We have provided suggestions for many, many resources with this study. Most families will not need or want everything here. Indeed, the bounty here is a reflection of the fact that we have large families that span all age groups and we are writing together, so you see the collaborative list of resources. The two books that will be "must haves" are the two volumes of A Child's Geography. These are living books that we consider great gifts to our children.
When we first set about to plan our travels, we were very intentional. This geography study was to be all about caring. It was our hearts' desire to infuse our children with a knowledge of the world God created. More importantly, we wanted them to come away from our study with a heart for its people. Many of you are familiar with Ann Voskamp's poetic voice at A Holy Experience. She brings that voice to these volumes, but she also brings a keen understanding and respect for young learners . These books bring the world into our living rooms and then inspire our children to want to go out and make believers of all nations.
To begin your African geography studies, use A Child's Geography Volume 1 . Do the first three chapters, one a week, over three weeks. Follow the suggested presentation guidelines in the book. This book and its companion are critical to our studies. Here, you will find copywork, earth science, projects, resources, and some of the best "living books" geography overview in the world. These volumes will inspire your children to care about the people and places we study.
After the first three weeks, shift your focus to Egypt and use A Child's Geography Volume 2,
You will study the Egypt chapters only, taking three weeks. Then, we will move on to the Middle East for the rest of the semester (those resources will be posted in a separate post).
INSIDE THE AFRICA CONTINENTS BOX:
~Map for cover of box (choose one from Montessori downloads or print one you like)
~Montessori for Everyone-- Africa downloads:
- Africa Flags - 50 in all
- Africa Maps - 4 in all
- Africa Animals - 16 in all
- Africa Plants - 12 in all
- Africa Places - 8 in all
- Africa Fact Sheet
- Africa Arrows - for each country & ocean
- Instructions for making & using this kit
- Flags, Animals, Plants, and Places include a picture card, label, and control card for making 3-part cards.
~General Overview book (any of the spine books suggested below)
~Toothpick flags and stands and/or felt for flag making
~Cultural fabric and instructions for creating head coverings or costumes (There are some easy instructions here that seem printer and kid friendly)
~Handcrafted item from that continent
~Smelling or sensorial activity with spices, nuts, etc... from that continent (There is a nice list as well as many recipes at this site.)
~Ancient Egypt Toob
Scheduling:
We suggest devoting two days a week to the work in A Child's Geography and three days to the other lesson blocks. Alternatively, schedule two separate A Child's Geography blocks on the same day.
Schedule Sample here: Download Calendar_2009-05-10_2009-05-17(2)
Scheduling:
We suggest devoting two days a week to the work in A Child's Geography and three days to the other lesson blocks. Alternatively, schedule two separate A Child's Geography blocks on the same day.
Schedule Sample here: Download Calendar_2009-05-10_2009-05-17(2)
*Modern Saints Vol 1 and Vol 2
Please, please note: what follows are book suggestions for many different aspects of this geography study. Often, one well-chosen book in each category will be enough. The idea here is not to read everything we suggest. The idea is to take the list to the library, preview books and choose wisely. Few libraries will have all these choices available, so we wanted to give you options. We've put an asterix by the books we will work particularly hard to provide in our homes.
Please, please note: what follows are book suggestions for many different aspects of this geography study. Often, one well-chosen book in each category will be enough. The idea here is not to read everything we suggest. The idea is to take the list to the library, preview books and choose wisely. Few libraries will have all these choices available, so we wanted to give you options. We've put an asterix by the books we will work particularly hard to provide in our homes.
FINE ARTS:
Hands-On Africa: Art Activities for Young Children(Choose one project for each week of study)
Off to the Sweet Shores of Africa: And Other Talking Drum Rhymes (Read aloud during art block)
CD of African music to play during main lesson book work
SCIENCE: (Read one a week or do a week long science block) (All of these titles are appropriate for younger students but could be used as a science focus with upper elementary students as well).
*The Water Hole
*Honey, Honey Lion (Jan Brett website videos: How to Draw a Stork in Africa; Jan Brett in Africa)
*One Small Square: African Savanna
Uncommon Traveler: Mary Kingsley in Africa
ANCIENT EGYPT: (two weeks of block)
Read Aloud:
Read Aloud:
Everyone Will Enjoy:
If I Were a Kid in Ancient Egypt
Seeker of Knowledge: The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Heiroglyphs
Cleopatra (Stanley)
Chapter Books:
The Golden Goblet
Picture Books too Good to Limit to Little Ones:
AFRICAN HISTORY: (1 week of block)
Read Aloud:
Read Aloud:
Everyone will Enjoy:
African Princess: The Amazing Lives of Africa's Royal Women
Mansa Musa
Chapter Books:
Picture Books too Good to Limit to Little Ones:
CULTURAL STORIES: (3 weeks of block)
Read Alouds:
Chapter Books:
Picture Books too Good to Limit to Little Ones:
from South Africa:
from West Africa:
*I Lost My Tooth in Africa (Mali)
*For You Are a Kenyan Child (Kenya)
FOLK TALES: (Read one each week) (The picture books can be read-aloud by mom to everyone, and the collections of stories for older kids can be read a few at a time independently or aloud to younger siblings.)
Rat-Catcher's Son (Africa)
Picture Books to Good to Limit to Little Ones:
*A Story, A Story (East Africa)
Zomo the Rabbit (West Africa)
*Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears (West Africa)
The Gift of the Sun: A Tale from South Africa (Southern Africa)
*Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters (Southern Africa)
AFRICAN FAITH STORIES:
St. Bakhita of Sudan (Encounter the Saints)
Modern Saints Vol 1 and Vol 2 (Not to miss: St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, vol. 1 p. 86, Bl. Edel Quinn, vol. 2)
for your convenience, here are PDFs of Africa outline maps.
Half page: Download Half Page Africa Outline Map
Full page: Download Full Page Africa Outline Map
MARY AROUND THE WORLD LESSON BOOK: (Early Elementary)
For each title, child will watercolor the image on small watercolor paper and paste in MLB.
On facing page, child will record the title of the image, the name of the country it took place in, and the year.
A half-size continent map can be placed on the page, and the location marked.
The child can also compose a short prayer to include on the page.
FOR AFRICA:
Our Lady of Africa (details from Kathryn)
Our Lady of Keitun (details from Kathryn)
Our Lady of Kibeho (from Approved Apparitions)
For Copywork:
Prayer to Our Lady of Africa
Our Lady of Africa, Mother of us all,
be specially mindful of the peoples of Africa.
Gather together all those who follow Jesus Christ.
May they be one in the Church of your Son.
May all those who have not yet recognized Jesus
as the Son of the Father be drawn by his Light.
May all those who have been seized by Christ
proclaim the Good News by their whole life.
You who were present with the Apostles
at the beginning of the Church,
support the apostles of today
that they may boldly proclaim the Word of God.
(from White Fathers website)
MISSIONARY LESSON BOOK: (Upper Elementary)
Map Work: Trace or paste an outline map of Africa, with countries labeled into MLB. Throughout the course of the study, complete the following tasks and create a coded guide:
- Mark St. Augustine's home country (patron saints index)
- Mark St. Josephine Bakhita's home country (patron saints index)
- Mark St. Tekla's home country ( see suggested faith stories)
- Mark St. Frumentia's mission territory (patron saints index)
- Mark Blessed Edel Quinn's mission territory (patron saints index)
- Mark the home of Charles Lwanga and Companions (patron saints index)
- Mark locations of modern missionaries discovered (Find a list of African missionary organizations here)
- Shade in 5 countries where the primary religion is Christian. (Click on any country to learn more about it, including religious statistics)
- Shade in 5 countries where the primary religion is Islam.
- Shade in 5 countries where indigenous beliefs or animism are still predominant.
- Shade in at least five countries that are currently or have recently been in civil unrest.
Students should include at least two written narrations of the lives of the saints studied in the geography work.
Students are also encouraged to find a priest currently serving in their diocese who is from an African nation to interview about his home, his childhood, his call to religious life and his experience as a missionary. A written summary of the interview should be included in their main lesson book.
Students are encouraged to contact African missionary societies via e-mail and ask to "interview" or ask questions of a current missionary working in Africa.
Create a list of cultural considerations a missionary would have to think about when bringing the Catholic faith to this area of the world. For Africa, since the variety of cultures is so diverse, you may want to let the student choose one country in Northern Africa, one Central, and one Southern African nation to research for this assignment.
Create a missionary-minded teaching or testimony:
Have student choose one of the following Scripture readings and create a short sharing on it that he/she would present if he were a missionary to an African nation.
- Ephesians 2:1-10
- John 6: 1-14
- Psalm 121
The sharing should include some personal thoughts on the scripture that the audience could relate to as well as a message of hope, encouragement, or instruction.
ARTIFACTS AND ARCHAEOLOGY LESSON BOOK: (Upper Elementary)
Research can be done in DK Eyewitness book, online, or with extra readers picked up at the library. The page topics will be assigned, but the decision of how to represent the topic with be entirely student-led.
- Egyptian pyramids
- King Tut
- African Masks (Choose at least three cultures to represent)
- Woven baskets (Choose at least three styles to represent)
- Images of gods/goddesses (at least two)
The idea would be for the student to create a page that provides an idea of how, when, and where African artifacts in the various categories have been discovered and what they reveal about the culture from which they originated.
ANIMALS AND HABITATS LESSON BOOK: (Kindergarten/Lower Elementary)
Habitat: African Savana
Create an illustration of the Savana, label what aspects of the habitat provide food, water, and shelter for the animals that live there.
Animal pages:
Create an illustration of the animal. On the facing page, record the following:
- common name
- classification information
- physical characteristics
- habits
- food
- predators
African Animals: (Click on any animal listed in the sidebar here to confirm information.)
- Lion
- Zebra
- African Elephant
- Giraffe
- Hyena
- Badger/Honeyguide
- Hippopotamus
- Warthog
- Gorilla
- Others as time and interest allow
FOLK TALES LESSON BOOK: (Kindergarten)
Have the child create an illustration for each folk tale read. On the facing page, include a half-size map where he/she can color in the country of the stories' origin and a typed narration can be pasted in.
In addition, we will create family continent notebooks, one for each continent, to hold other narrations, art work, recipes, ideas and photos from our study.
Narration mediums can rotate weekly. Some ideas are:
- illustrations using watercolors, lyra pencils, or beeswax crayons
- modeling story scenes from beeswax
- using wooden figures to recreate the story
- dramatizing the story using play silks
MAP WORK:
Three Period Lesson
How to present the continent work to young children.
More on push pin map work
A further refinement of this work for older children involves using the puzzle pieces to trace each country onto a blank piece of paper, thereby re-creating a given continent. The countries are then individually colored in and labeled. The first picture in this post provides an example of this style of map work.
Punch pin pad and stylus
Three Period Lesson
How to present the continent work to young children.
More on push pin map work
A further refinement of this work for older children involves using the puzzle pieces to trace each country onto a blank piece of paper, thereby re-creating a given continent. The countries are then individually colored in and labeled. The first picture in this post provides an example of this style of map work.
Punch pin pad and stylus
FLAG WORK:
Kids can recreate the country flags from craft felt and display them on a felt board. We are using the less expensive felt (not the wool felt) for this activity since the colors are truer. Sharp scissors aid the cutting--consider pre-cutting necessary shapes and letting the children assemble if you have no children old enough to handle sharp scissors. The flags can be added to lesson books or continent notebooks in the form of a photograph with a narration about the country they represent included.
MORE RESOURCES FOR BRINGING YOUR AFRICA UNIT ALIVE:
Comments or Questions?