Introducing Geography/Social Studies

[fluffycrane]

I am a new 7th grade teacher. We will be studying Africa, Asia, and Australia. Africa will be first. I am having problems deciding what should be covered the first few days/weeks of school in regards to curriculum. What important aspects of geography need to be covered before we go into Africa?

[wig]

I always do a review of the five themes of geography at the beginning of the year, plus some basic map skills.

[fluffycrane]

Thanks, those are great ideas!

[Boxcar]

I agree with those suggestions. Oh, I'd include map-folding too. That is somehting I never matered!

[SS Rocks!]

I am a new 7th grade teacher. We will be studying Africa, Asia, and Australia. Africa will be first. I am having problems deciding what should be covered the first few days/weeks of school in regards to curriculum. What important aspects of geography need to be covered before we go into Africa?

I start off the same way wig does. I teach the Five Themes, discuss landforms (especially ones that will apply to what we learn about throughout the year) and work with map skills (latitude/longitude).

Even though this isn't geography, at the beginning of the year I find it helpful to discuss timelines and chronology, and discuss the differences between facts, beliefs, and opinions (helpful when studying religions and mythology).

[ms.jodi]

check out epals.com for pen-pals. I also got a project going where we got a mascot (a little stuffed animal) and he is travelling to classrooms around the world. One of them is in New Zealand!