Birthday Geography

We’ve been having fun with geography in seventh grade this week. Students are using their dates of birth as coordinates to plot on the Google Map below:

They are also planning a birthday party for themselves and their friends that will be located at their birthdate coordinates.  After discussing our parties in class, we came up with the following list of things they need to consider while planning their party.

• Climate
• Location for party (famous landmark, national park, middle of the forest)
• Food and drinks (items that are found locally)
• Music (what kind of music do they listen to in that area of the world?)
• Activities (what are the popular sports there? what activities might you want to do in the area?)
• Decorations
• Traditions (what do the people of that country normally do for birthdays?)
• Dress Code (what should you wear in that climate? Are there rules about clothing for that culture?)
• Animals
• Protection (will you be in a dangerous part of the world?)
• Transportation

I can’t wait to hear all about the parties students are planning for themselves!

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Mauritania?

I don’t have my list with me for our seventh grade Africa project, but if anyone has Mauritania for their country you should love this! One of the astronauts currently orbiting our planet in the International Space Station took a picture of western Africa this morning.

If you click on the photo you’ll be taken to a larger and clearer view of the image.

For those who have other countries to research, or if you’re interested in viewing any images taken from space, be sure to visit the Nasa Images site. They have some absolutely amazing photographs on their site!

Homework for Monday

What Did You Say?

Yes, that’s right, Grendel. I said “Homework for Monday.” Don’t worry, though. My students LOVE getting last minute homework assignments that have to be done over the weekend…even if it IS a holiday weekend! Trust me.

Mmmm...I Love Homework!

Oh, come on, Connor! That’s the oldest line in the book…”the dog ate my homework!” Puh-lease! Besides, we do a lot of homework on our blogs, so unless you’re going to start chewing on computer cables find something else to gnaw on!

Now, on to your assignment! It involves some research, but I’ll provide you with the websites to read which should make this much easier. First let’s start with our guiding question for this activity:

Why is McTeach so excited?!

Using the following websites, write a one-sentence answer and post it here as a comment. Got it? Excellent.

First website: The Picture Show Blog – Freeze Frame

Second website: Palmer Station

Third website: South for Summer

Oh please, that's so easy...

…even a dog could figure it out!

Alright, George, take it easy. At least give them time to look over the websites I so painstakingly put together. Then they can add their comment to this post and tell us what they think the answer is.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Can’t wait to see you on Monday!!

This Will Be Fun

In class today, we began our celebration of National Geography Week by creating a survey about the places where people live. I sent that survey out to the world via Twitter, Plurk, and Facebook. So far forty-five people have filled out the survey. The furthest city listed in our survey? Auckland, New Zealand! I wonder how much my seventh graders already know about New Zealand…