Friday, January 8, 2010

Exploring North America!

This week our class has been very busy studying geography by using  National Geographic's










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We were able to locate and mark the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the Rocky Mountains, and the Appalachian Mountains.  Do you know which color cones represent each mountain range?




We also showed with blue cones where 3 important
mountain peaks are located:  Mt. McKinley in Alaska, Mr. Whitney in California, and Pikes Peak in Colorado.






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If you look carefully at the map below, you can also see where we marked the Mississippi River.  Do you know where the Mississippi's source is?  It's delta?



 Do you also notice some tributaries of the Mississippi?  Can you name them?  Do you know what a tributary is?




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While exploring Central America, we found the 
Isthmus of Panama.



Do you know what man - made feature these explorers 
are pointing to?






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While exploring in the United States, we found the 4 Corners.  Can you see why this location is called 4 Corners?  Can you name the four states that form the 4 Corners?









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Mrs. Hanzer, who sponsored the map for our school,

joined us and talked about the importance of geography!


She has traveled to all SEVEN continents!





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 Throughout the week, we visited many landforms such as islands and peninsulas.  We explored a number of bodies of water, such as bays, seas, and gulfs.


We learned to use lines of latitude and longitude to locate
specific places.










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What did you learn this week about geography and 
about 
North America?

19 comments:

  1. Dear Mrs.Ranney,

    I thought it was great finding longitude and latitude lines. I also thought it was magnificent discovering the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada and Appalachian Mountain ranges. I think it was the most fantastic map. I hope there are more maps to come. All of the maps we had are Continents.

    Regards,
    Ethan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dear Mrs. Ranney,
    Last week in geography class, I learned where the lines of latitude and logintude meet.
    Also, studying the giant map of North America, I located some countires and their landforms, and bodies of water. It was fantastic!

    Sincerely,
    Roxana

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Mrs.Hanzer,

    I would like to thank you for sponsoring the map for the school ,and letting us visit it!!!!!!!!!

    Sincerely,
    Evan C.#7

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello Class,

    I am a map lover just like Evan and many of his classmates. Maps are filled with a wealth of interesting and valuable information. Our family enjoys traveling and maps are an important part of that.

    Sincerely,
    Mr Coblenz

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dear Mrs. Ranney,
    I really liked the map, I wonder if they are going to do a map on Europe? I hope that happens, because I want to find out where Paris, France is. I am planning on going on a trip there this summer to visit my great-Aunt Rosa and Uncle Gil. I wonder if we are actually going to travel there, the prices are not that great at the moment.

    From Garrett

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Class,
    I am so glad that several of you found our new post this weekend! I enjoyed your comments.

    Ethan, I like the way you mentioned so much about what you learned. I especially loved seeing the mountain ranges too. I have visited the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada, and I hope to see the Appalachian Mountains one day.

    Roxana, I am glad that you learned so much. When I was your age, I really enjoyed studying maps and finding locations using latitude and longitude.

    Evan, I am so glad you wrote a thank you to Mrs. Hanzer. I think our whole class will write thank you notes this week!

    Mr. Coblenz, thanks so much for leaving a comment. I love to travel as well, and one of my favorite parts of traveling is using maps to plot out my journey.

    Garrett, I am glad you asked about future maps. I believe that the map for next year is Africa, which should be very interesting. I, too, would really like it if a map of Europe would visit our school. As you know, I just went to Germany during winter break. I'm glad to hear about your future trip to Paris. When I visited there many years ago, I had a wonderful time. I'm sure you can find maps in our classroom and online to help you find Paris!

    I'm looking forward to reading more great comments.
    Sincerely, Mrs. Ranney

    ReplyDelete
  7. Dear Mrs. Ranney,
    I had a great time exploring on the map. I learned that North America is made up of more countries than just Canada, The United States and Mexico.

    Also, I learned that mountain ranges stretch across more than one country.

    I enjoyed this lesson and look forward to learning about the rest of the continents.

    Your Student,
    Andrew S.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Dear Mrs. Ranney,


    I loved that we went to the enormous map last week. Also, I learned that Panama is the only isthmus in North America. Another fact I learned was that Iceland is not part of North America. After we go to Africa, I hope we can go to Antartica. That was the most fun I've ever had this year and the map is fantastic!!!

    Regards,
    Cameron

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Mrs. Ranney,

    I think this post is the best.

    I liked going to the map of North America better than the one of Asia. The reason is because I learned about the Continent where I live.

    Thank you for bringing us to the map of North America. You did an amazing job of teaching us the lines of latitude and longitude.

    Sincerely,
    Andy

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dear Mrs. Ranney,

    I thought that the huge map the kids used to learn about geography was amazing! I could see from the pictures on the class website how excited and interested the kids were. What a great learning tool. I wish they had an inspiring map like that when I was in 3rd grade.

    Best,
    Mrs. Binder

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear Mrs. Ranney,

    I discovered other countries in addition to The United States, Canada, and Mexico that make up North America. These countries are Cuba, Jamaica, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. I also learned that the Equator is latitude, and The Prime Meridian is a longitude.

    Sincerely,
    Carson

    ReplyDelete
  12. What great way to learn about geography on a giant map! Hope it was lots of fun, sure looked like it.
    Mrs. Coblenz

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dear Mrs. Ranney,
    The map of North America was tremendous. I learned about the four coners,and how to stand in them at the same time. It was really fun when we all had to walk on a longitude, or latitude line.

    Sincerely,
    Leanne

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dear Mrs. Ranney,
    Thank you for giving my daughter this experience.

    Sincerely,
    Mrs. Tarrab

    ReplyDelete
  15. Dear Leanne,
    I'm so glad you learned about the Four Corners. How about naming the states that create the corners?
    Sincerely,
    Mrs. Ranney

    ReplyDelete
  16. Dear Mrs. Ranney,

    I loved going to the North American map! I learned a lot of things that I never knew. I really liked the Geography games too!


    Sincerely,
    Natalie

    ReplyDelete
  17. Dear Mrs. Ranney's class,

    It was very interesting that the kids got to explore on the map of North America. My son thought that it was fascinating learning about the lines of latitude and longitude. Andrew also told me that next year the map will be another continent. That continent is Africa!!!!!!! I know that Andrew really had fun on the map of North America. I hope that your class will have fun on the map of Africa next year!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Best,
    Mrs. Snyder

    ReplyDelete
  18. Dear Mrs. Ranney,

    I loved visiting the map of North America. It was so exciting to studty and look at. I hope that the map next year is this exciting. A few years ago my great grandpa told me about the lines of latitude and longitude. I was so thrilled to hear that I was learning more about those lines. I can't wait for the rest of the maps to come.

    Regards,
    Sara

    ReplyDelete
  19. Dear Mrs.Ranney,

    I LOVED the map because I learned about some states I didn't know about!

    ReplyDelete

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