Africa Unit Study for Elementary Students :: Week One

My neighbor is a retired teacher and the grandparent of two girls the same age as my children. This summer we are venturing on a journey through the continent of Africa together; team-teaching a variety of lessons to engage our kids in the culture and geography of the continent.

We will meet three mornings a week for approximately 90 minutes. In that time, we will do a variety of activities that will incorporate the art, language, music, science and history of the region. Each day, the children will also journal about what they learned each day in illustrations and words.

This first week, our focus was to introduce the kids to the 7 continents, assuring they were able to locate each on a globe and printed map. We also discussed the overall geography of the continent of Africa – emphasizing the three main ecosystems in Africa (savannas, deserts, and rain forests). While the kids worked in their journals or between activities, we also introduced the kids to African music.

Africa Unit Study :: Week One

Listed below are the key activities we coordinated for the first week of our study. Join me each week as I outline the many hands-on activities and projects we implement to introduce the kids to the beauty and culture of Africa.

• Overview of the 7 Continents
• Practiced identifying Africa on the globe & on a printed map
• Shared what we know about Africa and what questions we have
• Salt Dough Map of the African Continent (MeiLi’s is shown above)
• Put together a floor puzzle of the world, identifying the continents as we did so
• Read aloud Atlas of Africa by Karen Foster and Africa by Mary Lindeen
• Drew a map of the continent showing the three major ecosystems (Savannah, Desert & Rainforest)
• Listened & danced to the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”

Ready for more? Jump over to see what we did during week two.