Lessons

What's Your Story (Grades K-3) This lesson is a part of an International Baccalaureate Inquiry Unit. The Unit’s organizing theme is how we express ourselves. The central idea is that values and beliefs can be expressed through stories in a variety of ways with inquiries into values, folktales and storytelling. In this lesson we will read and compare folk tales from around the world and identify the morals in them and the geographic characteristics of the country the story is set in. As a class, we will choose a moral to write a folk tale around. Each student will then choose a country, research its geography and write a folk tale using that country and the moral the class selected.	Geography Reading Extravaganza (Grades 4 - 8) This lesson uses a variety of reading strategies with fiction/nonfiction books in the geography classroom.
Geography and the Development of Democracy in Ancient Greece (Grades 9-12) Attachment: Powerpoint In this lesson, students will be introduced to the geography of Ancient Greece as well as the concepts of citizen, arête, and democracy. Students will use Goode’s Atlases and Pericles’ Funeral Oration by Thucydides as primary source documents to find and then expand upon this connection.	Exploring Child Labor (Grades 7 - 8) According to Article 32 of The Convention on the Rights of the Child (United Nations, 1989) “Every child has the right to be protected from work that threatens his or her health, education or development.” Yet, it is estimated that nearly 70% of the 240 million children between the ages of 5 and 17 engage in child labor work in hazardous conditions (UNICEF). In this lesson, students will explore the causes of child labor.
American Immigration: A Look at the Chinese and Irish (Grades 9-10) Attachment: Powerpoint This lesson will focus on immigration into the United States in the mid-to-late 1800’s. It will focus on the causes and consequences of both Irish and Chinese immigration and the impact that these immigrants had on “American” society. Lastly, students will use local historical documentation or family histories to research why immigrants and/or their own families moved to their local area.	Tropical Rainforests (Grades 4-6) This lesson allows students to explore the common features and importance of rainforests by reading, researching, and creating a class model and booklet.