As I am sure you are aware, the children are involved in a variety of reading activities everyday. We have a poem of the week that we read in every morning, a quiet reading time where children can read individually or with a friend, and almost everyday I read aloud from a chapter book.
Here are some examples of the things we are reading during our Map Unit:
The first week there was a riddle to solve:
I have streets but no pavement,
I have cities but no buildings,
I have forests but no trees,
I have rivers yet no water.
What am I?
(answer: a map)
I read My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett to the children. The story includes a beautiful maps of the islands the boy travels to.
The children really enjoyed following the adventures of Elmer Elevator. If you are looking for books to read at home with your child, you may consider reading the other 2 books in the trilogy.
The second week's poem helped the children learn the names of the continents:
To learn the seven continents
Think of the letter A,
And when you're down to only one
An E will save the day.
There's Africa, Antarctica,
Australia, Asia, too;
The oceans run between them
With their waters deep and blue.
There are also two Americas--
North and South, you see.
Now we're coming to the end.
Europe starts with E!
I also started a new chapter book: Paddle-to- the-Sea by Holling Clancy Holling. In this story, a Canadian boy carves a small wooden canoe that he sends off down a river, hoping it will make it's way to the sea. We will be looking at maps of the Great Lakes as we track the canoes journey.
Friday the children made salt clay and used it to make their own relief maps. They formed islands, volcanos, and mountains.
