And the Learning Continues with our Continent Twister Maps!

More Twists with our Continent Twister Game Maps!

I know, I know...I'm probably behind everyone in Social Studies!  That being the case, I'm still going to tell you about the fantastic learning that our Continent Twister maps are still providing!

I teach a 5/6 combination class, so I am always looking for opportunities to not only cross the curriculum in my classroom, but also cross the grade levels.  It is so much easier to teach one lesson to the entire class, than to teach individual lessons and have the two grades working on different assignments.  Of course, I still need to do that most of the time - but when I can have them working all together and still achieving grade level standards, that is magical!

In any case, I was talking to my entire class about early man and hunter/gathers.  Fifth grade standards are the migration routes across the Bering Strait from Asia to the Americas, while sixth grade standards stay over in Africa, Asia and Europe.  I showed them maps and we talked about the Fertile Crescent, migration routes out of Africa into the other continents, and the Bering Strait.  I asked my students to get back into their Twister groups, get their maps and add the Fertile Crescent, the early migration routes, and the Bering Strait to their maps.  I also had them do some research and gather one new fact about each of these, put it in their own words on an information card, and list their source of information.  We talked about finding reliable sources on the Internet.

Not only were my students completely engaged, but their understanding of these concepts was much deeper than I've ever seen it before.  We did all of this prior to reading the lesson in the Social Studies book, but now since I had made sure that they each built prior knowledge, I was able to have them read the lesson independently and answer questions.  

This meets so many Common Core Standards: 

• Reading Standards for Informational Text (Key Ideas and Details, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas)
• Writing Standards (Research to Build and Present Knowledge)
• Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies (Key Ideas and Details, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, Research to Build and Present Knowledge
• 
  
• And addresses the Common Core philosophy of having students read to learn.
• If you are interested in learning more about my Continent Twister Game Project you can click the link below to read previous articles:

http://beyondthegardengateclass.blogspot.com/2013/08/continent-twister-geography-learning.html

http://beyondthegardengateclass.blogspot.com/2013/10/so-much-learningsooo-much-fun.html

And you can purchase this unit at my TPT Store for only $3.00!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Continent-Twister-a-Common-Core-Aligned-Twist-on-Mapping-and-Geography-819648