I Got Skills... Map Skills

As we were finishing our supper, I told my husband, "I've got to go post. If I don't, I think I'll die!" Okay, so that was a t-a-d over-dramatic. However, blogging, or lack there of, has been on my mind. I've had all of these ideas for posts, but I haven't had the time to get to it.

 I know I've read this often from other bloggers lately, but it is soooo true. BUSY, BUSY, B-U-S-Y! I am so busy! I don't even have time to sit in front of my computer for a spare thirty minutes while I watch my favorite shows. {I don't even have the time to get on my little smart phone!} I haven't blogged or read blogs in a week. The Horror! 

Oh, no! What is Cara up to? Did Abby create another fabulous lesson for me to drool over? Has Kerri posted about a new TLC art project that I'm dying to do? What about the Teeny Tiny Teacher??

I dunno??? I haven't had a chance to read about my bloggy friends' teacher lives.

Which is a nagging reminder to me that I am terrible at time management. Every year, I make a goal to work on this. AND every year, I find myself bogged down, staying at school late, bringing piles of work home, and spending my Sundays in my classroom. BOO! Will I ever get it right? Geez, I hope so.

Any whoo, one of the topics I wanted to post about was geography. I am totally repeating this from other bloggers, BUT it is an awesome activity! I first saw this on Pinterest which took me to Jenn's blog, Finally in First. This activity tied in with the story, Me on the Map. I used to have this story in my old reading series and I loved it so much, I got a copy of the book for my personal library. Which is good for me, since our new reading series doesn't have it. It has a similar story called, All on the Map {NOT as good!}

I make sure to include the story, Me on the Map, when I teach this other not-as-good story because it works well with the topic. I had the kiddidles make their own flap book like Jenn's class.

The kids used their pencils to draw and label the first two pages of the book. The rest of the flaps the kids wrote the labels but glued the map or picture onto the pages.

I really liked the color paper I ended up using. It makes the books look very pretty.

During the creation of said flap book, we hit a major pitfall in geographic knowledge of the continents.  My kids were l-o-s-t. They kept on saying country names, state names,  and I think I may have heard someone say our galaxy?? We needed an intervention, STAT! Luckily, I have this great game to play on the Smart Board which usually helps with this problem. {Side note: SmartBoard is only available at the computer lab. Can you say, "Bummer!"} Click {here} for the game.

This game is from National Geographic Kids and my kids love it. Oh, who am I kidding, I find myself playing it while the kids play, too. First, we'll play the game whole group and I'll choose one person to touch the board.  If the toucher needs assistance, the watching kids may only say the name of the continent rather than the color. It's like speaking english in a spanish class. NOT ALLOWED! The first day, they wanted to say the color names, not the continent names, so badly. But, as the days progress, they are learning those continent names, by golly!

Go play it. I dare you. You'll love it. BTW, may "all-time" high score is 14.

The next link is for a catchy 40 second song to learn those continents from Teacher Tipster. Click {here} for the YouTube song. 

My kids loved listening to this song and asked me to play it over and over and over again. I was singing it on my drive home from work today. I know my continents, baby!!

The next document is what I made to print the flap book for the kids. I added the page color on each sheet just as an idea for when I chose the colored printer paper. I didn't even use those colors. I found prettier colors, thank you!

Me on the Map Student Book

I feel so much better, now.

Have a great week and I hope to be back much sooner than seven days!