What do you use for geography in the elementary years?

[mo2]

nt

[Quad Shot Academy]

I use Map Skills For Today:
http://rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?sid=1225225619-888351&subject=14&category=4698

[newlifemom]

I have used mapskills as well and some other stuff. I mostly use the maps and follow WTM's guide by having children look up stuff they are studying about.(wow what an ugly sentence. sorry)

[laughing lioness]

Have you seen the cool puzzle maps at Timberdoodle? We have the set and they are great. We have a globe and atlas around and use it alot.
We are doing states this year and creating a notebook. Logos Academy has a states sound-off (going to buy soon) which looks great.

[sagira]

My World and Globe. It's a first book of geography with age-appropriate activities for the K-2 set. Ds likes it. We curl up on the couch and I read it to him. He'll place stickers or we do a simple activity. Nothing too complicated. Right now it is all about sparking the imagination and introducing concepts.

We're following with these resources throughout elementary years:

Maps and Mapping
SOTW series
Usborne's Peoples of the World
Material World
Kingfisher Children's Atlas
Holling C. Holling books
A Child's Geography
National Geographic's Discovering Geography series
The National Geographic Traveler books, especially Florida
Globe
World and USA puzzles

We like Geography here too :)

[Chris in VA]

We did geography purely from SOTW. She knew much of the Mediterranean world and parts of Europe/N. America. When dd got to 3rd grade at ps this year, I realized she had very limited knowledge of US geography, so we covered that just by looking at a map and memorizing several main points (Great Lakes using the HOMES mnemonic, Mississippi and Rio Grande Rivers, states surrounding VA, etc.).
What has been fun since then is a map site I came across in the "resources for American History" thread that was recently on here--I printed off a gigantic map of Africa and we are going to do some memorizing and some crafts to learn about that.

[elegantlion]

We are using two options this year for world geography. We are using Evan-Moor continent books (http://www.amazon.com/North-America-Grades-Geography-United/dp/1557997101/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225230610&sr=8-2)and Trail Guide to World Geography. We are using the Evan Moor books for North America and Europe, the two continents I wanted to go into a little more depth. Trail Guide for the rest.

I like both of these book.

IMO The Evan-Moor books are great for someone who wants things a little more outlined and structured. There is a lot of basic mapwork and the child would be need to be able to write. You would need a good atlas or world encyclopedia to use with it. We are using Geography of the World. You can make copies of the book as needed. You can actually view the books for free on google books, you can not download or print them from that site however.

The trail guide is less structured and has you do more research to find the answers. It has been less successful with my ds, who is not always the most focused. I also feel like I have to do more prep work. It has more activities listed, but there are also more components needed to make it work effectively. The book itself can be used for all age levels so it is something you could repeat down the road.

HTH

[KJB]

They are well-done, quick, easy, painless and have taught my children a lot.

[Laura Corin]

Mostly we just use a globe in combination with SOTW. As countries or areas come up in history, we find them on the globe.

Laura

[matroyshka]

This Map Skills (http://www.amazon.com/Map-Skills-Grades/dp/0880128402/ref=pd_sim_b_3)series, starting in 3rd grade.

[kalanamak]

This Map Skills (http://www.amazon.com/Map-Skills-Grades/dp/0880128402/ref=pd_sim_b_3)series, starting in 3rd grade.

I've seen these in person and they impressed me. (I will, most humbly, note my father was a professor of geography and it is a pet interest of mind).

[Lori D.]

Rather than a structured program, we enjoyed a variety of resources and "angles" to study geography in the elementary years. Hope something here is of help! Warmly, Lori D.


Grades K-4:

- Maps and Globes (Knowlton)
- Geography From A to Z (Knowlton)
- Usborne Book of Geography
(hard back compilation of 4 Usborne books: The Earth We Live On; The Seas Around Us; Peoples of the World; Houses Around the World; plus a Maps of the World section)
- Brendan the Navigator (Fritz) -- read aloud
- Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky -- read aloud
- DH's old wooden puzzle of the U.S.
- placemat of the U.S. (each state in a different color)
- placemat of the World countries (each country in a different color)
- placemat of the World maps



Grades 2-5:

- Wonders of our World series (Caves, Deserts, Mountains, Oceans, etc.)
- Complete Book of Maps and Geography -- great big book of worksheets on loads of geography topics
- Maps for Today workbook (by grade level) -- map skills workbook series
- Around the World in 100 Years -- read aloud
- free online geography games: www.sheppardsoftware.com

Grades 4-6:

- Explorer's Handbook (Tolhurst) -- explorers
- Usborne Book of Explorers -- explorers
- Exploring Planet Earth (Tiner) -- explorers
- Beautiful Feet Geography Guide and Map Pack to go with 4 Holling books:
(Paddle to the Sea (NE U.S.A.), Tree in the Trail (Midwest U.S.A.), Minn of the Mississippi (Central U.S.A.), Seabird (World))
- Hitty, Her First 100 Years (Field) -- reader / read aloud
- Around the World in 80 Days (Verne) -- read aloud
- Maps, Charts and Graphs workbook (by grade level) -- map skills workbook series
- free online geography games: www.sheppardsoftware.com

[Hoggirl]

We just do this one day a week. It takes about 20 minutes. It is work-booky, but it gets the job done. I plan to alternate history and geography next year (3 days per week on history, 2 days per week on geography) using a yet-to-be-determined geography course. We will spread the geography course over two years, grades 7 & 8.

[mcconnellboys]

I used Map Skills for today and other small geography work books like those (available from Rainbow Resource, etc.); and McGraw Hill's Complete Book of Maps and Geography (can cover all the elementary years) to cover map skills, learn directions, etc.

I pulled together a list of picture books and geography books to cover both world and U.S. geography topics, as well, as used those as my primary program for first and second grades.

In third grade, I used Trip Around the World and the books recommended in it as my base for the first half of the year; the second half, I began using Which Way USA (pricey, but it was a gift).

I continued with Which Way, USA? through fourth grade.

This year, I'm using the Holling books along with the BF guide to cover the eastern half of the US (filling in gaps myself).

[Amy+2]

Galloping the Globe. I really like it and the boys love the activities that are included. Not difficult at all, just fun! We also enjoy it's counterpart Cantering the Country for US geography. :)

[Heather D]

We have added the Trail Guide to US Geography and Simply Stated to our studies. My son wanted to learn about the states in addition to SOTW 1. I know they don't really go together, but I am working on scheduling it in.

Heather D.

[sweetbaby]

We are using MFW's Exploring Countries and Cultures but if we did not, I would more than likely use A Child's Geography. (http://www.achildsgeography.com/)

[ThelmaLou]

Another vote for sheppardsoftware.com.