My students need atlases, construction paper and various art supplies to complete this project. I bought my own atlases years ago but they are now VERY dog-eared and I need new ones.
In my 7 years of teaching middle school, I've found that 7th grade is an incredible important time for students. 7th grade is in that very "fun" area between being a little kid and being a teenager. Students in this age group are usually trying to figure out what kind of teenager they want to be while dealing with the fact that they are still immature goofballs that still watch Spongebob. They're pretty great.
I've also unfortunately found that 7th grade is often the time that students that were doing fine in elementary school start slipping.
I believe that in order to help students keep up their enthusiasm for learning, it is very important to have a structured learning environment, with varied projects catered to different learning styles. In order to make sure all students can participate, I try to provide everything they may need in any situation.
My Project
I have found that students very rarely come into 7th grade with the geography skills necessary for a basic understanding of world history. I always start the school year with a two week geography unit teaching students basic map skills, continent and country recognition, and an understanding of location and distance. I believe this sets my students up to succeed during the rest of the school year.
This unit involves the use of an atlas to do research on their location in the world (planet, hemisphere, continent, country, state, city, neighborhood) and culminates in a project where they give facts about each categorization and create a hemispheric map.
To conduct this project I need enough new atlases so that I have two per student group (my old ones are super dog eared), construction paper, scissors, glue sticks, and rulers. I will be providing any other supplies needed on my own. All of these materials will be used not only for this project but throughout the year.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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