SC Discus has a wealth of resources
One of my favorites is CultureGrams. This website allows students to zoom in on almost any part of the world and explore the people, places, culture, climate and more. For a quick tutorial, click on the videobelow.
Ideas for implementation:
- Pick a country, split students into groups, each group explores one aspect of that culture (i.e. Group A = people, Group B= demographics and population, Group C = Culture, Group D = Topography, Group E = government, etc)
- Pick a region or continent, allow students to explore the different countries, each student becoming an expert on one country
- Pick a topic (i.e. food) students study the food in a variety of regions around the world.
While the focus of this blog is using CultureGrams to explore the world, there is also a robust site for researching states within the US. Here is a video done by KWSpangler explaining how to use CultureGrams States Edition:
There are a number of ways to use this resources and I look forward to hearing yours! Comment below with additional ideas for implementing CultureGrams in your library or classroom.
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteI did not know about this resource in Discus, this is amazing. I love the idea of splitting the students into groups and having each group take and aspect of a country. I think I’ll try it out with my class as a comparing project. Comparing another country’s culture to that of the United States. Thanks for the resource.
I love the idea of comparing it to the US, helps with synthesis. Thanks for commenting!
DeleteWhat a great resource. I know in second grade the study different types of communities. Teachers or librarians could split students into groups of the three different communities they study (rural, suburban, and urban) and have them find the different community to present to the class defining why that community fits the category. I will definitely share this with my teachers at my school.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! Let me know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE CultureGrams! I used to teach World Cultures and I used this resource extensively. The students always enjoyed listening to the national anthems and checking out the fun facts. I promoted the site for students to use when doing research in other classes because it was age-appropriate and relevant, unlike a lot of what they might find with Google!
ReplyDeleteI checked out CultureGrams after reading your post and I love it! There are so many different options for incorporating this into the classroom or library. I can't believe I never used this before, thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing! I absolutely love this. What a great way to students to learn more about the world around them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! I'm still diving into all the treasures available through scdiscus.org, and really appreciate your highlighting this particular resource. I like the ability to search the US and around the world especially, as Zoe mentioned, because of our 2nd grade social studies standards. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteJessie Ellibee