Foreword
Remember thumbing through an atlas or encyclopedia as a
child, imagining yourself as a world traveler on a safari in
Africa, or boating up the Mississippi River, climbing the peaks
of the Himalayas, visiting ancient cathedrals and castles of
Europe, the Great Wall of China? We do. The world seemed full
of faraway, exotic, and wonderful places that we wanted to know
more about.
Today, we would like to believe that youngsters are
growing up similarly inquisitive about the world. Perhaps they
are, but recent studies and reports indicate that, if such
imaginings are stirring in our youngsters, they're not being
translated into knowledge. Not that there ever was a "golden
age" when all our young and all our citizens were conversant
about the peoples and places of the globe. Still, there is
considerable evidence that such knowledge among young Americans
has dipped to an alarming low.
Last year, a nine-nation survey found that one in five
young Americans (18- to 24-year-olds) could not locate the
United States on an outline map of the world. Young Americans
knew measurably less geography than Americans 25 years of age
and over. Only in the United States did 18- to 24-year-olds
know less than people 55 years old and over; in all eight other
nations, young adults knew more than the older ones.
No less disturbing was the fact that our young adults,
when compared with young adults in other countries, came in
last place in a 1980 Gallup Poll. Our 18- to 24-year-olds knew
less about geography than their age-mates in every other
participating nation. But it shouldn't surprise us. Youngsters
in other countries study more geography. In England, Canada,
and the Soviet Union, geography is considered one of the basic
academic subjects and is required of most secondary students;
in the United States, only one in seven students takes a high
school geography course.
You'd think that our students learn at least some
geography, though, in their world history classes. Those who
take world history probably do. But that's only 44 percent of
our high school graduates. More than half of our high school
students are graduating without studying world history.
If youngsters are to acquire an appreciation of geography
and ultimately learn to think geographically, parents and
communities must insist that local schools restore it to
prominence in the curriculum. They should insist that geography
be studied and learned, in one form or another, through several
years of the primary and secondary curriculum.
Learning should not be restricted to the classroom.
Parents are a child's first teachers and can do much to advance
a youngster's geographic knowledge. This booklet suggests some
ways to do so.
It is based on a fundamental assumption: that children
generally learn what adults around them value. The significance
attached to geography at home or at school can be estimated in
a glance at the walls and bookshelves.
Simply put, youngsters who grow up around maps and atlases
are more likely to get the "map habit" than youngsters who do
not. Where there are maps, atlases, and globes, discussions of
world events (at whatever intellectual level) are more likely
to include at least a passing glance at their physical
location. Turning to maps and atlases frequently leads
youngsters to fashion, over time, their own "mental maps" of
the world--maps that serve not only to organize in their minds
the peoples, places, and things they see and hear about in the
news, but also to suggest why certain events unfold in
particular places.
Helping every child develop his or her ability to use maps
and to develop mental maps of the world ought to become a
priority in our homes and schools. For, as we all know, our
lives are becoming an ever tighter weave of interactions with
people around the world. If our businesses are to fare well in
tomorrow's world markets, if our national policies are to
achieve our aims in the future, and if our relationships with
other peoples are to grow resilient and mutually enriching, our
children must grow to know what in the world is where.
This booklet is designed to help parents stir children's
curiosity and steer that curiosity toward geographic questions
and knowledge. It is organized around the five themes recently
set forth by geographers and geography educators across the
Nation--the physical location of a place, the character of a
place, relationships between places, movement of people and
things, and phenomena that cause us to group places into
particular regions.
We encourage parents to get to the fun part--that is, the
activities. The games, maps, and suggested activities that
follow, while informal and easy to do, can help lay a solid
foundation in experience for children's later, more academic
forays into geography.
Bruno V. Manno
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning
Kirk Winters
Research Associate
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
U.S. Department of Education
Introduction
Children are playing in the sand. They make roads for
cars. One builds a castle where a doll can live. Another scoops
out a hole, uses the dirt to make a hill, and pours some water
in the hole to make a lake. Sticks become bridges and trees.
The children name the streets, and may even use a watering can
to make rain.
Although they don't know it, these children are learning
the principles of geography. They are locating things, seeing
how people interact with he Earth, manipulating the
environment, learning how weather changes the character of a
place, and looking at how places relate to each other through
the movement of things from one place to another.
With this book, we hope you, as parents, will get ideas
for activities that will use your children's play to informally
help them learn more geography--the study of the Earth.
Most of the suggestions in this book are geared to
children under 10 years of age. The activities and games are
organized around five specific themes that help focus our
thinking. These themes were developed by the Joint Committee on
Geographic Education of the National Council for Geographic
Education and the American Association of Geographers and are
now being used in many schools. They are:
1. Where are things located?
2. What makes a place special?
3. What are the relationships among people and places?
4. What are the patterns of movement of people, products, and
information?
5. How can the Earth be divided into regions for study?
These themes have been adopted by many schools in the last
few years and may be new to many parents. To help focus your
awareness of the issues, we will begin each chapter with a
brief description of the theme. This description includes
examples of questions geographers use as they strive to
understand and define the Earth, for geography provides us with
a system for asking questions about the Earth.
Location:
Position on the Earth's Surface
Look at a map. Where are places located? To determine
location, geographers use a set of imaginary lines that
crisscross the surface of the globe. Lines designating
"latitude" tell us how far north or south of the equator a
place is. Lines designating "longitude" measure distance east
and west of the prime meridian--an imaginary line running
between the North Pole and the South Pole through Greenwich,
England. You can use latitude and longitude as you would a
simple grid system on a state highway map. The point where the
lines intersect is the "location"--or global address. For
example, St. Louis, Missouri, is roughly at 39° (degrees) north
latitude and 90° west longitude.
Why are things located in particular places and how do
those places influence our lives? Location further describes
how one place relates to another. St. Louis is where the
Mississippi and the Missouri rivers meet about midway between
Minneapolis-St. Paul and New Orleans. It developed as a trading
center between east and west, north and south.
Directions
To help young children learn location, make sure they know
the color and style of the building in which they live, the
name of their town, and their street address. Then, when you
talk about other places, they have something of their own with
which to compare.
* Children need to understand positional words. Teach
children words like "above" and "below" in a natural way
when you talk with them or give them directions. When
picking up toys to put away, say, "Please put your toy
into the basket on the right" or, "Put the green washcloth
into the drawer." Right and left are as much directional
terms as north, south, east, and west. Other words that
describe such features as color, size, and shape are also
important.
* Show your children north, south, east, and west by using
your home as a reference point. Perhaps you can see the
sun rising in the morning through a bedroom window that
faces east and setting at night through the westerly
kitchen window:
* Reinforce their knowledge by playing games. Once children
have their directional bearings, you can hide an object,
for example, then give them directions to its location:
"two steps to the north, three steps west ...."
* Use pictures from books and magazines to help your
children associate words with visual images. A picture of
a desert can stimulate conversation about the features of
a desert--arid and barren. Work with your children to
develop more complex descriptions of different natural and
cultural features.
Maps
Put your child's natural curiosity to work. Even small
children can learn to read simple maps of their school,
neighborhood, and community. Here are some simple map
activities you can do with your children.
* Go on a walk and collect natural materials such as
acorns and leaves to use for an art project. Map the
location where you found those items.
* Create a treasure map for children to find hidden treats
in the back yard or inside your home. Treasure maps work
especially well for birthday parties.
* Look for your city or town on a map. If you live in a
large city or town, you may even be able to find your
street. Point out where your relatives or your children's
best friends live.
* Find the nearest park, lake, mountain, or other cultural
or physical feature on a map. Then, talk about how these
features affect your child's life. Living near the ocean
may make your climate moderate, prairies may provide an
open path for high winds, and mountains may block some
weather fronts.
* By looking at a map, your children may learn why they go
to a particular school. Perhaps the next nearest school is
on the other side of a park, a busy street, or a large
hill. Maps teach us about our surroundings by portraying
them in relation to other places.
* Before taking a trip, show your children a map of where
you are going and how you plan to get there. Look for
other ways you could go, and talk about why you decided to
use a particular route. Maybe they can suggest other
routes.
* Encourage your children to make their own maps using
legends with symbols. Older children can draw a layout of
their street, or they can illustrate places or journeys
they have read about. Some books, like Winnie-the-Pooh and
The Wizard of Oz, contain fanciful maps. These can be
models for children to create and plot their own stories.
* Keep a globe and a map of the United States near the
television and use them to locate places talked about on
television programs, or to follow the travels of your
favorite sports team.
Additional Activities
Children use all of their senses to learn about the world.
Objects that they can touch, see, smell, taste, and hear help
them understand the link between a model and the real thing.
* Put together puzzles of the United States or the world.
Through the placement of the puzzle pieces, children gain
a tactile and visual sense of where one place is located
in relation to others.
* Make a three-dimensional map of your home or neighborhood
using milk cartons for buildings. Draw a map of the block
on a piece of cardboard, then cut up the cartons (or any
other three-dimensional item) and use them to represent
buildings. Use bottle tops or smaller boxes to add
interest to the map, but try to keep the scale
relationships correct.
* Use popular board games like "Game of the States" or "Trip
Around the World" to teach your children about location,
commerce, transportation, and the relationships, among
different countries and areas of the world. Some of these
games are available at public libraries.
* Make paper-mache using strips of old newspaper and a
paste made from flour and water. If children form balls by
wrapping the strips of paper-mache around a balloon, they
will develop a realistic understanding of the difficulties
in making accurate globes. They can also use paper-mache
to make models of hills and valleys.
Place:
Physical and Human Characteristics
Every place has a personality. What makes a place special?
What are the physical and cultural characteristics of your
hometown? Is the soil sandy or rocky? Is the temperature warm
or is it cold? If it has many characteristics, which are the
most distinct?
How do these characteristics affect the people living
there? People change the character of a place. They speak a
particular language, have styles of government and
architecture, and form patterns of business. How have people
shaped the landscapes?
Investigate Your Neighborhood
* Walk around your neighborhood and look at what makes it
unique. Point out differences from and similarities to
other places. Can your children distinguish various types
of homes and shops? Look at the buildings and talk about
their uses. Are there features built to conform with the
weather or topography? Do the shapes of some buildings
indicate how they were used in the past or how they're
used now? These observations help children understand the
character of a place.
* Show your children the historical, recreational, or
natural points of interest in your town. What animals and
plants live in your neighborhood? If you live near a
harbor, pay it a visit, and tour a docked boat. You can
even look up the shipping schedule in your local
newspaper. If you live near a national park, a lake, a
river, or a stream, take your children there and spend
time talking about its uses.
* Use songs to teach geography. "Home on the Range," "Red
River Valley," and "This Land Is Your Land" conjure up
images of place. Children enjoy folk songs of different
countries like "Sur La Pont D'Avignon, .... Guantanamara,"
and "London Bridge." When your children sing these songs,
talk with them about the places they celebrate, locate
them on the map, and discuss how the places are described.
Study the Weather
Weather has important geographic implications that affect
the character of a place. The amount of sun or rain, heat or
cold, the direction and strength of the wind, all determine
such things as how people dress, how well crops grow, and the
extent to which people will want to live in a particular spot.
* Watch the weather forecast on television or read the
weather map in the newspaper. Save the maps for a month or
more. You can see changes over time, and compare
conditions over several weeks and seasons. Reading the
weather map helps children observe changes in the local
climate.
* Use a weather map to look up the temperatures of cities
around the world and discover how hot each gets in the
summer and how cold each gets in the winter. Ask your
children if they can think of reasons why different
locations have different temperatures. Compare these
figures with your town. Some children enjoy finding the
place that is the hottest or the coldest.
* Make simple weather-related devices such as barometers,
pinwheels, weather vanes, and wind chimes. Watch cloud
formations and make weather forecasts. Talk about how
these describe the weather in your town.
Learn About Other Cultures
People shape the personality of their areas. The beliefs,
languages, and customs distinguish one place from another.
* Make different ethnic foods, take your children to an
ethnic restaurant, or treat them to ethnic snacks at a
folk festival. Such an experience is an opportunity to
talk about why people eat different foods. What
ingredients in ethnic dishes are unique to a particular
area? For example, why do the Japanese eat so much
seafood? (If your children look for Japan on a map they
will realize it is a country of many islands.)
* Read stories from or about other countries, and books that
describe journeys. Many children's books provide colorful
images of different places and a sense of what it would be
like to live in them. Drawings or photographs of distant
places or situations can arouse interest in other lands.
The Little House in the Big Woods, Holiday Tales of Sholem
Aleichem, and The Polar Express are examples of books with
descriptions of place that have transported the
imaginations of many young readers. There is a
bibliography at the end of this booklet, and your librarian
will have more suggestions.
Weather Vane
Materials: wire hanger, small plastic container, aluminum
foil, sand or dirt, tape or glue, scissors, crayon.
Directions:
1. Straighten out the hanger's hook and cover half of the
triangle part of the hanger with foil. Fold the edges, and
tape or glue in place.
2. Fill the container with sand or loose dirt, put on the lid,
and mark it N, S, E, and W. Poke the hanger through the
center of the lid. The hanger should touch the bottom of
the container and turn freely in the hole.
3. Put the container outside with the N facing north. When the
wind blows, take a look at your weather vane. The open half
of the vane shows the direction from which the wind is
coming.
Reprinted from Sesame Street Magazine Parent's Guide, June
1986. Copyright Children's Television Workshop.
Relationships within Places:
Humans and Environments
How do people adjust to their environment? What are the
relationships among people and places? How do they change it
to better suit their needs? Geographers examine where people
live, why they settled there, and how they use natural
resources. For example, Hudson Bay, the site of the first
European settlement in Canada, is an area rich in wildlife and
has sustained a trading and fur trapping industry for hundreds
of years. Yet the climate there was described by early settlers
as "nine months of ice followed by three months of mosquitoes."
People can and do adapt to their natural surroundings.
Notice How You Control Your Surroundings
Everyone controls his or her surroundings. Look at the way
you arrange furniture in your home. You place the tables and
chairs in places that suit the shape of the room and the
position of the windows and doors. You also arrange the room
according to how people will use it.
* Try different furniture arrangements with your children.
If moving real furniture is too strenuous, try working
with doll house furniture or paper cutouts. By cutting out
paper to represent different pieces of furniture, children
can begin to learn the mapmaker's skill in representing
the three-dimensional real world.
* Ask your children to consider what the yard might look
like if you did not try to change it by mowing grass,
raking leaves or planting shrubs or trees. You might add a
window box if you don't have a yard. What would happen if
you didn't water the plants?
* Walk your children around your neighborhood or a park area
and have them clean up litter. How to dispose of waste is
a problem with a geographic dimension.
* Take your children to see some examples of how people have
shaped their environment: bonsai gardens, reservoirs,
terracing, or houses built into hills. Be sure to talk
with them about how and why these phenomena came to be.
* If you don't live on a farm, try to visit one. Many cities
and States maintain farm parks for just this purpose. Call
the division of parks in your area to find out where there
is one near you. Farmers use soil, water, and sun to grow
crops. They use ponds or streams for water, and build
fences to keep animals from running away.
Notice How You Adapt to Your Surroundings
People don't always change their environment. Sometimes
they are shaped by it. Often people must build roads around
mountains. They must build bridges over rivers. They construct
storm walls to keep the ocean from sweeping over beaches. In
some countries, people near coasts build their houses on stilts
to protect them from storm tides or periodic floods.
* Go camping. It is easy to understand why we wear long
pants and shoes when there are rocks and brambles on the
ground, and to realize the importance to early settlers of
being near water when you no longer have the convenience
of a faucet.
* If you go to a park, try to attend the nature shows that
many parks provide. You and your children may learn about
the local plants and wildlife and how the natural features
have changed over time.
Movement:
People Interacting on the Earth
People are scattered unevenly over the Earth. How do they
get from one place to another? What are the patterns of
movement of people, products, and information ? Regardless of
where we live, we rely upon each other for goods, services, and
information. In fact, most people interact with other places
almost every day. We depend on other places for the food,
clothes, and even items like the pencil and paper our children
use in school. We also share information with each other using
telephones, newspapers, radio, and television to bridge the
distances.
Travel in Different Ways
* Give your children opportunities to travel by car, bus,
bicycle, or on foot. Where you can, take other forms of
transportation such as airplanes, trains, subways,
ferries, barges, and horses and carriages.
* Use a map to look at various routes you can take when you
try different methods of transportation.
* Watch travel programs on television.
Follow the Movement of People and Things
* Play the license plate game. How many different States'
plates can you identify, and what, if anything, does the
license plate tell you about each State? You don't have to
be in a car to play. You can look at the license plates of
parked cars, or those traveling by when you are walking.
Children can keep a record of the States whose plates they
have seen. They can color in those States on a map and
illustrate them with characteristics described on the
license plates. Some States have county names on their
plates. If you live in one of these States, keeping track
of the counties could be another interesting variation.
* Go around your house and look at where everything comes
from. Examine the labels of the clothes you wear and think
of where your food comes from. Why do bananas come from
Central America? Why does the milk come from the local
dairy? Perhaps your climate is too cold for bananas, and
the milk is too perishable to travel far. How did the food
get to your house?
* Tell your children where your ancestors came from. Find
your family's countries of origin, and chart the
birthplaces of relatives on a map. You can plot the routes
they followed before they arrived at their present
location. Why did they leave their previous home? Where do
all your relatives live now?
* Have your children ask older relatives what their world
was like when they were young. They can ask questions
about transportation, heating and refrigeration, the foods
they ate, the clothes they wore, and the schools they
attended. Look at old pictures. How have things changed
since Grandma was a child? Grandparents and great aunts
and uncles are usually delighted to share their memories
with the younger generation, and they can pass on a wealth
of information.
Follow the Movement of Ideas and Information
Ideas come from beyond our immediate surroundings. How do
they get to us? Consider communication by telephone and mail,
television, radio, telegrams, telefax, and even graffiti,
posters, bumper stickers, and promotional buttons. They all
convey information from one person or place to another.
* By watching television and listening to the radio, your
children will receive ideas from the outside world. Where
dothe television shows they watch originate? What
aboutradio shows?
* Ask your children how they would communicate with other
people. Would they use the phone or write a letter?
Encourage them to write letters to relatives and friends.
They may be able to get pen pals through school or a pen
pal association. (Please see the listing in the back of
this booklet.)
Regions:
How They Form and Change
How can places be described or compared? How can the Earth
be divided into regions for study? Geographers categorize
regions in two basic ways--physical and cultural. Physical
regions are defined by landform (continents and mountain
ranges), climate, soil, and natural vegetation. Cultural
regions are distinguished by political, economic, religious,
linguistic, agricultural, and industrial characteristics.
Examine Physical Regions
* Help your children understand physical regions by
examining areas in your home. Is there an upstairs and a
downstairs? Is there an eating area and a sleeping area?
Are there other "regions" in your home that can be
described?
* Look at the physical regions in your community. Some
neighborhoods grew up around hills, others developed on
waterfronts or around parks. What physical regions exist
in your hometown?
Examine Cultural Regions
* Take your children to visit the different political,
residential, recreational, ethnic, and commercial regions
of your city.
* Go to plays, movies, and puppet shows about people from
different countries. These are often presented at
libraries and museums.
* Give children geography lessons by tying in with ethnic
holiday themes. Provide children with regional or ethnic
clothes to wear. Some museums and libraries provide
clothes children can borrow. Holidays provide an
opportunity to learn about the customs of people around
the world. You can use the library to discover how other
people celebrate special days.
* Compare coins and stamps from other lands. They often
contain information about the country. You may be able to
find stamps from other countries where you work, or your
children may get them from pen pals. Stamps tell many
different kinds of things about a country, from its
political leadership to native bird life.
* Learn simple words in different languages. Teach your
children to count to 10 in other languages. They can also
learn simple words like "hello, .... goodbye," and "thank
you." Look at the different alphabets or script from
various regions. All these activities expose children to
the abundance of the Earth's cultural treasures. Many
libraries have language tapes and books, some especially
for children.
* If you have friends who are from different countries or
have either travelled or lived abroad, invite them over to
talk with your children. If they have pictures, so much
the better. What languages do they speak? How are their
customs or dress similar to or different from yours?
Conclusion
Geography is a way of thinking, of asking questions, of
observing and appreciating the world around us. You can help
your children learn by providing interesting activities for
them, and by prompting them to ask questions about their
surroundings.
Set a good example, and help your children build precise
mental images, by always using correct terms. Say, "We are
going north to New York to visit Grandma, or west to Dallas to
see Uncle John," rather than "up to New York" or "down to
Dallas." Use words such as highway, desert, river, climate, and
glacier; and explain concepts like city, State, and continent.
Many of the words used in geography are everyday words.
But, like any other field of learning, geography has a language
of its own. (A glossary of basic geography terms appears in the
back of this booklet.)
Expose children to lots of maps and let them see you using
them. Get a good atlas as well as a dictionary. Atlases help us
ask, and answer, questions about places and their relationships
with other areas. Many States have atlases that are generally
available through an agency of the state government.
The activities suggested in this booklet are only a few
examples of the many ways that children learn geography. These
activities are designed to help parents find ways to include
geographic thinking in their children's early experiences. We
hope they will stimulate your thinking and that you will
develop many more activities on your own.
References
Backler, Alan; and Stoltman, Joseph. "The Nature of Geographic
Literacy." ERIC Digest (no. 35). Bloomington, IN. 1986.
Blaga, Jeffrey J.; and others. Geographic Review of Our World:
A Daily Five-Minute Geography Program for Grades 3-11. GROW
Publications. Racine, WI. 1987.
Duea, Joan; and others. Maps and Globes: An Instructional Unit
for Elementary Grades. University of Northern Iowa. Cedar
Falls, IA. 1985.
Geographic Education National Implementation Project. Walter G.
Kernball (chair). K-6 Geography: Themes, Key Ideas, and
Learning Opportunities. National Council for Geographic
Education.
Western Illinois University. Macomb, IL. 1984.
Department of Education and Science. Geography from 5 to 16.
HMSO Books. London. 1986.
Hoehn, Ann. "Helping Children Get Their Hands on Geography"
(unpublished activity guide). Milaca Public Schools. Milaca,
MN. 1988.
Joint Committee on Geographic Education. Guidelines for
Geographic Education, Elementary and Secondary Schools.
Association of American Geographers and National Council for
Geographic Education. Washington, DC. 1984.
National Council for the Social Studies. Strengthening
Geography in the Social Studies, Bulletin 81. Salvatore J.
Natoli (editor). Washington, DC. 1988.
National Geographic Society. Geography: An International
Gallup Survey. The Gallup Organization, Inc. Princeton,
NJ. 1988.
National Geographic Society. "Geography: Making Sense of
Where We Are." Geographic Education Program. Washington, DC.
1988.
National Geographic Society. Geography Education Program.
"Teaching Geography: A Model for Action." Washington, DC.
1988.
Wilson-Jones, Ruth Anne. "Geography and Young Children: Help
Give them the World" (unpublished paper). LaGrange, GA. 1988.
Glossary
altitude
Distance above sea level.
atlas
A bound collection of maps.
archipelago
A group of islands or a sea studded with islands.
bay
A wide area of water extending into land from a sea or
lake.
boundaries
Lines indicating the limits of countries, States, or other
political jurisdictions.
canal
A man-made watercourse designed to carry goods or water.
canyon
A large but narrow gorge with steep sides.
cape (or point)
A piece of land extending into water.
cartographer
A person who draws or makes maps or charts.
continent
One of the large, continuous areas of the Earth into which
the land surface is divided.
degree
A unit of angular measure. A circle is divided into 360
degrees, represented by the symbol *. Degrees, when applied to
the roughly spherical shape of the Earth for geographic and
cartographic purposes, are each divided into 60 minutes,
represented by the symbol '.
delta
The fan-shaped area at the mouth, or lower end, of a
river, formed by eroded material that has been carried
downstream and dropped in quantities larger than can be carried
off by tides or currents.
desert
A land area so dry that little or no plant life can
survive.
elevation
The altitude of an object, such as a celestial body, above
the horizon; or the raising of a portion of the Earth's crust
relative to its surroundings, as in a mountain range.
equator
An imaginary circle around the Earth halfway between the
North Pole and the South Pole; the largest circumference of the
Earth.
glacier
A large body of ice that moves slowly down a mountainside
from highlands toward sea level.
gulf
A large arm of an ocean or sea extending into a land mass.
hemisphere
Half of the Earth, usually conceived as resulting from the
division of the globe into two equal parts, north and south or
east and west.
ice shelf
A thick mass of ice extending from a polar shore. The
seaward edge is afloat and sometimes extends hundreds of miles
out to sea.
international date line
An imaginary line of longitude generally 180° east or west
of the prime meridian. The date becomes one day earlier to the
east of the line.
island
An area of land, smaller than a continent, completely
surrounded by water.
isthmus
A narrow strip of land located between two bodies of
water, connecting two larger land areas.
lagoon
A shallow area of water separated from the ocean by a
sandbank or by a strip of low land.
lake
A body of fresh or salt water entirely surrounded by land.
latitude
The angular distance north or south of the equator,
measured in degrees.
legend
A listing which contains symbols and other information
about a map.
longitude
The angular distance east or west of the prime meridian,
measured in degrees.
mountain
A high point of land rising steeply above its
surroundings.
oasis
A spot in a desert made fertile by water.
ocean
The salt water surrounding the great land masses, and
divided by the land masses into several distinct portions, each
of which is called an ocean.
peak
The highest point of a mountain.
peninsula
A piece of land extending into the sea almost surrounded
by water.
plain
A large area of land, either level or gently rolling,
usually at low elevation.
plateau (or tableland)
An elevated area of mostly level land, sometimes
containing deep canyons.
physical feature
A land shape formed by nature.
population
The number of people inhabiting a place.
prime meridian
An imaginary line running from north to south through
Greenwich, England, used as the reference point for longitude.
range (or mountain range) A group or chain of high elevations.
reef
A chain of rocks, often coral, lying near the water
surface.
reservoir
A man-made lake where water is kept for future use.
river
A stream, larger than a creek, generally flowing to
another stream, a lake, or to the ocean.
scale
The relationship of the length between two points as shown
on a map and the distance between the same two points on the
Earth.
sea level
The ocean surface; the mean level between high and low
tides.
strait
A narrow body of water connecting two larger bodies of
water.
swamp
A tract of permanently saturated low land, usually
overgrown with vegetation. (A marsh is temporarily or
periodically saturated.)
topography
The physical features of a place; or the study and
depiction of physical features, including terrain relief.
valley
A relatively long, narrow land area lying between two
areas of higher elevation, often containing a stream.
volcano
A vent in the Earth's crust caused by molten rock coming
to the surface and being ejected, sometimes violently.
waterfall
A sudden drop of a stream from a high level to a much
lower level.
Glossary, in part, courtesy of Hammond, Incorporated
Free or Inexpensive Materials
Maps
The following places often provide free maps, although you
will probably have to go in person or send a self-addressed
stamped envelope in order to receive one:
* State tourist agencies and local chambers of commerce
publish walking tour maps or guidebooks to area
attractions.
* Local government offices, especially those dealing with
public transportation, often provide free road maps.
* Car rental companies. The Federal Government has hundreds
of maps available. For a comprehensive listing, contact
the Government Printing Office (GPO) bookstore in your
area or the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. The GPO handles the
printing and sales of items produced by government
agencies. Some examples of what you might find there, or
directly through the developing agency, include:
* Schematic maps with historical data and park activities of
the areas under the care of the U.S. National Park
Service. Contact the particular site, or write to the
Department of the Interior, U.S. National Park Service,
P.O. Box 7427, Washington, DC 20013-7127.
* Maps from the U.S. Geological Survey, the civilian
mapmaking agency of the United States Government, covering
a range of areas including National Wildlife Refuges to
LANDSAT pictures of the Earth. For a catalog, write to the
Earth Science Information Center, U.S. Geological Survey,
507 National Center, Reston, VA 22092.
* A map of the United States showing the U.S. Wildlife
Refuges. Write to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
Division of Refuge, 18th and C Streets NW, Washington, DC
20204.
* Maps of water recreation areas, from the Army Corps of
Engineers. Write to Department of the Army, Corps of
Engineers, 2803 52nd Avenue, Hyattsville, MD 20781-1102.
* A wide selection of material is available from the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 400
Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20546. Of particular
interest are NASA Facts--Planet Earth Through the Eyes of
LANDSAT 4 and Earth System Science. For a full list, ask
for a copy of NASA Educational Publications.
Another source is The Map Catalog (Joel Makower, editor,
and Laura Bergheim, associate editor), published in 1986
by Vintage Books of Random House. It is probably at your
public library.
Magazines
Look for these magazines in your school or library:
* Discover produced by Family Media, Incorporated;
* World, published by the National Geographic Society; and
* Ranger Rick and Your Big Backyard, published by the
National Wildlife Federation.
Pen Pal
Organizations
League of Friendship
P.O. Box 509
Mt. Vernon, OH 43050
(6 14)392-3 166
Books
Easy Reading and Picture Books:
Anderson, Lonzo. Day the Hurricane Happened. Story of what a
family does when a hurricane rips through their island.
Bach, Alice. Most Delicious Camping Trip Ever. Exploits of twin
bears on a camping trip.
Balet, Jan. Fence, A Mexican Tale. Illustrations help tell the
story of two Mexican families.
Beskow, Elsa. Children of the Forest. A family of Tomten (small
forest people) work and play through the four seasons in their
Nordic home.
Brenner, Barbara. Barto Takes the Subway. Barto lives in New
York City. He and his sister take a trip on the subway.
Brenner, Barbara. Wagon Wheels. Three young black brothers
follow a map to their father's homestead on the Western plains.
Brinckloe, Julie. Gordon Goes Camping. When Gordon decides to
go camping, his friend Marvin tells him of all the things he
will need for the trip.
Buck, Pearl S. Chinese Children Next Door. A mother who had
spent her childhood in China tells her children about her
neighbors there.
Burningham, John. Seasons. A series of pictures that define the
four seasons.
Burton, Virginia Lee. Little House. A country house is unhappy
when the city with all its houses and traffic grows up around
it.
Chonz, Selina. Bell for Ursli. A boy who lives in a tiny
village in the mountains of Switzerland has an adventure when
the spring festival comes.
Cooney, Barbara. Miss Rumphius. One woman's personal odyssey
through life to fulfill her grandfather's wish that she make
the world more beautiful.
Devlin, Wende and Harry. Cranberry Thanksgiving; Cranberry
Christmas; Cranberry Mystery. A series of mystery-adventure
tales set on the cranberry bog shore of Cape Cod.
Dobrin, Arnold. Josephine's Imagination; A Tale of Haiti. Story
of a young girl and her adventures in the Haitian market.
Eiseman, Alberta. Candido. Paco, a Peruvian boy, loves his pet
llama but knows that he must find a way to train the animal to
work as other llamas do.
Ets, Marie Hall. Gilberto and the Wind. A very little boy from
Mexico finds that the wind is his playmate.
Feelings, Muriel L. Jambo Means Hello. A Swahili alphabet book.
Frasconi, Antonio. See and Say, Guarda e Parla, Mira y Habla,
Regard et Parle. A picture book that gives words from four
languages and prints each in a special color. Has a page of
everyday expressions as well.
Garelic, May. Down to the Beach. Boats, birds, shells, sand,
waves, tides and all the fun and wonder of the beach are
pictured in simple, rhythmic prose and beautiful watercolors.
Goble, Paul. The Gift of the Sacred Dog and The Girl Who Loved
Wild Horses. These stories, accompanied by beautiful pictures,
are based on legends of the Native Americans.
Green, Norma B. Hole in the Dike. Retells the familiar story of
the young Dutch boy whose resourcefulness, courage and finger
save his country from being destroyed by the sea.
Hader, Berta. Reindeer Trail. The generous Laplanders bring
their herds of reindeer all the way from Lapland to Alaska to
help hungry Eskimos.
Hoban, Tana. Over, Under & Through, and Other Spatial Concepts.
A picture book on spatial concepts.
Holling, Holling C. Paddle-to-the-Sea. Describes the journey of
a toy canoe from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
Kessler, Ethel. Big Red Bus. An illustrated bus ride for the
very beginning reader.
Krasilovsky, Phyllis. The First Tulips in Holland. Beautiful
drawings about spring in Holland.
Kraus, Robert. Gondolier of Venice. The city of Venice is
sinking into the sea, but Gregory, a proud gondolier, gets a
clever and unusual idea to help the old city.
Lamont, Bette. Island Time. A parent and child board the ferry
that takes them to their very special island on Puget Sound.
Lisowski, Gabriel. How Tevye Became a Milkman. Short tale, with
illustrations of the Ukrainian countryside, based on the
character also depicted in Fiddler on the Roof.
McCloskey, Robert. Blueberries for Sal. Make Way for Ducklings.
One Morning in Maine. Favorites from an award winning
children's book author. Each describes a special journey and
the difficulties in getting from one place to another.
Mizumura, Kazue. If I Built a Village. An idealistic picture of
what a village, town and city can be ends with a small boy
building with blocks.
Morrow, Suzanne Stark. Inatuk's Friend. Story of an Eskimo
child who must move from one place to another.
Musgrove, Margaret. Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions. Read
and observe 26 African tribes from A to Z.
Peterson, Hans. Big Snowstorm. Illustrations and text picture
events on a Swedish farm during a raging, January blizzard.
Rockwell, Anne. Thruway. As a small boy rides along a thruway
with his mother, he tells of all the things he sees.
Shortall, Leonard. Peter in Grand Central Station. Peter takes
his first trip alone, but when he gets to New York, his uncle
is not there to meet him.
Skorpen, Liesel Moak. We Were Tired of Living in a House. Four
small children pack their bags and leave home to find a new and
better house.
Spier, Peter. People. Explores the enormous diversity of the
world's population. Looks at various cultures, homes, foods,
games, clothing, faces, and religions.
Van Woerkom, Dorothy. Abu Ali: Three Tales of the Middle East.
Abu Ali is fooled by his friends, tricks them in turn and even
fools himself in three humorous stories of trickery based on
folklore of the Middle East.
Books to Read Aloud or for Better Readers:
Brink, Carol Ryrie. Caddie Woodlawn. These stories convey the
flavor of pioneer life through the eyes of a little girl who
lived in Wisconsin a century ago.
Bulla, Clyde Robert. A Lion to Guard Us. This is a story of the
founding fathers of the Jamestown colony and the families they
left behind in England.
DeJong, Meindert. Wheel on the School. Children of Shora, a
Netherlands village, are determined to bring storks back to
their town.
Dodge, Mary Mapes. Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates. Poor
Dutch children long to compete in a skating contest.
DuBois, William Pene. The Twenty-one Balloons. In the fall of
1883, Professor William Waterbury Sherman sets forth from San
Francisco on a balloon expedition around the world.
Hansen, Judith. Seashells in My Pocket: A Child's Guide to
Exploring the Atlantic Coast from Maine to North Carolina. A
look at seashells on Atlantic Coast beaches.
Henry, Marguerite. Misty of Chincoteague. A story of the wild
ponies that live on an island off the eastern shore of
Virginia, and of one freedom-loving pony.
Kelly, Eric. The Trumpeter of Krakow. Mystery story centering
around an attack on the ancient city of Krakow in medieval
Poland.
Milne. A.A. The House at Pooh Corner; Winnie-the-Pooh.
Christopher Robin and his friends have adventures and tell
stories.
Mowat, Farley. Owls in the family. This is a story of the
author's boyhood on the Saskatchewan prairie, raising dogs,
gophers, rats, snakes, pigeons, and owls.
McNulty, Faith. Hurricane. This is a nature story that takes
place when a family struggles against a hurricane.
Spyri, Johanna. Heidi. Story of a young girl who goes to live
with her grandfather in the Swiss Alps. She is then taken by
her aunt to live in the city and struggles to return to her
grandfather.
Steig, William. Abel's Island. A mouse lives for a year in the
wilderness until his wit and courage take him back home.
Wilder, Laura Ingalls. The Little House series. Documents the
life of the author and her husband a century ago.
Wyss, Johann. Swiss Family Robinson. The adventures of a Swiss
family shipwrecked on a desert island.
Atlases and other reference guides for young people:
Big Blue Marble Atlas. Paula Brown and Robert Garrison. Ideals
Publishing group. Milwaukee. 1988.
Discovering Maps: A Young Person's Atlas. Hammond
Incorporated. Maplewood, N.J. 1989.
Doubleday Children's Atlas. Jane Oliver, editor. Doubleday. New
York. 1987.
Facts on File Children's Atlas. David and Jill Wright. Facts on
File Publications. New York. 1987.
Life Through the Ages. Giovanni Caselli. Grossett and Dunlop.
New York. 1987.
Picture Atlas of Our World. National Geographic Society.
Washington, D.C. 1979.
Picture Encyclopedia of the World for Children. Bryon Williams
and Lynn Williamson. Simon and Schuster. New York. 1984.
Rand McNally Children's Atlas of the World. Bruce Ogilvie. Rand
McNally and Co., Inc. Chicago. 1985.
Rand McNally Student's World Atlas. Rand McNally and Co.
Chicago. 1988.
Usborne Book of World Geography. Jenny Tyler, Lisa Watts, Carol
Bowyer, Roma Trundle and Annabel Warrender. Usborne Publishing,
Ltd. London. 1984.
Acknowledgments
This project could not have been completed if it were not
for the help of many dedicated people. Thanks to those who
shared their ideas and materials on geography and early
childhood--Mark Bockenhauer of the National Geographic Society,
teachers Ann Hoehn, Judy Ludovise, and Ruth Anne Wilson-Jones,
and Salvatore Natoli of the National Council for the Social
Studies. Thanks to the same group for reviewing the final
document and to Pat Bonner of the Consumer Information Center,
Robert Burch and technical staff of Hammond, Incorporated, and
George Zech of the Duncan Oklahoma Schools.
Thanks to the National Mapping Division of the United
States Geological Survey for becoming involved in the
development of this document and for making it available to a
broader audience. In addition, thanks to Ann Chaparos for the
cover design and help on the layout.
Last, but not least, thanks to the staff of the Office of
Educational Research and Improvement for helping make
the draft into a booklet--Cynthia Dorfman, Kate Dorrell, Lance
Ferderer, Mark Travaglini, Tim Burr, and Phil Carr.
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