Fenni wrote:ok, I know the TM says 3rd graders should complete some of the World Geography pages w/ an adult's help. I'm just curious what "some" has meant in your home. I am terribly indecisive and will agonize over these sheets because I don't have explicit instructions on how many to do and which ones. I like to have my hand held and if it doesn't work for us, I have no trouble lowering expectations or dropping the activity. so how many did/do you do with a 3rd grader? Should I just choose the ones that look more like fun than work? My 3rd grader will be a just turned 8 yr old boy who loves learning, but doesn't love seatwork. And, of course, he'll get this all again as an 8th grader.
Thank you for any insight.
I know when I did ECC the first time (when oldest was only 2nd grader...), we tried just about all of the types of worksheets, but not for each continent. Truth be told, I over did them for North America and then back off after that. She was so NOT ready for the island coordinate pages. and we didn't try certain ones.
so...... since I feel like typing long answers that are vague.....
I'm not sure there is a minimum number to do for 3rd grade. The idea is to introduce research and looking up things on maps in one book while answering questions. I'd start off with the ones that look more like fun instead of work. Then, you have 7 continents to play around with the sheets and try some others and see what works without the worry of it having to be done. If you did 3 per week that might be more than enough? it was a random number that I picked. And you might take 5 minutes on one day and then finish it tomorrow and then only get one type of page that week -- that's ok too.
So, which pages to try and which to just ignore? and remember too, that if they don't complete the entire worksheet, it's ok
Rivers and Cities pages (and even Physical Features pages) can be done together if you help them solve the clue that is given and then use Intermediate World Atlas together to solve the clue given. My middle gal (but she was 4th grade) liked looking them up on a map and matching.
If you have done ADV, you can treat the
Physical Geography page, and Human Geography pages in a similar way that you treated the back side of the State Sheets in ADV. You'd read those and highlight or write down one or two facts from it that are interesting to your kid. Those are low pressure, 5 minutes or so to do.
I might try some of the
Religion pages with them but with a 3rd grader, I'd expect to treat it just as if I were introducing the idea of learning how to read a chart/graph. So save those types only if your kid really wants to try it.
I'd save the
mountains pages to see if they'd like to try it. They basically find the height and put them in order and make a graph. My 4th grader enjoyed that page. But, ... I'd probably skip those with 3rd grader.
Bodies of Water pages -- might be fun. Look on a map and match the outline of the water with the name of it. It's at least an introduction for a 3rd grader to hear those names and try to find it on a map. So, I'd set the goal of hearing some of the names and finding their shapes on a map and having fun with it.
Deserts pages: I'd skip with 3rd grader. Basically, you're looking those up in a dictionary and writing the definition. They are getting enough language arts elsewhere, right?
Islands: use Intermediate World Atlas book and help them locate it on a map together. This might be fun, but don't expect mastery of them doing in on their own. I might do one or two islands just to introduce the idea of finding coordinates, but this is one that can be skipped.
One hint on those island coordinate pages: Use the physical maps in Intermediate World Atlas. Much easier than the wall map.and more of them are on there. When it wasn’t clear such as two of them in South America, we did a fast internet search with terms such as "curacao coordinates" and got it from. (hint: it's the Neth. Ant.) for Antarctica that not everything was listed in the Intermediate World Atlas. Don't worry on that. so there were things on those pages that we "skipped" or looked up in the answer key just to figure it out.
Climate Page: that's a math activity page. I'll let you decide.
Products and Resources: this one could be skipped easily with 3rd grader. you'll need print copy of World Book and look it up by product name. They might like doing it a few times just to know that it can be done. But in terms of doing the whole page for each continent --- nah. Just take them to the library World Book and show them that it exists and can be done.
Vegetation page: I'd skip with 3rd grader as they'll get enough in Ecosystems.
Animals: hopefully that would be fun for 3rd grader. we seldom bothered with the endangered part and just made sure we recognized the animals. Don't sweat it on some of those South American animals that all look like llamas to me. (well, ok, I recognized which one was the alpaca......)
population page: math activity, I'd skip with 3rd grader unless they happen to be in Singapore 3B, and then skip the challenge question and bottom half of the page anyway.
Languages pages: I might do a few of them on each continent, but not fill in the whole sheet. I'd look at the list and decide on 3 countries on the continent that my kid might want to know what language is there. wait a minute, what if they needed a challenge on the Geography game, and you just made sure they knew some languages of the countries that have the double dot on the Game card? That way you have the info without pressure of looking it up on a worksheet?
Extra activity pages: only as there is interest with your child. Some times these tend to cross over with stuff in Global Art, so you might not do any of the extra hands on stuff in WG
I hope that helps in some fashion to have a game plan to try and know that it is perfectly ok to try different types of sheets in different continents with 3rd grader. Keep it short and sweet in terms of amount of time per day. Looking forward to hearing how it goes next year and how you adjust and keep it fun and flexible
-crystal