"Is New Jersey in New York City?" "Who's the president of California?" I could go on and on with examples that demonstrate my students' lack of geographical knowledge. But it's not for lack of interest!
My incoming fourth grade students attend a small urban elementary school in New York.
Almost all of them were in my class as third grade students last year, and I'm really looking forward to working with this very energetic and motivated group for another year. They are an extremely diverse group, in terms of ethnic background, socioeconomic status, native language, and special education needs. We also have a part-time special education teacher working with us, because our class has a higher proportion of kids with special needs.
My Project
I would like to have individual copies of the National Geographic Kids World Atlas to distribute to my students for our coming year-long social studies work on immigration and migration to New York City from 1609 to the present. In the course of our work, we will study where students' families have come from, thus learning about different communities around the world. We will also learn about different kinds of, and reasons for, migration from one location to another. Learning about maps will be a crucial part of the study. For example, students will learn about the features and purposes of physical and political maps. They will also learn how to read and learn from the map key, how to calculate scale, and how to identify cities, states, and regions within a country. The NG Kids World Atlas has a clear layout with easy-to-read maps and plentiful photographs, making it an inviting guide for this study, and a great way to integrate visual literacy into our curriculum.
If each child has his or her own atlas, they will be able to annotate them to keep track of where they, their families, and other students' families come from.
Drawing routes directly onto a map can give a concrete sense of scale as well as a deeper understanding of physical boundaries such as mountains and bodies of water. Studying and personalizing their own atlases will make the world, in all its complex connections, real to my students.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Sicherman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
