Day 42 - Location & Features

According to our standards, students must know seven countries of East and South Asia:

• China
• India
• Vietnam
• Indonesia
• North Korea
• South Korea
• Japan

Further, they need to identify the following features in the same area:

• Taklimakan Desert
• Gobi Desert
• Himalayan Mountains
• Korean Peninsula
• Yellow River
• Yangtze River
• Mekong River
• Ganges River
• Indus River
• Sea of Japan
• Yellow Sea
• South China Sea
• Bay of Bengal
• Indian Ocean

The purpose of knowing these places is to understand where people live, what they do, and how their standard of living compares to that of people around the world, primarily to the United States. Each of these features contributes to the standard of living the people are able to enjoy (or must endure in some cases).

Today we will begin the daily quizzes & games to remember the location of each item and as the lessons progress, we will analyze how each affects the lives of the people living near them.







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The content of Room 755 is the interpretation of the Georgia State Standards for 7th grade Social Studies, and how we seek to address these standards in one classroom, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the school system in which I work. This work (unless expressly stated) are licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Day 41 - Climate & Population Distribution

After showing a projection of a Climate Map of Asia, and making sure everyone is able to identify the location of the climates (mostly humid subtropical, tropical wet & dry, humid continental) then show a Population Distribution map of the same area, the students were finally able to answer the Essential Question - How does climate affect where people live and what they do?

It was great!

For India, I showed the following video from YouTube (who says there's no educational benefit on YouTube...only those who choose not to continue learning...that's who. I have to download the video, convert it, show it, and then (if I'm in a follow copyright law mood) erase the video.



And Then This One...




Then for the kicker. After showing the last 15 seconds of the 2nd video a few times, stating that although the monsoons and the rains they bring are devastating, the rain irrigates 60% of the land that produces agricultural products, which is important to the economy of the region, the students were able to answer another question - Why don't the people just move from these areas where flooding happens every year?

Too cool. So we will continue to use video, and Socratic questioning techniques with the group I have this year.



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The content of Room 755 is the interpretation of the Georgia State Standards for 7th grade Social Studies, and how we seek to address these standards in one classroom, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the school system in which I work. This work (unless expressly stated) are licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Day 40 - Election Friday

Beginning today, each Friday (and October 15 & 16) our class will focus on the 2008 Presidential Election in the United States.

Today we are going to start with a video from the brilliant explanatory minds of Lee & Sachi LeFever - Electing a U.S President in Plain English.

I am still amazed at how they discuss the Electoral College without using the words one time. Best explanation...EVER.

Day 39 - Climate & Population

Today we will conclude the Climate and Population Density maps of Asia. Yesterday we went to the library to use the computers for work will do next week (it was the only day we could get the lab).

Climate determines many things: like what foods can grow in an area, the transportation methods, animal and wildlife, and even industry and human living conditions.

Remember, our focus is how things affect humans and ultimately their standard of living. Climate (long-term weather patterns) really does impact the standard of living of families and nations. The question is HOW?


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The content of Room 755 is the interpretation of the Georgia State Standards for 7th grade Social Studies, and how we seek to address these standards in one classroom, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the school system in which I work. This work (unless expressly stated) are licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Day 38 - Major Religions of Eastern & Southern Asia

Today we will be in the Media Center to conduct some research on the major religions of Eastern & Southern Asia. You will have a chart to complete, so we can discover similarities and differences between the religions.

URI Kids is a very handy website for uncovering the basics of the religions we will learn about.

If you complete your chart before class is over, click here, and choose Level 1 - Beginner under the Countries column.

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The content of Room 755 is the interpretation of the Georgia State Standards for 7th grade Social Studies, and how we seek to address these standards in one classroom, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the school system in which I work. This work (unless expressly stated) are licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Day 37 - Climate & Population Density

Is there a relationship between climate and where people live?

That is what we want to discover today. We will complete two thematic maps: Climate Map and Population Density Map. These maps will be of Eastern & Southern Asia. After completion we will determine if the climate of a place has any determination on whether people live there.

Motivating Questions:

1. What is the influence of climate on each of the following: population distribution, agriculture, and industrial development?
2. How has the geography of Southern & Eastern Asia affected population in terms of where people live, the type of work they do, and their systems of transportation?
3. What efforts have been made to address major environmental concerns such as overpopulation, industrial pollution, and flooding in Southern & Eastern Asia?
   

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The content of Room 755 is the interpretation of the Georgia State Standards for 7th grade Social Studies, and how we seek to address these standards in one classroom, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the school system in which I work. This work (unless expressly stated) are licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

Day 36 - Pre-Test on Asia Geography

Today we had a pre-test on the geography of Asia, although my students got to "cheat" a little due to my absence last week. I was out due to my mother's funeral in Illinois.

The substitutes did a great job making sure my students didn't get too far behind our schedule. But I was hoping to give the pre-test without any discussions about the country locations. In order to keep students on pace, I gave the substitutes instructions to have students complete a political map, and give daily quizzes on 10 of the 20 countries.

We will be discussing how the geographic features of Asia (especially China, India, Vietnam, North & South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia) affect the lives of the people who live there.

What do we have to know?
Locate and Identify:

COUNTRIES
China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, North Korea, South Korea, Japan

LAND FORMS
Korean Peninsula, Gobi Desert, Taklimakan Desert, Himalayan Mountains

RIVERS
Huang He (Yellow) River, Yangtze (Chiang Jiang) River, Mekong River, Indus River, Ganges River

OTHER WATER FORMS
Sea of Japan, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, South China Sea, Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean

Why do we have to know these items?
Each item connects with one of the 8 Concepts (Conflict, Culture, Economics, Governance, Human Environment Interaction, Location, Movement, Continuity through Change) and how these concepts affect the standard of living of the people who reside there.

Tomorrow we will make connections between climates and population density.

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The content of Room 755 is the interpretation of the Georgia State Standards for 7th grade Social Studies, and how we seek to address these standards in one classroom, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the school system in which I work. This work (unless expressly stated) are licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.