Timmy Howard has had quite the experience so far in Kindergarten! T.H. has been to the movies, seen the Golden Gate bridge, walked through the Joshua Tree desert, & even had books read to him! Jaime received T.H. before we let out for Christmas break. They traveled all the way to the West Coast together! Over the past five months I have been introducing bits and pieces of the map & globe to the class. Whenever one of our read-alouds has a specific location in it we make sure to look up where exactly that place can be found on the map. We've even learned where our aunts, uncles, grandmas, & and grandpas live! Well, after Jaime returned with T.H. the class was eager to learn where the Golden Gate bridge was located. We got online & used our SmartBoard to find it. We typed our school's address into the directions as well as The Golden Gate bridge. The kids couldn't believe how far away it was! We discussed distance, miles, flying vs. driving vs. walking, & how many hours each process would take. I can't wait to see where T.H. goes next!!
Then we watched a BrainPopJR video on countries & continents to further explain the location. We learned how many continents there are & what exactly a continent is. BrainPop even showed us what it was like to live in each continent. Some of us even remembered that the pilgrims came over on the Mayflower from England which is in Europe! It's so neat to see their little worlds expand day after day.