the significance of the colors and symbols on flags. Children can make and color flags.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nGeography and Travel<\/p>\n
Invite families who travel to bring back a map, postcard, or souvenir for their child to share with the class. Locate their trip on the appropriate continent map. Tell stories from your own travel adventures to illuminate political and physical geography. Small anecdotes about the roads and rivers on which you traveled, or the cuisines and cultures you encountered, will delight your class. As anthropologist Elizabeth Kapu’uwailani Lindsey said, “True navigation begins in the human heart. It’s the most important map of all.”<\/p>\n
Different Types of Maps<\/p>\n
There is such a depth and richness to the Montessori geography materials and activities for the primary classroom. Working with these materials lays the foundation for more advanced work, such as exploring different types of maps. Maps of the world focus either on political features – countries, cities, people, and products – or on physical features – land regions, climate, plants, and animals. I remember the thrill I felt as a child when I first heard about the Continental Divide. I found it myself on a relief map, running my finger down the bumpy Rocky Mountain range.<\/p>\n
Maps can be astonishing. I once showed our 18-year-old Japanese exchange student my map of the world. She looked at it with shock and exclaimed, “But this isn’t right! Japan is in the center of the world! Not over here on the edge.” I’m sure I would have been similarly surprised to find the United States on the east edge of a Japanese world map.<\/p>\n
Looking from space, is there a top or bottom, up or down to planet Earth? Why should the countries of the global north be depicted on top of the world? Older children and adults alike are amazed by alternatives such as the “upside-down map,” which shows Australia on top and all the continents “upside down.”<\/p>\n
The Hobo-Dyer Projection map illustrates the world’s land masses in more accurate proportion. (For example, Greenland is much smaller and Africa is much larger.) You may feel disoriented looking at it because, like my Japanese friend, it’s just not what you’re used to seeing!<\/p>\n
The Great Nation of Humanity<\/p>\n
Using movement, their senses, and intellect, children explore the geography of this amazing planet. They pour the shapes of lakes, learn the names of countries and oceans, taste foods, and sing songs from other cultures. Recognizing the universal needs all people share is an intrinsic part of education for peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the many gifts a Montessori education often brings is a life-long enthusiasm for geography. Geography helps children place themselves on Earth, fostering care for the rivers, forests, oceans, and peoples. Physical geography focuses on the features of Earth’s environment. Political geography studies how humans have adapted to the land, emphasizing settlement and activity. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[43],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yycmontessori.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}