Making geography fun!

There are 5 themes to geography, which are: Place, Location, Movement, Human-Environment interaction and Region. Let's review what these five themes mean!

• Place: An area that is defined by everything in it. Every place has unique features that distinguish them from another place. For example, a school is a place and it includes walls, floors, classrooms, students, teachers, staff etc.
• Location: Location helps us to determine where something is. There are two types of locations: Absolute and Relative. Absolute location is a specific location on a map using longitude and latitude. Relative location can be in a general location. For example, down the road a little, next to this building etc. It is not an exact point.
• Movement:movement is how ideas, people, products, information etc. move from one place to another. It can be as simple as how did you get to the store or as complex as analyzing a mass migration of people.
• Human-environment interaction: Human-environment looks at the relationship between people and their environment. When thinking about human-environment interaction you can think about three questions: How do people depend on the environment? How do people adapt to their environment? How do people modify the environment?
• Region:A region is an area defined by similar characteristics. The characteristics that make a region similar can be physical, natural, cultural or human.

In this creative google slide presentation, it shows many creative ways which we can teach geography and make it fun! One idea that I really like is idea #36: woordle stereotypes. This is great to introduce a topic and see what similar words students can think of. It's a great way to introduce students to a lesson and each student can make their own and share them with the class. Another great idea is #40: Describing photos. This is where one student has a photo and describes it to the second student while the second student draws what is being described to them. This is a wonderful way to also introduce a topic and gives students the opportunity to work on certain skills. Idea #48: Don't get "blogged" down is another useful way to teach geography. After each activity students would be responsible to go to their blog and write about the and their finding. Each students blog would be individual and unique and give students the chance to analyze their findings! I think #67 Mnemonic devices is one of the most handy ways for students to remember things. Students can associate a phrase or saying that helps them to remember certain vocab or important words. 

A Mnemonic device can  be used to help students remember the five themes of geography. A great Mnemonic device that can help students remember the five themes of Geography is "Mr. HELP"!

M ovement

R egion

H uman- E nvironment interaction

L ocation

P lace