social studies – travelteachlove

Holidays Around the World

November 30, 2018 No Comments

With the holiday season upon us there is a lot of excitement in the classroom. Students come in each day ready to tell me about their Elf that is hiding around their house, stories of baking cookies, shopping for presents and lots of other holiday traditions. At school I also have a tradition of exploring holidays around the world with students. Last year as a second grade teacher I went all out to cover the holidays. Since the seven continents are part of the social studies curriculum it was a perfect fit. I covered thirteen different countries over the course […]

STEAM, Uncategorized

May Flowers STEM Fun

May 29, 2018 No Comments

With real Spring weather (some warm days!) finally upon us I decided it was time for a more bright and colorful activity for the STEM lab. The saying, April showers bring May flowers was inspiration for a Tulip STEM challenge for students. The lesson fused social studies, science and reading beautifully. We are studying the seven continents so we were able to explore a place in Europe (The Netherlands) famous for their tulips, while creating using the STEM process. This week in reading our anthology featured Gail Gibbons, From Seed to Plant, so the tie in was perfect. Gotta love […]

Classroom Connection, Reading

Read Around the World

March 24, 2018 No Comments

A few weeks ago to cap off our reading week celebrating Dr. Suess’ birthday, our school had a reading marathon. It was an entire day dedicated to reading and doing reading activities. Honestly, it was my favorite day of the school year so far. I mean come on, reading, ALL DAY! How does it get any better than that?! I knew that reading all day, even with breaks in between for activities, might be a bit of a stretch for some of my second graders who don’t have enough stamina built up yet to do that. So I brainstormed some […]

Classroom Connection, Travel

Animals of the Galapagos Islands

February 23, 2018 No Comments

Bright blue feet perched on top of jagged black rocks. Hundreds of little faces turned toward the sun soaking up rays with eyes closed. Lounging sea lions barely opening an eye as you walk by them on a lounge chair on the beach. It feels like it was yesterday, instead of four years ago, that I traveled to the Galapagos Islands. Teaming with unique and endangered wildlife the islands were unlike any place I have ever been. It was truly a trip of a lifetime and I have loved sharing what I learned there with students over the last few […]

Science, Social Studies, Travel

Searching for Matter One Country At A Time

October 16, 2017 No Comments

Another year, another chance to show students the world. I am lucky our social studies curriculum is the seven continents so intergrating pictures from my travels is practically a must do! This year I have taken the opportunity to weave in travel with science as I cover matter. Last year I made an iMovie on states of matter around the world as a model for students. This year I am adding to that through introductory lessons on solid, liquid and gas with PowerPoints. Each PowerPoint focuses on one state of matter and asks students to identify examples of that state […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies

Celebrating Global Learning: Continents Fair

June 5, 2017 No Comments

Last Friday was quite the day. Besides breaking out the lawn games again for math, which students love, second grade also had their big continents fair. It was the culmination of a month long research project students worked on both at school and at home. After in depth study of the seven continents, students picked a country of interest, and identifying what continent it is located on. Then, with graphic organizer in hand, students got busy researching specific information. The second grade teachers collaborated with our librarian and technology teacher to complete the research. Between books and websites, students were […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies

Classroom Virtual Travels to Australia

May 8, 2017 No Comments

Last week we wrapped up our in depth travels around the world with Australia as our last stop. While I have not been to Africa or Antarctica, which were the two previous continents, I have been to Australia and could share my experience with students. To kick off the week we started by locating Australia on a map and read a general facts page. This lead to questions and discussion, and comparing Australia to other continents we have studied. In addition to this we watched two videos by Travel Kids about New Zealand. I liked that the videos cover […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies

Student’s Seven Continent Bulletin Board

May 5, 2017 No Comments

We have been studying the seven continents for quite a while now. In fact, we have finally made it to our last continent for in depth study, Australia. During our continent study, students picked a country to research. The whole second grade is participating in this research project and in June parents are invited to a continents performance. We have representation from each of the seven continents, with the exception of Antartica, for obviously chilly reasons. Since most students are close to finishing their research on their country, I thought it might be fun to do a little side project. We […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies, Travel

Let’s Explore Asia

April 17, 2017 No Comments

Before April vacation we were able to explore two more continents, Asia and Antartica. First up, Asia. Having traveled to Thailand a few years ago with teachers, I was excited to share pictures and videos from a small section of such a large continent. In addition to that, it was fun to share the class book my student made from the year I traveled there. After learning all about Thailand, students wrote about their favorite facts creating a Student Treasures book. (Side Note: If you haven’t heard about this free student publishing company…check them out!) Bridging our study of Europe […]

Classroom Connection, Social Studies, Travel

Let’s Explore South America

March 29, 2017 No Comments

My class continued their continent exploration by traveling south, from North America into South America. I was secretly thrilled to get to South America so I could share about the countries I visited there; Peru and Ecuador. Although, I’m sure my enthusiasm for the entire continent study is pretty evident in class. Geography/Travel nerd alert! The timing couldn’t have been better to travel south of the equator in our studies, as the setting of that weeks anthology read was Chile. Included in our reading program’s materials was a small vocabulary reader on Chile to provide students with more background knowledge. This […]