Palm Springs International Class 2 September 2012 : Looking at the Earth Maps, Globes, and the 7 Continents

International Class 2 Theme: Maps and Globes

What Did We Study?

Earth: Land / Air / Water Animals that live in land / air / water Globes: Sandpaper globe, land globe, continents globe Maps: Continents maps, Topographical maps, and other different kinds of maps (subway, house map)

Land, Air, Water:

Sample bottles (3+ years), Classifying animals by land/air/water (4 years), Environmental nature walk (whole class), Making our own land/air/water drawings, Science experiments about land, air and water.

Globes:
Sandpaper/land/continent globe exploration, Drawing pictures of globes, making own play dough globe (3+ years), Exploring shape of globe/spheres in classroom (4+ years)

Maps:
Transition from globe to map using inflatable globe, 7 continents puzzle, making playdough continents (3+), making continents booklets (4+), teaching continents song, looking at stories from each continent.

Land

Air

Water

Experiments to learn about patterns in water!

Learning about the properties of air!

Land

Air

Water

Classifying Animals by land, air and water

Making our own land, air and water maps

Learning about land, air and water transportation with Kai Yaos truck!

Land, Air and Water Song

The Earth is Made of Land and Water
(To the tune of The Wheels on the Bus)

The Earth is made of land and water Land and water, land and water. The earth is made of land and water And all around is air!

Land, Air, Water Activities

We learned how to classify animals by land, air and water. We looked at pictures and sorted them by land, air and water.

We collected our own samples of land, air and water on our nature walk.

Globes
We focused in on 3 kinds of globes!

Sandpaper Globe:
Children can feel the difference between land and water (Land is rough, water is smooth)

Land and Water Continents Globe: Globe: Children can visually learn
Children can visually see the difference between land and water (land is brown, water is blue)

and point out the 7 different continents by color and name on this globe.

Globe Activities
First we learned how to draw circles Then we put it together to make our own versions of the globes!

Then we decided on the colors of the globes

Globe Activities
And we looked at the shapes of globes (spheres) and compared it to other spheres in the classroom!

We worked on color grading using the continents globe as our centerpiece.

Globe Activities
We even made our own spheres and globes!

Learning about the 7 Continents

We started by having children work with the planosphere (continents puzzle).

We sang songs about the 7 continents using this puzzle

And played games with each other using this puzzle.

Learning about the 7 Continents

We made continent booklets!

Learning about the 7 Continents

Thenwe connected the maps and globes.

Continents Work
Continent 3-Part Cards Continent Stamping

Continent Booklets

Nursery Rhymes From All 7 Continents

The 7 Continents Song

North America, South America, Africa, Europe and Asia! Dont forget Australia. Dont forget Antarctica.

Transitioning From Globes to Maps

The world globe, when deflated suddenly became a world map.
The children really liked listening quietly to the sound of the globe deflating!

We used an inflatable globe to help children understand the similarities between globes and maps.

Children were able to visually see how globes and maps show the same thing, only in different dimensions.

Maps
We made our own land and water maps!

We started by looking at the continents puzzle map.

Maps

We studied maps on the floor different kinds of world maps!

Maps

We read maps in books!

We looked at different kinds of maps!

Our Maps
A map of the 7 continents

A map of land and water

A map of the sandpaper globe

SoWhy Are We Teaching About the Earth?

When children can understand the Earth, the continents, the maps and globes of Earth they will learn to care for and respect the Earth.
Xiao Yu (3 years old) Leaf cleaning/ Plant care
Jia Yi (5 years old) and A Meng (4 years old) Cleaning the fish tank

They will learn to respect the plants

They will learn to respect the animals

SoWhy Are We Teaching About the Earth?

And they will learn to respect the people they meet on this planet.
Congratulations on our first month in IC2!