, continents, oceans and poles. The longitude lines are already on the pumpkin!

Reference books
Each of table has one type of reference book on it - one copy or more if you have them: dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, almanac, the encyclopedia and encyclopedia index (World Book). Make up one question for each source. Kids determine which question could be answered with the source on their table, find the answer, and write it on a worksheet. Then they pass the book clockwise to the next table and started on the next question/answer.
As an alternative: Place your reference books (even sets) out on tables. Make questions for each. Groups of 2 or 3 move about to each of the learning stations and answer all the questions they can in 6 or 7 minutes. Use a timer to keep everyone moving. They stop when it rings and move to the next station.

Round Robin Reference
Pick a topic, like presidents, states, inventors and pair the kids up. Then tell them that they are going to find the information on the prepared sheet and they are going to use three different reference sources: non-fiction book, an encyclopedia,the web. atlases, almanacs, etc. The lesson is split into three ten minute sections and a third of the kids use the encyclopedia, a third the web, and a third the non fiction book, for example. Then ring a bell and the kids switch to the next source and then the last one. Number the tables so they know who goes where.


Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn
Find the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn lines a the map . The sun’s rays strike most directly all year round in a band that circles Earth in the area between these two “tropic” lines. Hence, the climate in this band is said to be “tropical”. The climate in the areas just to the north and south of this band are said to be “subtropical”. Prepare a class presentation about the constellations Cancer and Capricorn showing where they appear at different times of the year.


World Atlas: 
http://www.worldatlas.com/

Write a letter to a friend describing your region--its physical, climate, and cultural features.




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Last Updated: March 2023