What Way is North?

 My teammate, Sarah and I start our Social Studies unit the first week of  school for two reasons: one because we miss each other when the wall is closed and second because the students are just as excited to open the wall and see their friends. Both of these reasons are social and isn't that why they call it "Social" Studies?

This year we started differently although our goals were the same. We wanted to get to know our students better and learn about their families and traditions. We asked the students to choose 3-5 photos that are important to them and glue then on the inside cover of their SS spiral and write about them.  Answering these 3 questions:

a.  Why is that photo important to you?

b.  Where is that photo taken?

c.  How does that photo connect to your family?

This conversation then launched us into our Geography Unit focusing on North America. Locating all 50 states, geographical features, regions, and reading/understanding maps including latitude and longitude.

It's always fun to see the students excitement as we pull out the geography tub filled with games, puzzles, books, poems, songs and maps to practice their skills.  One of my favorite books:  How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A. This is a great book about the process of making a pie all the way from how to make the bowl, to making the crust, picking the cherries and finally having a delicious cherry pie. The story travels all around the country to 14 different states, so we give the students a blank map and ask them to track the journey. Once the students become familiar with the states they then have time to explore our geography box of interactive puzzles, games and some students play Stack the States on their iPods.

Practicing for the states test- check out the $1 aisle at Target. 

In additon, we will share the following Wonders of the day @Wonderopolis.

Wonder #55 How are Maps Made?

Wonder #492 When is a State Not a State? 

To Buy or Not to Buy That is the Question

How do you decide which apps to purchase? The first thing I did was look back at last year’s lesson plans and created a 6 box grid with the topics that I teach. You should know that I teach all subjects in fifth grade, so I had a wide variety of app choices. For example, I start with North America Geography so I looked for apps that supported locating the 50 states.

I considered the following questions when I was choosing apps.

*How will the app extend the students learning?
*How can the app help students create something new?
*How will the app help students review a skill?
*Would this app increase a student’s motivation for a difficult skill?
*Does the app have different levels of learning for all students?

Obviously not every app is going to meet every criteria and the process has been interesting for me. I thought I had found what I considered a great app after previewing the write up and then I purchased it. Some apps had boring graphics, poor sound quality, and were too confusing. The biggest lesson I learned about apps is that they do not come with directions. As a teacher, I love directions and for most apps you just have to play with them to figure them out. This became frustrating for me; however, I have found some wonderful apps to start the school year with in a few weeks.

Drum roll please, the app that made the cut for geography was PopGeo USA Geography I like it because it has the students place the 50 states (5 at a time) it extends the learning because the students can learn the capitals, famous cities as well as national parks. I can't wait to introduce the class to this app.

Turning the iPod sideways helps to play most apps.