Message from zarooum

[Anonymous]

I just read your post requesting ideas for teaching geography. The most original method I have found is to have the students use their bodies to represent landforms. They lay on the floor to represent rivers and seas and wave their hands to represent the way the water flows. If they are being the Gobi desert, they will whisper, "hot, dry, hot dry." They stand up with hands overhead to represent mountains. After you have placed everyone strategically, corresponding to a map you are displaying on the overhead of the region you are teaching, then the rest of the class usually decides where the best place to settle is. Most of the 6th grade geography standards expect the students to understand how geographic factrors effect where ancient cultures settle. Once Dalvon has played the Yangtze River or Myeshia and Shonisha have been the Himalayas, you'd be surprised how easily the class remembers the geography of the region.

Linda