Showing posts with label maps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maps. Show all posts
Remember that song we used to sing in Children's Church as kids?

He's got the whole world in His hands,
He's got the whole world in His hands,
He's got the whole world in His hands,
He's got the whole world in His hands!

Such a simple song with such a powerful meaning....God is in control.  Not me.

For a few years now, we have been using that simple kid's song as the tune to our continents poem, "I've Got The Whole World On My Body."  The kids adore this song.  It's a perfect Total Physical Response activity and in just a couple of short singings the kids can name all 7 continents {on their bodies, of course!}

We sing the song in 3 different ways to keep the song fresh and because I just can't pick a favorite way!

On Our Body

First, we sing the song by tapping the beat on each part of our body:
Africa >>> Head
North America >>> Shoulders
South America >>> Hips
Europe >>> Left Hand
Asia >>> Right Hand
Australia >>> Knees
Antarctica >>> Feet

With A Partner

The second way we sing the continents song is with a partner.  Each kid faces a partner and they tap each other for each continent...

Head to head for Africa...

Foot to foot for Antarctica....

And so forth!  This version always includes lots of giggles! :)

Travel the Room

The last way we practice the song is traveling the room.  Since I have the continents hanging above our group tables in our room, we "travel around the world" and go to each continent table as we sing! Along with the Continental Drift, it's one of their favorite brain breaks for this unit!

Once we are continental pros, we add the poem to our poetry folder.  

We highlighted the continent names in each stanza and they illustrated the continents to match our class' world map.

You can find this poem and song in my Cinderella Around the World Unit.  I also love to use this song during our Me on the Map Unit!
      
    
We're continuing our Cinderella Around the World Unit, learning about cultures around the world through different versions of the Cinderella story!  Each week we've focused on a new continent as we've read their Cinderella stories and learned about the culture and fact about that continent.

This map is posted in our room and we have been referring to it throughout the unit. As we read each version of Cinderella, we add the book cover to our map to show the setting of each story.  This is a great reference tool for the kids throughout the unit.

This week, we focused on Africa.  Our message time this week was about Africa.  During our message times, I write a paragraph and students help read and predict what I will write.  We reread the whole paragraph after I write each sentence.  Then, the kids get their own copy of the message to put in their poetry/shared reading binders.  {There is an informative message on each continent in my Cinderella Unit Packet.}  Since the messages are only 5-7 sentences, it gave just enough information to get the kids interested in Africa and asking questions!  So, Monday, after our message time, I gave each student a sticky note and they wrote an "I wonder" question about Africa.  Then, they posted their questions on our wonder wall in our room.

The goal is to get kids asking good questions, and then be motivated to listen for and answer their questions.  Once we find the answer to their question, they write the answer on their sticky {or sometimes I write it if we answer their question as a class} and we move their sticky off of their wonder wall "bubble" to the Key Questions board as an answered question.  Honestly, I haven't been as good at setting aside time to allow kids to write down their questions as I have been in the past.  But they were just so interested in the continents the past two weeks that I just had to make time to do it this week! And they loved it...I need to be better and making the time for this during EACH unit!  After all, good inquirers, make good learners!!

Later, we read books about Africa and charted our learning on our anchor chart.

The versions of Cinderella we read this week were Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters

and The Egyptian Cinderella.

We pretty much followed the same pattern as last week with these books and then voted on our favorite African version of Cinderella.  This is the third year I've taught this unit, but this was the first year that Mufaro's didn't when the popularity contest! Clearly, each class of firsties has a mind of its own!

Next week, we are moving on to North America and cowboyin' Cinderella up a bit!  
Back to Top