Where in the World?

Our current Social Studies topic is the study of different communities in the world.  Our first step was being able to name and place the 7 continents and the 5 major oceans on the world map and on a globe.  Other vocabulary terms like cartography and equator were introduced as well.

To create interest and curiosity, each child got their winter coat from their locker and found out where it was made.  Most students predicted it would say it was made it Canada but found out otherwise!  Then they were given homework to look around home and bring an article to show that was made outside of Canada.  We got a big variety of items but found that many of them were made in China or Indonesia.  These became places to find on the map and discover how long of a journey that item had to reach their home in Canada.

This brought up the discussion that the world is not flat like on their 2D map but to get from Asia to Canada over the Pacific Ocean is still a distance of 13,000 kilometers!

The next day, students were tasked with finding another object and trying to find one from a different place than we had found the day before.  Students will next choose a country to find out more about using a series of books called "Spotlight On" from our school library by Bobbie Kalman.
 

Developing research skills is an expected outcome in Grade 2 and 3 and practice using text features like the index, table of contents, picture captions and more are needed.  If your child brings home a non-fiction book from the library, be sure to point these parts of the book out as you read it with your child.  These are not necessarily books to read from start to finish but I encourage the students to have a question in mind and then work to try to find out the answer using the book.

Here is a link to an online site to play quiz games about places in the world.  Try it with your child!