7/14/2015: Happy Bastille Day!

July 4 has come and gone, and now it is time to celebrate France’s national holiday, Bastille Day!  Bastille Day is France’s Independence Day,  it celebrates the storming of the Bastille, a famous prison, during the French Revolution in 1789.  The revolution led to the dissolution of the French monarchy and to the beginning of a representative government.  Holidays can be a fun way to explore other countries and their cultures with your class.  Holidays can also be a good segway to some basic geography.  

Do you study geography with your class?  My book original book Directions - First Grade Level I Reader is great for social studies or geography unit! This book is also included in First Grade Leveled Books: Level I – Set 1.  My first grade Level C reader “A Map and a Globe” is also dedicated to geography.  it can be found in Social Studies Topics – Levels C – E. For higher grade level, the story “Finding the Mississippi – Using a Map and Globe” is included in my third grade level N – Set 1

3/31/2015: Anniversary of the First Official Map of the United States

Do you study geography with your class?  You may be interested to know that the first official map of the United States was published on March 31, 1784 by Abel Buell, a silversmith turned mapmaker. Buell published his map in the Connecticut Journal.  March 31 1784 was seven months after the Treaty of Paris had ended the American Revolutionary War.  Buell himself claimed that this map was “the first ever compiled, engraved, and finished by one man, and an American.”

My book original book Directions - First Grade Level I Reader is great for social studies or geography unit! This book is also included in First Grade Leveled Books: Level I – Set 1.  

My first grade Level C reader “A Map and a Globe” is also dedicated to geography.  it can be found in Social Studies Topics – Levels C – E. For higher grade level, the story “Finding the Mississippi – Using a Map and Globe” is included in my third grade level N – Set 1

2/10/2014 The 2014 Winter Olympics and Learning About Directions

Has your class been following the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi?  It is exciting to see elite athletes come together from all over the world to compete.  

The Olympics can be a good starting point to use to discuss the basics of geography with your students.  You might try finding some of the home countries for different athletes together on a map or globe, and see which direction you would travel in if you wanted to plan a visit there from your town.   My First Grade Level I Reader, Directions, is a good way to practice literacy skills with your class while learning about directions, maps, globes, and more.

TIME for Kids offers free Olympic Printables to educators on their website for grades 2-6.  They are a good resource if you want to bring other subjects, such as math, into your Olympics lesson plan.  Check out my Pintrest board Winter Wonderland for more  Winter Olympics activity ideas for your classroom!