Geography based Language Arts?

[alisha]

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a Language Arts curriculum (for late elementary/middle school) based on Geography. For instance-the paragraphs to edit give geographical information about a country, or the writing assignments are based on different countries or something. I would say I've heard of much of the curriculum out there, but I haven't heard of anything like this, so am wondering if anyone else has. I just think it would be great to teach language Arts, but also have the child learn substantial Geography along with it.

[Kiara.I]

I haven't heard of one but you could probably build it pretty easily. I wouldn't bother giving paragraphs to edit because you'd have to do work to mess them up first.

But you could do literature and poetry from that country, and pair it with researching the country and writing about it.

[mathmarm]

We lean very heavily on geography in the K-2 years. We do grammar exercises on the geography sentences, and once their sentence skills are developing, we do give them paragraphs to edit that are taken from Geography.

 

With a word processor, it's not overly taxing.

[8filltheheart]

It is very easy to create your own.  My 6th grader and I are doing a modern history/geography/culture study this yr and her writing assignments have all been pulled from our reading.  So far we have studied Haiti, India, Pakistan, and are currently studying Afghanistan. 

[alisha]

9 hours ago, Kiara.I said:

I haven't heard of one but you could probably build it pretty easily. I wouldn't bother giving paragraphs to edit because you'd have to do work to mess them up first.

But you could do literature and poetry from that country, and pair it with researching the country and writing about it.

 

3 hours ago, 8filltheheart said:

It is very easy to create your own.  My 6th grader and I are doing a modern history/geography/culture study this yr and her writing assignments have all been pulled from our reading.  So far we have studied Haiti, India, Pakistan, and are currently studying Afghanistan. 

Thanks, ladies, I love to build my own stuff, and have done so in the past. I figured that's what might happen here, but had to check first. Thanks SO much for your ideas-I hadn't gotten any further than the initial checking things out, but with your suggestions of what to include, I feel I'm halfway there! Thanks!

[Lori D.]

Agree about DIY LA to be a part of a Geography unit study. 😄 

LA at the late elementary/middle school ages can include: Reading/Literature; Writing; Vocabulary; Grammar; and possibly Spelling.

Reading/Literature
Great booklists from Guest Hollow's Jr. Geography and High School Geography.
Middle school book list ideas for: Africa, Americas, Asia & the Pacific, Australia, Europe, Middle East/Turkey/India
Booklists from curriculum vendors:
- Sonlight Eastern Hemisphere
- My Father's World Countries & Cultures
- Geo Matters Galloping the Globe

Writing:
As @8filltheheart suggested. Or, maybe something like this:We made our own "atlas" by writing a paragraph about each country we read about, and on that page with the paragraph we also added a small outline map of the country that they added a few key features to; a sticker of the flag of that country; and they listed these key facts as bullet points: (1.) capital (2.) major language(s) (3.) major religion(s) (4.) major resource(s) (5.) something the country is known for.

The Beautiful Feet Geography guides & map back that go with the 4 Holling C. Holling books have a lot of extension writing ideas based on facts, objects, people, places, events that come up in those books. Seabird is the only World Geography-based of the 4 books (covers about 100 years of history, from the whaling ships of the 1840s through "modern" steam ships of the 1950s). The other 3 books -- Paddle to the Sea, Tree in the Trail, and Minn of the Mississippi -- are all US History- and Geography-based
 

Editing practice:
Agreeing that your editing practice is easiest/most natural when done out of your own writing. But, if wanting something else for practice, a possible DIY idea -- use the example of Take Five Minutes: A History Fact a Day for Editing, and make your own similar editing practice from Take Five Minutes: Fascinating Facts About Geography -- since these paragraphs, you could spread out one page (several paragraphs) over several days.

Vocabulary
Have fun looking up words that are part of everyday English that originated from other countries/languages. English words of...
... African origin
... Arabic origin
... Australian Aboriginal origin
... Chinese origin
... Dutch origin
... French origin
... German origin
... Greek origin
... Hawaiian origin
... Hebrew origin
... Hindi or Urdu origin
... Indonesian origin
... Italian origin
... Japanese origin
... Korean origin
... Persian origin
... Russian origin
... Sanskrit origin
... Spanish origin
... Swedish origin

Edited October 19, 2021 by Lori D.

[PeterPan]

On 10/19/2021 at 1:29 AM, alisha said:

but also have the child learn substantial Geography along with it.

https://hg3098.weebly.com/uploads/3/8/4/1/38410729/ws_dlw_gr7_mss_pdf-notes_flattened_201503161251.pdf  This isn't exactly what you wanted, but it's close (sentences vs. paragraphs). 

https://www.teachercreated.com/products/take-five-minutes-a-history-fact-a-day-for-editing-3051  This is my favorite editing, and it comes in several themes (history, sports, etc.). I don't know that *substantial* learning and this editing necessarily go together. They're usually trying to be quirky or interesting to keep the kids engaged while they're doing a hard task. 

https://www.teachercreated.com/products/take-five-minutes-fascinating-facts-about-geography-3290  Oh look, the Take 5 Minutes series did have a geography book, but it's not editing.

Edited October 22, 2021 by PeterPan

[goldenecho]

On 10/19/2021 at 11:44 AM, Lori D. said:

 

Vocabulary
Have fun looking up words that are part of everyday English that originated from other countries/languages. English words of...
... African origin
... Arabic origin
... Australian Aboriginal origin
... Chinese origin
... Dutch origin
... French origin
... German origin
... Greek origin
... Hawaiian origin
... Hebrew origin
... Hindi or Urdu origin
... Indonesian origin
... Italian origin
... Japanese origin
... Korean origin
... Persian origin
... Russian origin
... Sanskrit origin
... Spanish origin
... Swedish origin

 

OOH!   There's some spelling tie in to some of these.   There are so many Spanish words (not to mention US State names, City Names, etc.), that are Spanish, and Spanish pronunciation is so easy to learn.  Unlike English, Spelling of Spanish words is really regular, so if you just learn the different ways the vowels sound in Spanish, and a few consonant conventions (double ll, double rr, and ~) you can easily spell words like burrito, Montana, California, El Niño, etc.) 

[kristin0713]

The Good and the Beautiful includes a lot of geography, but is not based on geography.