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mooreboyz
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| Posted: July 08 2008 at 11:31am | IP Logged
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I know a lot of you put together continent boxes last summer. I'm doing that this summer and am wondering how it went over with your children. Were there things that were hits? Misses? Also, did you leave all of the boxes out and available all year or just one at a time that you were working on? How big were the boxes you used?
Thanks!
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Jackie
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 08 2008 at 5:50pm | IP Logged
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They went very well here. I left mine out all the time for free exploration, but also actively pulled one out now and then if it tied into what we were reading/doing.
I used shoe-box sized containers and decorated them a bit according to a continent theme. Each box has different stuff in it, depending on what all I had/gathered. Some have much more in them than others. The Asia and North America boxes are stuffed full, but the Australia, Africa, and South America boxes are practically empty. Europe could use a bit more, but is filling nicely.I think of them as ongoing projects for us to work on together, rather than ever being totally complete.(for example we just added some Canadian coins from our trip to the NA box).
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Theresa
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: July 08 2008 at 7:42pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Theresa. Yours were actually the first I saw back several months ago and planned to do this. Yours are great!
I have a pretty good assortment of things so far including some self correcting pages from enchanted learning with questions like what direction will you be going if you walk in any direction in Antarctica (or something like that). I printed out world flags on card stock with their country name on them and thought that would be a fun sorting activity (which country is in which continent). I still want to put together research cards for each child. So far I thought comparing/contrasting penguins for Antarctica, investigate how diamonds are formed for Africa, and research the govts for 3 countries in Europe. I need to come up with more though.
This is a lot of fun. I hope the kids like them.
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Jackie
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 08 2008 at 8:53pm | IP Logged
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That is a great idea about adding research cards to the boxes! I had never thought of that, but it sure would expand the usefulness of the boxes to older age groups!Now you've got the wheels spinning in my mind! I could add project idea cards as well (such as "make a rain forest diorama", or sketch the National bird of..." or "make an African mask", or "make a model of the Golden gate bridge", etc)Excellent!
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Theresa
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 08 2008 at 10:37pm | IP Logged
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Ooh! Those are really great ideas, Jackie! I love the flag sorting activity! Where did you get your flags? I downloaded some from a free site, but their images aren't the greatest quality. Did anybody get that cool flags sticker book? I saw it in the Montessori Services catalog. I was thinking of sticking them on card stock and laminating. These would be a neat addition to the boxes. I'd like to get a few more inexpensive sticker books - Dover has some great animals from different continents - and really just a lot of stickers that could be used for the continent boxes. I was hoping to get some of those since they're quite inexpensive. Have any of you done this?
I confess we didn't do much with ours last year.  The children were so enthralled with making maps that we didn't do much with our continent boxes - could also be because we were really focused on American History last year so we weren't really studying other cultures. I left all of my boxes out all year long, and the kids did visit them. I just didn't spend the time needed to add to them like I had hoped.
I do have some research cards for my boxes, but not too many. I see how this could be expanded quite a bit, especially to dovetail with our study of Ancient History.
Again...I have visions and hopes of doing this more next year!
Thanks again for sharing your ideas, Jackie. 
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Jen Mackintosh
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: July 09 2008 at 7:23am | IP Logged
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Here is the link to the flags. I just printed them on card stock and then I will write the name of the continent on the back for self correction.
flags of the world
Yes, Theresa. I was thinking of an artsy/crafty project too.
I guess my plan is to do 1 continent each month. The first week will be introductory...going through the box, reading books, doing the puzzles, and probably a good movie so they can see what it really looks like there.
Week 2 will be maps...using these river cards:
rivers of the world
these kind of research sheets:
antarctica map quiz
and labeling mountains, lakes, rivers, and landmarks on their own outline map which will be in their Geography binder (which will also have notebook pages for them to do each week on what they learned). We'll probably use these this week too unless we use them the 1st week:
climates of the world
The 3rd week we will work on some type of artwork, read fables, talk about customs and holidays and taboos, learn how to say hello and goodbye and count to 10 in some language (I'm hoping to find this info somewhere yet), and listen to music from the area.
The 4th week will be research week where they work from their research cards and/or research anything else they are curious about.
I plan to do geography one afternoon a week and then on Friday afternoons play games or finish up anything that the kids want to finish or explore further. I learned so much from reading the posts here and it made a lot of sense to go deeper into the traditions/ways of life so the kids can really get a feel for what it is like there. So, I have ordered some books that should help with that.
I've been putting a lot of time and thought into this and I'm finally seeing it come together which is so exciting. I really want to get my boxes now so I can put everything inside. I think plastic storage boxes are probably the wisest choice for my boys, but I'd rather do something prettier.
Oh. And I'm also going to put together something much simpler for my 3, 4 in September son. He will learn the names of the continents, learn about celebrations there, foods, stories, songs, weather. I think I will use the Jan Brett stories as I read on a post a while back as there is one for nearly every continent.
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Jackie
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 09 2008 at 8:10am | IP Logged
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mooreboyz wrote:
| I think I will use the Jan Brett stories as I read on a post a while back as there is one for nearly every continent. |
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Oh my! Will you link when/if you find it? We LOVE Jan Brett here, and that would be so perfect for my 3 1/2 yo, too! I have a couple of geography picture books for him, but I'd love to round out the collection just a wee bit.
I'll come back in a little while and let you know what kind of boxes we used...and what kind of boxes we'd move to if we had the space...back in a bit! (off to finish morning chores!) 
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Jen Mackintosh
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: July 09 2008 at 11:30am | IP Logged
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Here you go:
jan brett around the world
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Jackie
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Mary K
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| Posted: July 09 2008 at 1:10pm | IP Logged
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Hi Jackie,
There's a series of books called "Count Your Way Through (country). They have the numerals in the country's writing with pronunciation. They go from 1-10 with real pictures of the country.
God bless,
Mary-NY
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: July 09 2008 at 1:46pm | IP Logged
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Jackie, your plans sound fabulous!
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Theresa
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 6:59am | IP Logged
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Thanks! I wondered how in the world I missed that conversation!!! When I looked at the date it was discussed - I knew...I was  with Katie!
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Jen Mackintosh
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10 Bright Stars
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 10:08am | IP Logged
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Ah, what's a geography box?? Did I miss something neat???  My kids really like geography. COuld you share the original link or talk?
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Kim married to Bob (22y)
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: July 10 2008 at 12:05pm | IP Logged
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Kim,
Here's a long discussion about them. I think several people linked pics of theirs on this thread also.
continent boxes
Basically they are discovery boxes for each continent. They can be as simple or complex as you want and depending on your child. They are a way for the kids to independently discover and learn geography in a fun, hands on way.
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Jackie
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: July 11 2008 at 12:30pm | IP Logged
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I'm looking for folktales/fables from each continent. I like the Anansi tales from Africa; but, can't think of any others right now.
Any ideas?
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Jackie
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: July 12 2008 at 7:18am | IP Logged
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Mary,
The library system has those counting books...thanks! Also, found "Can you Count 10 toes" which is a book that counts to 10 in several different languages.
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Jackie
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Mary K
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| Posted: July 12 2008 at 7:43am | IP Logged
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Hi Jackie,
Shens.com has a catalog that gives titles and descriptions of folktales and fables from various countries.
God bless,
Mary-NY
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: July 12 2008 at 10:31am | IP Logged
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Just came across this...check it out.
continent boxes
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Jackie
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 12 2008 at 2:40pm | IP Logged
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This is a great blog post by Kathryn on Geography Picture Books and here are all of her geography posts which have been VERY helpful to me.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
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4Real Forums : Across Time and Place
Topic: geography boxes-how'd they go?
