The Blue Willow Journal

Table-top Maps are Great!

Recently I did a workshop for pre-service and classroom teachers. Our main activity that day was trying out the new table-top map kits from National Geographic. These are the smaller version of the huge tile maps NGS intoduced a few years ago, some of which needed a gymnasium wall to display their full glory. All of these tile maps are now called Nat Geo Mapmaker Kits, and are available in the large wall version or the new table-top version. What is great about the small maps is that they require photocopying only eight pages (tiles) while the big maps could be 120 to 180 tiles in size.

Here are some teachers working with the Water Planet and World Political map kits:

The detail on these maps is superb and the possibilities are endless for grades 3 to 12. Check them out on the National Geographic website. You'll find them under "Geography Awareness Week" in the LEARN ABOUT FRESHWATER section.

Full Circle

Every year, here in Rhode Island, when Geography Awareness Week is on the horizon, the Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance (RIGEA) tries to come up with something motivating and fun to involve kids and adults in the year’s theme. One year we had a cooking contest, another time we held a dinner with the menu coordinating with the GAW theme. This year we decided to focus on the creative arts, so in October we announced a “Rhody Freshwater and YOU” contest. Entrants were asked to create something which represented a form of Rhode Island freshwater and then explain what that particular freshwater meant to them.

We were excited to receive quite a few entries, and although the contest was open to any Rhode Islander, all the entries came from either elementary or middle school students. The elementary students sent in projects which seemed to emphasize freshwater conservation, while the middle school students reflected more on specific rivers or lakes or ponds that had provided them with fond memories.

We are pleased to see so many Rhode Island kids learning about freshwater and growing up to be careful consumers of this limited resource.

Here are the winners and their projects:

1^st Prize:

Miranda Peloquin  “Memories of My Lake”   V. J. Gallagher Middle School , Smithfield, RI

Honorable Mention:

Joshua Hersey   “Water, Water…..Boy I Wish I Had Some”   Winsor Hill Elementary School, Johnston, RI

Madalyn Moore   “Ahhh! Refeshing”   Sarah Dyer Barnes Elementary School, Johnston, RI

Ashley Shilko   “Stump Pond”   V. J. Gallagher Middle School, Smithfield, RI

Alison Izzi   “The Brook in My Backyard”   V. J. Gallagher Middle School, Smithfield, RI

 

Here is Miranda’s prize-winning entry, a great poem superimposed over an artistic background.  Included in her comments about what this lake meant to her is the following: ”I have so many memories here it’s way too many to count but I know one thing is that I love this lake and all the people who enjoy it. I would love for other people to come enjoy this lake just like I do”.

The honorable mention winners made conservation posters, created artwork and poetry:

Ashley writes: “The sparkling of the water as the sunlight shines, Is the most beautiful thing, I could watch it all the time”.

Alison says: In everyone else’s view it is just a brook, but I look at the small stream of water in my backyard as a part of my home”.

Madalyn reminds us on her poster to “save water while you can, don’t waste it”.

And Joshua includes information about estuaries (of particular importance here in Rhode Island because we live on Narragansett Bay, a huge estuary) in his entry.

In examining who entered this Geography Awareness Week contest, something interesting is afoot here. And something that should not surprise any of us. All the children who entered are students who work with educators who are active in promoting geography education.

The V. J. Gallagher Middle School kids have Cathy Pleau (cpleau@smithfield-ps.org), as their assistant principal. Cathy and I were roommates back in 1993 when we trained for two weeks during the summer to become Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance Teacher Consultants. Cathy has conducted countless geography initiatives and events for kids, parents and colleagues over the years and is presently a member of our alliance strategic planning team.

The Sarah Dyer Barnes Elementary School winner is the student of Deb Ramm (rid21594@ride.ri.net), another long-time Rhode Island Geography Alliance teacher consultant. She, too, has spent her career infusing her classroom days with connections to geography. She told me this year her 4^th grade class will focus on water all year. Her kids will be testing pond water quality and studying watersheds, pollution tolerant animals and water treatment. She’s also planning on an Electronic Field Trip with the National Park Service during this year’s water study.

Rayna Ciano (rid26156@ride.ri.net), teaches at Winsor Hill Elementary School, where another winner goes to school. I see Rayna at almost every event RIGEA puts on, and she always comes up afterward to talk, sign up for something or ask questions. In September at our annual Kick-Off meeting for the year I was telling the audience about a terrific Japanese international friendship project involving an ambassador doll traveling around the world, stopping to stay with hosts three weeks at a time. Rayna not only had signed up for the program but she had her Japanese ambassador doll with her to so she could take photographs with the little fellow and our members.

The effort these educators put in every day is working to produce geographically literate people here in Rhode Island. And that is exactly what is supposed to be happening.

Congratulations to all our winners!

 

 

The Americas

In the geography education world the week of November 16-22 was a big one - it was Geography Awareness Week (GAW) which this year celebrated the Americas from Greenland south through South America.

This year the National Geographic Society produced a terrific toolkit for teachers - a theme map of "extremes" found in the Americas, a booklet of lesson ideas for K-12 and a CD with (among many other resources) a file which produces a 20 ft.x 10 ft. map of the Americas.

I went out to a middle school to see one of these completed huge maps - wow, was it something! The whole social studies department of this 600-student school , teachers and kids, had worked on it for three weeks. See a photograph of this great effort below.

Another aspect of this year's Americas theme has been the chance for students to become involved in some cultural expressions of countries new to them. I spent a morning working with a fifth grade on crafts from the Americas - fun and educational for both the students and me! (photos below)

Also, our state alliance, the Rhode Island Geography Education Alliance (RIGEA), came up with some inventive ways to spread the word about the GAW theme and recruit new members at the same time. Early in November we held an Americas Dinner for teachers new to our organization. The dinner featured an outstanding menu from North, Central and South America and was preceded by a social hour during which RIGEA members were on hand to share information about our organization. Today, we have scheduled the first in a series of lectures by Brown University professors on topics relating to the Americas - registration for both events has exceeded our expectations!

 

 

 

GAW

Next week, November 16-22, is Geography Awareness Week (GAW) all across the United States. The theme this year is "the Americas" - that's Greenland, Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America - wonderful subject matter for any age child or classroom. GAW is part of National Geographic's Geography Action program which strives to promote great geography education throughout each school year. This year's theme is the third in a tour of the world's regions - Africa and Asia have preceded this year, and Europe and Oceania will complete the sequence over the next two years.

Here in Rhode Island we have distributed curriculum materials to teachers to implement this year's theme, held a statewide Americas recipe contest for students, planned an Americas dinner for teachers new to geography action in the classroom, and worked with pre-service teachers to familiarize them with GAW and the resources available to them through the National Geographic Society.

Next week I will be getting out to classrooms to see some of the innovative ways Rhode Island schools are celebrating "the Americas" - should be fun!

Excellent Journey

By happenstance a few years ago I discovered the most wonderful online educational resource called Journey North. It is designed for teachers and their K-12 students but anyone would enjoy participating in its many interesting projects.

Here is their own description of what they offer:

"Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of spring through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles - and other birds and mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight; and other natural events. Find migration maps, pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context. Widely considered a best practices model for education, Journey North is the nation's premiere "citizen science" project for children. The general public is welcome to participate."

For the last few weeks I have been working with a local second grade class on the Journey North project called "Symbolic Monarch Butterfly Migration". The kids designed and colored paper butterflies and we put labels on the back of each one with the child's name, school information and the following greeting: "gracias por cuidar a las mariposas monarcas este invierno, de parte de sus vecinos del norte", which means "thank you for taking care of the monarchs this winter, from your northern neighbors". These were packaged up and sent off, eventually to reside in a Mexican classroom located close to one of the  winter monarch butterfly sanctuaries. In the spring this Rhode Island second grade will receive paper butterflies back from Mexican children. In the meantime they can read weekly updates on monarch migration and see the butterflies' progress on an online map and on another map look at all the classrooms in the U.S. and Canada (including themselves) that have sent symbolic butterflies to Mexico.

I can't recommend Journey North highly enough -it's one of the best educational initiatives I have ever seen.

Here are the Rhode Island butterflies and a booklet in Spanish which we printed out on the Journey North website as a gift to the Mexican class receiving our butterflies.